Generating Excel Files from SSIS
By Tom Nonmacher
As data professionals, we are frequently tasked with exporting data from SQL Server and other databases into Excel files. In this blog post, we will explore how to generate Excel files from SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), using SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017, MySQL 5.7, DB2 11.1, and Azure SQL.
SSIS, a component of the Microsoft SQL Server, is a platform for data integration and workflow applications. It is primarily used for data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL). The first step in generating an Excel file from SSIS is to create a new SSIS project in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). Once the project is created, add a new Data Flow Task to the Control Flow area.
In the Data Flow Task, we add a Source component to extract data from the database. Depending on the database we are extracting data from, we choose the appropriate source component. For SQL Server and Azure SQL, we would use an "OLE DB Source". For MySQL 5.7, we would use an "ADO.Net Source" with a MySQL connection. For DB2 11.1, we would use an "ADO.Net Source" with a DB2 connection.
The next step is to configure the source component to extract the data we want. For SQL Server and Azure SQL, we can write a T-SQL query to select the data. Here is an example:
-- SQL Server / Azure SQL
SELECT CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, Email
FROM Customers
For MySQL, we use a MySQL query, and for DB2, we use a DB2 query. Here are examples:
-- MySQL 5.7
SELECT customer_id, first_name, last_name, email
FROM customers
-- DB2 11.1
SELECT CUSTOMERID, FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME, EMAIL
FROM CUSTOMERS
Once we have configured the source component, we add a "Excel Destination" component to the Data Flow. We then connect the source component to the Excel Destination component. In the Excel Destination component, we configure the Excel connection manager to point to the Excel file we want to generate, and select the Excel sheet where we want to write the data.
Finally, we map the columns from the source component to the columns in the Excel sheet. Once everything is set up, we can run the SSIS package to extract data from the database and write it to the Excel file. Using SSIS, we can automate this process and generate Excel files from SQL Server, Azure SQL, MySQL, or DB2 on a regular basis.