SQL Server - Bulk Load

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Snap type:

Write

Description:

This Snap executes an SQL Server bulk load. The Snap uses the bcp utility program internally to perform the bulk load action. The input data is first written to a temporary data file, then the bcp utility program loads the data from the data file into the target table.

Expected upstream Snaps: The columns of the target table need to be mapped upstream using a Mapper Snap. The Mapper Snap will provide the target schema, which reflects the schema of the target table.
Expected downstream Snaps: None.
Expected input: Document that needs to be loaded.
Expected output: Document which represents the result of the bulk load operation.

Table Creation

If the table does not exist when the Snap tries to do the load, and the Create table property is set, the table will be created with the columns and data types required to hold the values in the first input document. If you would like the table to be created with the same schema as a source table, you can connect the second output view of a Select Snap to the second input view of this Snap. The extra view in the Select and Bulk Load Snaps are used to pass metadata about the table, effectively allowing you to replicate a table from one database to another.

The table metadata document that is read in by the second input view contains a dump of the JDBC DatabaseMetaData class. The document can be manipulated to affect the CREATE TABLE statement that is generated by this Snap. For example, to rename the name column to full_name, you can use a Mapper (Data) Snap that sets the path $.columns. Name.COLUMN_NAME to full_name. The document contains the following fields:

columns - Contains the result of the getColumns() method with each column as a separate field in the object. Changing the COLUMN_NAME value will change the name of the column in the created table. Note that if you change a column name, you do not need to change the name of the field in the row input documents. The Snap will automatically translate from the original name to the new name. For example, when changing from name to full_name, the name field in the input document will be put into the "full_name" column. You can also drop a column by setting the COLUMN_NAME value to null or the empty string. The other fields of interest in the column definition are:
- TYPE_NAME - The type to use for the column. If this type is not known to the database, the DATA_TYPE field will be used as a fallback. If you want to explicitly set a type for a column, set the DATA_TYPE field.
- _SL_PRECISION - Contains the result of the getPrecision() method. This field is used along with the _SL_SCALE field for setting the precision and scale of a DECIMAL or NUMERIC field.
- _SL_SCALE - Contains the result of the getScale() method. This field is used along with the _SL_PRECISION field for setting the precision and scale of a DECIMAL or NUMERIC field.
primaryKeyColumns - Contains the result of the getPrimaryKeys() method with each column as a separate field in the object.
declaration - Contains the result of the getTables() method for this table. The values in this object are just informational at the moment. The target table name is taken from the Snap property.
importedKeys - Contains the foreign key information from the getImportedKeys() method. The generated CREATE TABLE statement will include FOREIGN KEY constraints based on the contents of this object. Note that you will need to change the PKTABLE_NAME value if you changed the name of the referenced table when replicating it.
indexInfo - Contains the result of the getIndexInfo() method for this table with each index as a separate field in the object. Any UNIQUE indexes in here will be included in the CREATE TABLE statement generated by this Snap.

The Snap will not automatically fix some errors encountered during table creation since they may require user intervention to resolve correctly. For example, if the source table contains a column with a type that does not have a direct mapping in the target database, the Snap will fail to execute. You will then need to add a Mapper (Data) Snap to change the metadata document to explicitly set the values needed to produce a valid CREATE TABLE statement.

SQL Server BCP program only accepts date time values in format YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm: ss, thus SQL Server Bulk Load Snap only accepts two types of data as the input of a DATETIME column:

A Joda DateTime object. For example, a Joda DateTime object can be created with expression Date.now() in Mapper Snap.
A plain string in the format: YYYY-MM-dd HH: mm:ss. Example: 2016-10-22 11:11:11.

SQL Server Bulk Load Snap does not accept the results by the DateTime string from the expression Date.toLocaleDateTimeString().

Prerequisites:

The BCP utility must be installed on the Groundplex nodes on which you want to execute this Snap. To install the BCP utility on a Groundplex:

Download and Install the BCP Utility in your Windows or Linux environment. For details on doing so, use the following links:
1. Installing BCP on Linux
2. Installing BCP on Windows
Verify that you are able to run the bcp command.
To verify BCP installation, enter bcp on the terminal or the command line console and press Enter.

The output should look similar to the following. These are the command line options that can be used with the BCP utility. If you see this output, it means that the BCP utility is installed and ready for use.
Ensure that the path to the bcp command is correctly provided in the Snap.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Some characters appear as junk values after bulk load.

Reason: The Snaplex uses character sets defined in the OS on which they are installed. Due to this, any unrecognized character set is not supported by the Snaplex as well. As a result, such characters in the data set are represented as junk values in the database after a bulk load operation.

Resolution: This problem can be resolved by editing the bcp.bat file to accept custom characters. And using the absolute path to this bcp file in the BCP absolute path property. The bcp.bat file must contain the following:

This resolution is applicable only to Windows-based Snaplexes.

Support and limitations:

Does not work in Ultra Pipelines.

Account:

This Snap uses account references created on the Accounts page of SnapLogic Manager to handle access to this endpoint. See Configuring SQL Server Accounts for information on setting up this type of account.

Views:

Input

This Snap has one document input view by default.

A second view can be added for metadata for the table as a document so that the target absent table can be created in the database with a similar schema as the source table. This schema is usually from the second output of a database Select Snap. If the schema is from a different database, there is no guarantee that all the data types would be properly handled.

Output

This Snap has at most one document output view.

Error

This Snap has at most one document error view and produces zero or more documents in the view.

Settings

Label

Required. The name for the Snap. You can modify this to be more specific, especially if you have more than one of the same Snap in your pipeline.

Schema Name

The database schema name. In case it is not defined, then the suggestion for the Table Name will retrieve all tables names of all schemas. The property is suggestible and will retrieve available database schemas during suggest values.

The values can be passed using the pipeline parameters but not the upstream parameter.

Example: SYS
Default value: [None]

Table Name

Required. Table on which to execute the bulk load operation.

The values can be passed using the pipeline parameters but not the upstream parameter.

Example: people

Default value: [None]

Currently, the BCP utility in the Linux environment has a limitation while processing the table names.
When loading the data into a selected table and If the table name contains the characters '$%' or '!$', the combination works fine, however, BCP does not support if the table name contains the characters vice-a-versa as'%$' and '$!'.

Examples:
Supported by BCP: "dbo"."sqldemo#^&$%"
Not supported by BCP: "dbo"."sqldemo#^&%$"

Create table if not present

Whether the table should be automatically created if it is not already present.

Using this option creates a table with all columns of type STRING.

Default value: Not selected

BCP absolute path

The absolute path of the bcp utility program in JCC's file system. If empty, the Snap looks for it in JCC's environment variable PATH.

Example: C:\bcp.bat

Default value: [None]

bcp.bat should include the ".exe" extension to ensure the executable is actually referenced.

Handling Unrecognized Character sets in the Data set

Since the Snaplex uses the OS's default character set, it cannot recognize characters in other languages. Due to this, unrecognized characters in the data set are replaced with junk values when performing bulk load operations. To mitigate this, create a bcp.bat file and include the following line:

Use the path to this bcp.bat file in the BCP absolute path.

This is only applicable to Windows-based Snaplexes.

Maximum error count

Required. The maximum number of rows which can fail before the bulk load operation is stopped.

Default value: 10

Snap execution

Select one of the three modes in which the Snap executes. Available options are:

Validate & Execute: Performs limited execution of the Snap, and generates a data preview during Pipeline validation. Subsequently, performs full execution of the Snap (unlimited records) during Pipeline runtime.
Execute only: Performs full execution of the Snap during Pipeline execution without generating preview data.
Disabled: Disables the Snap and all Snaps that are downstream from it.

In a scenario where the Auto commit on the account is set to true, and the downstream Snap does depends on the data processed on an Upstream Database Bulk Load Snap, use the Script Snap to add delay for the data to be available.

For example, when performing a create, insert and a delete function sequentially on a pipeline, using a Script Snap helps in creating a delay between the insert and delete function or otherwise it may turn out that the delete function is triggered even before inserting the records on the table.

Example

This example loads data from table bulk_test_source to table bulk_test_target with SQL Server Bulk Load Snap.

The pipeline:

The SQL Server Select Snap gets records in the table bulk_test_source and passes them to the SQL Server Bulk Load Snap:

The SQL Server Bulk Load Snap that loads inputs to table bulk_test_target looks as follows:

The output of the SQL Server Bulk Load Snap after executing the pipeline:

Release	Snap Pack Version	Date	Type	Updates
February 2024	436patches26177	24 Apr 2024	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server Snap Pack that displayed an error when numeric values with scale 0 were inserted into the database with DECIMAL or NUMERIC type columns, instead of inserting the value with decimal digits truncated. Fixed an issue with the SQL Server Snap Pack that displayed an error when fractional numeric values (numbers with a decimal point) were inserted into the database with an INT type column, instead of inserting the value with decimal digits truncated.
February 2024	436patches25757	03 Apr 2024	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server - Insert Snap that previously displayed an error when attempting to insert a true or false value into a `TinyInt` datatype. The Snap now correctly inserts 1 or 0 for true or false in the table, respectively.
February 2024	436patches25548	21 Mar 2024	Latest	Added support for XML and spatial types (Geography and Geometry) for SQL Server Snap Pack. Fixed an issue with the SQL Server - Insert Snap that displayed an error when an empty or blank string was passed as a value to an `integer-type` column. Behavior change: As part of the JOOQ upgrade done in `main25112`, the SQL Server-Insert Snap displayed the following error when an empty string was inserted to an integer-type column: `Caused by: java.lang.NumberFormatException: Character n is neither a decimal digit number, decimal point, nor "e" notation exponential mark` Now, the Snap inserts a null value in this scenario.
February 2024	main25112	14 Feb 2024	Stable	As of `main25112`, the SQL Server Snap Pack no longer supports the jDTS driver. If you are using the latest SQL Server driver versions (2014 and higher), we recommend you use the driver that is bundled with the SQL Server Snap Pack. Note that the older SQL Server versions are supported as is.
November 2023	main23721	08 Nov 2023	Stable	Updated and certified against the current SnapLogic Platform release.
August 2023	434patches22758	11 Sep 2023	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server Stored Procedure and Table List Snaps that caused no retries to be executed even if you select the number of retries in the UI when a custom JDBC driver was used.
August 2023	434patches22579	22 Aug 2023	Latest	Improved the SQL Server Bulk Load Snap to reduce the chance of causing a deadlock error.
August 2023	main22460	16 Aug 2023	Stable	The SQL Server - Execute Snap now includes a new Query type field. When Auto is selected, the Snap tries to determine the query type automatically.
May 2023	433patches22090	08 Aug 2023	Latest	The SQL Server Stored Procedure and SQL Server Table List Snaps now support the retry functionality.
May 2023	433patches21808	13 Jul 2023	Latest	The SQL Server Snap Pack is upgraded to the latest version of the Microsoft JDBC Driver 12.2.0.jre11 for SQL Server: Pipelines using the default JAR in the SQL server accounts might fail after the driver upgrade because the latest driver is backward-incompatible. To prevent your accounts from failing, reconfigure the URL properties field in account settings as follows: `trustServerCertificate = true` Pipelines NOT using the default driver (bundled with the SQL Server Snap Pack) will not fail. Note: This update will be a part of the stable distribution with the GA release on August 9, 2023. Learn more about the SQL Server driver upgrade: FAQ for Upgrading to SQL Server JDBC Driver 12.2.0 Fixed an issue with the SQL Server Insert Snap that was causing performance degradation between GA release 4.32 and 4.33 if the network connection between the Groundplex and the database server was slow.
May 2023	433patches21386	08 Jun 2023	-	The SQL Server Snap Pack is upgraded to the latest version of the Microsoft JDBC Driver 12.2.0.jre11 for SQL Server: Pipelines using the default JAR in the SQL server accounts might fail after the driver upgrade because the latest driver is backward-incompatible. To prevent your accounts from failing, reconfigure the URL properties field in account settings as follows: `trustServerCertificate = true` Pipelines NOT using the default driver (bundled with the SQL Server Snap Pack) will not fail. The Microsoft JDBC Driver `12.2.0.jre11` for SQL Server included in the SQL Server Snap Pack is currently NOT available with the latest distribution. However, you can still consume this patch through `433patches21386`. This update is scheduled to be included in the upcoming distribution release on July 12, 2023, and will be a part of the stable distribution with the GA release on August 9, 2023.
May 2023	433patches21119	15 May 2023	Latest	Updated the Bulk Load Snap to preserve empty strings as empty strings and null as nulls.
May 2023	main21015	10 May 2023	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
February 2023	main19844	09 Feb 2023	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
November 2022	431patches19263	19 Dec 2022	Latest	The SQL Server Insert Snap no longer no longer includes the Preserve case-sensitivity checkbox because the database is case-insensitive. The database stores the data regardless of whether the columns in the target table and the input data are in mixed, lower, or upper case.
November 2022	431patches19268	14 Dec 2022	Latest	The SQL Server-Insert Snap now displays the error, `Number overflow: <number>` (instead of `Batch operation failed`) when inserting a number into tinyinit column.
November 2022	431patches19234	09 Dec 2022	Latest	A memory leak in the SQL Server Stored Procedure Snap is fixed. The Snap now clears the closed connections from memory and retains the open connections.
November 2022	431patches19000	12 Nov 2022	Stable/Latest	The SQL Server accounts failed with a certificate error on Windows Snaplexes when using the default SQL driver with the `4.31 main18944` build. This patch addresses the certificate error issue.
November 2022	main18944	10 Nov 2022	Stable	The MySQL Insert Snap now creates the target table only from the table metadata of the second input view when the following conditions are met: The Create table if not present checkbox is selected. The target table does not exist. The table metadata is provided in the second input view.
August 2022	430patches17064	25 Aug 2022	Latest	The SQL Server - Select Snap now has the Convert rowversion datatype to integer checkbox to support the `ROWVERSION` data type. Select this checkbox to display the `ROWVERSION` data type as integers in the output.
4.30 Patch	430patches17368	19 Aug 2022	Latest	The SQL Server Execute Snap containing an explicit SQL transaction now works as expected when using a default JDBC driver.
August 2022	main17386	11 Aug 2022	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.29 Patch	429patches16235	21 Jul 2022	Latest	Fixed an issue with SQL Server Execute Snap where the Snap did not display a valid error message when the delete condition is invalid.
4.29	main15993	14 May 2022	Stable	Enhanced the SQL Server - Bulk Load Snap with the Batch Size field to process records in a batch.
4.28 Patch	428patches14649	25 Mar 2022	Latest	Enhanced the SQL Server - Select and SQL Server - Lookup Snaps with Option for Unique Identifier Column that allows you to convert the case to lower or upper while displaying the Unique Identifier output (display) value.
4.28	main14627	12 Feb 2022	Stable	Updated the label for Delete Condition to Delete Condition (Truncates Table if empty) in the SQL Server Delete Snap.
4.27	main12833	13 Nov 2021	Stable	Enhanced the SQL Server - Execute Snap to invoke stored procedures.
4.26 Patch	426patches12535	05 Nov 2021	Latest	Fixed an issue in the SQL Server Bulk Load snap where boolean data type failed to load into BIT field.
4.26	main11181	14 Aug 2021	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.25 Patch	425patches10797	23 Jul 2021	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server - Bulk Load Snap where the Snap fails when the login password contains a colon or a less than (<) symbol.
4.25	main9554	08 May 2021	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.24 Patch	424patches8657	24 Mar 2021	Latest	Enhances the SQL Server - Select Snap by introducing a new field, Query Hints, which helps to customize and optimize the database engine to process query statements.
4.24	main8556	13 Feb 2021	Stable	Enhances the SQL Server - Select Snap to return only the selected output fields or columns in the output schema (second output view) using the Fetch Output Fields In Schema check box. If the Output Fields field is empty all the columns are visible. Enhances the SQL Server - Stored Procedure to accept parameters from input documents by column keys. If the values are empty, the parameters are populated based on the column keys for easier mapping in the upstream Mapper Snap.
4.23 Patch	423patches8190	20 Jan 2021	Latest	Fixes an issue with SQL Server - Execute to handle SQL statements that begin with special characters.
4.23	main7430	14 Nov 2020	Stable	Enhances the accounts in this Snap Pack to allow Windows-based (Active Directory) authentication and user impersonation for SQL Server user accounts.
4.22 Patch	422patches6728	17 Sep 2020	Latest	Enhances the SQL Server Snap pack to allow Windows (Active Directory) based authentication and user impersonation for SQL Server user accounts.
4.22	main6403	12 Sep 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.21 Patch	421patches6272	27 Jul 2020	Latest	Fixes the issue where Snowflake SCD2 Snap generates two output documents despite no changes to Cause-historization fields with DATE, TIME and TIMESTAMP Snowflake data types, and with Ignore unchanged rows field selected.
4.21 Patch	421patches6144	20 Jul 2020	Latest	Fixes the following issues with DB Snaps: The connection thread waits indefinitely causing the subsequent connection requests to become unresponsive. Connection leaks occur during Pipeline execution.
4.21 Patch	MULTIPLE8841	19 May 2020	Latest	Fixes the connection issue in Database Snaps by detecting and closing open connections after the Snap execution ends.
4.21 Patch	db/sqlserver8837	19 May 2020	Latest	Fixed the SQL Server - Stored Procedure Snap to support the UUID datatype.
4.21	snapsmrc542	09 May 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.20 Patch	db/sqlserver8793	07 Apr 2020	Latest	Fixed an issue in the SQL Server - Insert Snap due to which the Snap failed to load values of data type INT.
4.20 Patch	db/sqlserver8796	10 Apr 2020	Latest	Fixed the SQL Server - Bulk Load Snap to mask the password in the logged exception messages.
4.20	snapsmrc535	08 Feb 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.19 Patch	db/sqlserver8413	13 Dec 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server - Update Snap wherein the Snap is unable to perform operations when: An expression is used in the Update condition property. Input data contain the character '?'.
4.19	snaprsmrc528	14 Nov 2019	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.18 Patch	db/sqlserver7989	07 Oct 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue in the SQL Server - Merge Snap wherein identity columns are not handled correctly. Also, added a field, Enable Identity Insert, that enables you to insert values into an identity column.
4.18	snapsmrc523	10 Aug 2019	Stable	Added support for SQL Server account Active Directory authentication for SQL server for driver JAR version `mssql-jdbc-6.2.2-jre8.jar`. Reverts a 4.17-patch (db/sqlserver7394) update regarding how BIT and BOOLEAN column data type values are displayed. They now display as true or false (4.17 GA behavior in snapsmrc515) rather than converting to 0 or 1 values (4.17-patch behavior).
4.17 Patch	MULTIPLE7479	18 Jul 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server - Lookup Snap wherein it fails a UUID search.
4.17	ALL7402	11 Jun 2019	Latest	Pushed automatic rebuild of the latest version of each Snap Pack to SnapLogic UAT and Elastic servers.
4.17	snapsmrc515	11 Jun 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the SQL Server Execute Snap wherein the Snap would send the input document to the output view even if the Pass through field is not selected in the Snap configuration. With this fix, the Snap sends the input document to the output view, under the key original, only if you select the Pass through field. Added the Snap Execution field to all Standard-mode Snaps. In some Snaps, this field replaces the existing Execute during preview check box.
4.16 Patch	db/sqlserver6981	20 Mar 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue of slow performance in SQL Server Snaps while using SQL Server Dynamic account type.
4.16 Patch	db/sqlserver6818	22 Feb 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the Lookup Snap passing data simultaneously to output and error views when some values contained spaces at the end.
4.16	snapsmrc508	16 Feb 2019	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.15 Patch	db/sqlserver6337	05 Dec 2018	Latest	Replaced Max idle time and Idle connection test period properties with Max life time and Idle Timeout properties respectively, in the Account configuration. The new properties fix the connection release issues that were occurring due to default/restricted DB Account settings.
4.15	snapsmrc500	15 Dec 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.14 Patch	db/sqlserver5912	03 Oct 2018	Latest	Fixed an issue to parse the right data type and display it in the input schema for SQL Server Snap..
4.14 Patch	db/sqlserver5665	13 Aug 2018	Latest	Implemented a connection retry logic in the SQL Server account to resolve the connection loss issue in a customer's org.
4.14	snapsmrc490	11 Aug 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.13	snapsmrc486	12 May 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.12	snapsmrc480	17 Feb 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.11 Patch	db/sqlserver4388	08 Dec 2017	Latest	Fixed an issue with the Stored Procedure Snap that does not maintain the columns' order on the output as per table's definition.
4.11 Patch	db/sqlserver4288	18 Nov 2017	Latest	SQL Server Snap Pack - Fixed an issue when inserting a valid NaN value into a column.
4.11	snapsmrc465	11 Nov 2017	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.10 Patch	sqlserver3953	21 Sep 2017	Latest	Fixed an issue where the SQL Server Stored Procedure gets hanged when more than one Snap existed in the pipeline each processing greater than 1K documents.
4.10	snapsmrc414	12 Aug 2017	Stable	Added Auto commit property to the Select and Execute Snaps at the Snap level to support overriding of the Auto commit property at the Account level.
4.9.0 Patch	sqlserver3224	06 Jul 2017	Latest	Addressed an issue with SQL Server - Bulk Load execution even with 0 input documents
4.9.0 Patch	sqlserver3076	01 Jun 2017	Latest	Fixed an issue regarding connection not closed after login failure; Expose autocommit for "Select into" statement in PostgreSQL Execute Snap and Redshift Execute Snap
4.9	snapsmrc405	13 May 2017	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.8.0 Patch	sqlserver2803	10 Apr 2017	Latest	Addressed an issue with slow performance with Bulk Load BCP.
4.8.0 Patch	sqlserver2761	27 Mar 2017	Latest	Potential fix for JDBC deadlock issue.
4.8.0 Patch	sqlserver2706	27 Feb 2017	Latest	Fixed SQL Server Snap Pack rendering dates that are one hour off from the date returned by database query for non-UTC Snaplexes.
4.8	snapsmrc398	11 Feb 2017	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.7	snapsmrc382	23 Nov 2016	Stable	Extended support for SQL Server Dynamic accounts. Updated the SQL Server Stored Procedure Snap with the Pass through field.
4.6	snapsmrc362	13 Aug 2016	Stable	Resolved an issue in SQL Server Bulk Load Snap that caused BCP program related failures. Enhanced to fully support SQL statements with/without expressions & SQL bind variables. Resolved an issue that caused failures when executing merge statements.
4.5.1	snapsmrc344	18 May 2016	Latest	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.5	snapsmrc344	18 May 2016	Stable	Resolved an issue in SQL Server Execute Snap that erroneously reported a database/schema mismatch during Snap/pipeline execution. Resolved an issue in SQL Server Lookup Snap that occurred when handling case-insensitive field values.
4.4.1	NA	18 Mar 2016	Latest	Introduced the SQL Bulk Load in this release.