SQL Server Management Studio v 17.3 is released and available for download now, it packs lot of new features and updates
One of the most interesting features is “Import Flat File” Feature which can help novice to experienced users to load Flat file to SQL Server
“Import Flat File” option is available at Database level under Tasks Context menu
In this article, I am using FDA’ Orange Book Data product files for loading, as you can see this file is separated by ~
Please click “Next” to start the Import Flat File process
Please select the Input file, The tool is smart and it uses the File name as Target table name
But if we prefer, we can change the Target table according to our needs or naming convention
Click “Next” to proceed to “Preview Data” screen, In “Preview Data” screen we can see the sample records
After previewing the data, Please click “Next” to proceed to “Modify Columns” screen, based on sampled rows, it automatically suggests the data types, but we can change the Data Type based on our input source specification, in this case, I have changed the “Applicant_Full_Name” to NVARCHAR(500) from NVARCHAR(100) and also we can specify Primary Key, which I have selected “Appl_No” and “Product_No” as Combined Primary Key
After making required changes to Column definition, Please click to proceed, depending on the size of the data, the Import operation will run and complete
You can click on the “Success” hyperlink in Result to view the Completed message, once reviewed, Please click “Close” to continue
Now let us review the data imported, We can see the new table is created
We are running a simple Select Query to see all records loaded, We can see 2499 rows are loaded
This tools is really simple and easy to use, I believe you will find this article helpful
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