Import flat file to SQL server using C#

Question

I want to make a program in C# that imports two types of files to SQL Server: tab delimited and fixed columns. Actually, I need to download a file every day and import that file into my database. I could make a console app with batch script. I saw some examples like this, but I don´t know if it is the best object-oriented way to do it.

I could use StreamReader, Regex and so on, but I don't want to re-invent the wheel.

PS: In VBA I used "QueryTables.Add".

Answer 1

If you don't want to reinvent the wheel, then you should look at the native tools that SQL Server provides for this, namely bcp. Here is a list of FAQs about bcp.

Answer 2

You can import in fully managed code via SqlBulkCopy; all you need to do is pass SqlBulkCopy an IDataReader that handles TSV. Fortunately the FastCsvReader on codeproject can do exactly that.

Answer 3

Sounds like a perfect job for SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). You can easily define a data import task in SSIS and then schedule it to run by using a SQL job.

Answer 4

bulk insert [dbo].[CoursesTemp]

from 'C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Courses.csv'

with (fieldterminator = ',', rowterminator = '\n')
go
insert [dbo].[Courses]
  (code, description, instructor, date, venue, duration)
select 
   code, description, instructor, cast(date as date), venue,
   duration
from [dbo].[CoursesTemp]