Documentation for Creating a Customized SQL Server Data Source Data Provider
I would like to write an import driver that will allow my proprietary file type to appear in the Data Source dropdown for SQL Server 2005 (or any version of SQL Server for that matter). I see other vendors who have added their formats to this list - is there any documentation on how I should put the driver together? I've searched MSDN and Google and I can't seem to find any output even though it's clearly out there somewhere. Thank!
CLARIFICATION . I want to add some details to what I am looking for. I am a vendor and I want to provide my customers with a way to import files directly into SQL Server from my custom format. In this image ( Flickr Link ), you can see that Gupta added "Provider" to this list that came up when I installed my client tools, like Oracle (or many other companies) add a provider for their data sources.
How can I add one for my datasource type? I want "Ryan 123-Base" (or whatever my product name is) on this list so customers can import directly from my company format?
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It's just an ODBC driver . If you create an ODBC driver and install it, any system-wide ODBC driver appears in this drop-down list. It doesn't depend on SQL.
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"Driver" is probably the wrong search term. What you want is some kind of SQL 2005 extension API. Sorry - I'm not familiar with this personally, but changing your search might lead you to an answer if no one knows it head first!
Maybe SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) ?
Here's the SQL 2005 online books . Maybe this section is in the Integration Services section? It looks like it comes close to what you are looking for.
Okay, I think this looks very promising. They have a few lessons on it and describe what your situation appears to be :
In this lesson, you will learn how to use the SSIS Designer to create a simple Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Service Pack. the package you create takes data from a flat file, reformats the data, and then inserts the reformatted data into a fact table.
Good luck!
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