Sql-server – Import (flat file) into SQL Server

Ok well I found the solution or at least its one or both of the two

1. Instead of running express with the Network Service account, I created a regular user. Then I gave that user rights to the folder with the excel spreadsheets.

2. I had already installed AccessDatabaseEngine.exe but I hadn't restarted the computer. This time I restarted it.

This is the OPENROWSET SELECT statement I used

SELECT FT_ID_SOCIETE_FF2C,FT_NOM,FT_ADR1,FT_ADR2,FT_CP,FT_VILLE,FT_TEL,FT_FAXFROM OPENROWSET ('Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0','Excel 8.0;Database=D:\SQLFTP\LISTEFF3CFTP.xls;HDR=YES', 'select * from [Requêtechauffage fioul$]');

So maybe it was a permissions problem? Weird since I could import csv files. Maybe it was just having to restart the computer after having installed AccessDatabaseEngine.exe.

A solution I've used in the past (and have recommended here and on StackOverflow before) is to create two additional schemas:

CREATE SCHEMA shadow AUTHORIZATION dbo;
CREATE SCHEMA cache  AUTHORIZATION dbo;

Now create a mimic of your table in the cache schema:

CREATE TABLE cache.IPLookup(...columns...);

Now when you are doing your switch operation:

TRUNCATE TABLE cache.IPLookup;
BULK INSERT cache.IPLookup FROM ...;

-- the nice thing about the above is that it doesn't really
-- matter if it takes one minute or ten - you're not messing
-- with a table that anyone is using, so you aren't going to
-- interfere with active users.


-- this is a metadata operation so extremely fast - it will wait
-- for existing locks to be released, but won't block new locks
-- for very long at all:

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
  ALTER SCHEMA shadow TRANSFER    dbo.IPLookup;
  ALTER SCHEMA dbo    TRANSFER  cache.IPLookup;
COMMIT TRANSACTION;


-- now let's move the shadow table back over to
-- the cache schema so it's ready for next load:

ALTER SCHEMA cache TRANSFER shadow.IPLookup;
TRUNCATE TABLE cache.IPLookup; 

-- truncate is optional - I usually keep the data
-- around for debugging, but that's probably not
-- necessary in this case.

This will be more cumbersome if you have foreign keys and other dependencies (since you may have to drop those and re-create them), and of course it completely invalidates statistics etc. and this, in turn, can affect plans, but if the most important thing is getting accurate data in front of your users with minimal interruption, this can be an approach to consider.