Reading Files in SQL Server 2008

Orbie

Hi Guys,
I have to produce a report in SQL Server 2008 and it needs to be driven from a flat File (XML or Excel) that a non technical person can edit!

Just wondering (1) is there any benefits using one type of File over another (2) what is the most efficient way of doing this using SQL Server 2008 and (3) do I need to define a temporary table to hold the data from this File? The input file will store about 10,000 records.

Cheers

Bill-e

Have a look at this:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa196743%28SQL.80%29.aspx

1) I use bcp to go from tables to a .csv file(comma separated values??) I believe it works well in reverse. But then again I could be wrong.

2) I think excel would be easier. But that's just cause I've not done much with xml.

3) Not sure, but I think the bcp will return a table either way and you could just use that.

Ginger

You can do an XML import with the OPENROWSET command

Couple of links

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191184.aspx

http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/mladenp/archive/2007/06/18/60235.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522655.aspx