Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ... - S3 Tech Training

Chapter 18: Getting Integrated with Integration Services
package created when we first chose the Integration Services template when we first created our new
package. It should be empty, and can be deleted. Package1.dtsx will be the one you want to select (you
can rename it if you choose) in order to follow the remaining discussion in this section.
With that out of the way, let’s look at a few of the key panes…
Connection Managers
I know… I know…. You expected me to go top down! Well, besides my sadistic nature coming forward,
I have a more logical reason to get the Connection Managers pane out of the way. First, it’s simple, and
we’ll be a while on the main pane, so let’s get it out of the way.
By this point, you may well already have a solid idea as to what the Connection Managers pane (featured
in Figure 18-10) is all about. It’s about allowing you quick access to all the connections that are
used in our package.
Figure 18-10
If you double-click on either of the two connection managers, you should see a dialog that will look pretty
similar to the dialogs that you worked with earlier in the previous section. (Refer to Figures 18-3 and 18-4.)
Notice, however, that they are not quite the same. Indeed, the FlatFileConnection Manager has a lot of the
same information, but has a somewhat different editing format. For example, Figure 18-11 shows the part
of the dialog oriented around editing the data types we want output.
That said, there really isn’t anything new here. The connection managers area is just a path to allow us to
edit our connection information (both for input and output) after we’ve exited the wizard.
The Package Editor Pane
This is something of the “meat and potatoes” section of the package. While we obviously couldn’t move
much data around without the connections we discussed in the previous section, you’ll find that the connection
side of things won’t look all that different from package to package. The actual flow and handler
side of things will, however, often vary a great deal.
As you can see along the top of Figure 18-12, the package editor has four tables to it, so let’s explore each
of these in turn.
Control Flow
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This does pretty much what its title would indicate. It controls flow between different logical constructs,
or “tasks,” in our package. In our case, we have only one task defined, the Data Flow Task visible in
Figure 18-12, but if you select that task (as I have in Figure 18-13), you’ll see that it will show an arrow
coming out of it.