How to run a DTS VB package in the .NET framework
Overview
Data Transformation Services (DTS) remains an important
tool in the arsenal of database administrators and web designers
that need to move data between data repositories. These repositories
can include SQL Server 2000, a variety of other databases
as well as text files, and Excel files. You're also being
compelled to move towards the Visual Studio .NET framework
as you move forward with software development based on the
Microsoft platform. Therefor you will invariably run into
the problems outlined below.
With ten minutes of cleanup you can use a DTS package generated
by SQL Server 2000 within the Visual Studio .NET framework.
You'll have all the benefits of running in the Visual Studio
.NET framework plus be able to programmatically control the
behavior of the DTS package. This article will get you there
quickly while navigating a path that isn't always straight
forward.
There are two important reasons why you'll want to do this.
The .NET environment provides the common language runtime
(CLR) with improved memory management. Utilizing the CLR is
critical in a web based application that needs to run for
multiple days without running out of memory.
If you develop your web application against a development
SQL Server and then run it against a production SQL Server
you'll find it cumbersome to configure the data source/destination
of a DTS package saved as meta data or in structured storage.
However, you can easily configure the data connections in
your saved VB package to reflect the various stages of your
release process.
The rest of this article explains exactly how to do this upgrade,
and then how to apply some of the common edits required to bring
the code completely up to standard. Microsoft has also provided
documentation on the changes to the
Visual Basic language. You
can also reference
Visual Basic .NET upgrade guide. or
Applications Created in Previous Versions of Visual Basic for
further information.
Contents
- Overview
- Introduction
- Making the fixes
- Warnings left in the code
- Summary
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