DOCUMENT:Q153199 15-DEC-1999 [foxpro] TITLE :HOWTO: Use BCP to Move Large Amounts of Data to SQL Server PRODUCT :Microsoft FoxPro PROD/VER:WINDOWS:2.6a,3.0,3.0b,6.0 OPER/SYS: KEYWORDS:kb3rdparty kbinterop kbODBC kbvfp300 kbvfp300b kbvfp600 kbvfp260 ====================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this article applies to: - Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 6.0 - Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, version 2.6a ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY ======= This article describes how to use the Bulk Copy Program (BCP), a stand- alone utility that ships with SQL Server. If you need to move large amounts of data from Visual FoxPro to SQL Server, the Upsizing Wizard may be too slow. The Bulk Copy Program utility only transfers the data, it does not create the tables. You can use the Upsizing Wizard to create the tables or create them yourself in ISQL/W. In order to prepare SQL Server to accept the data using the "fast" version of BCP, you must execute the sp_dboption system procedure and set the select into/bulkcopy option to true. MORE INFORMATION ================ Step-by-Step Example -------------------- Following are sample steps using the BCP utility to transfer data from an ASCII file to SQL Server: 1. Execute from SQL Server: " sp_dboption Mydatabase,bulkcopy,true " (without the quotation marks) 2. Create a tab-delimited ASCII file from the Visual FoxPro Table. For example, use a low-level routine to output your fields into a text file: =FPUTS(fhandle, emp_id + CHR(9) + ; last_name + CHR(9) + ; first_name + CHR(9) + ; title + CHR(9) + ; PADR(DTOC(birth_date)+' '+'12:00AM',16,' ') + CHR(9) + ; PADR(DTOC(hire_date)+' '+ '12:00AM',16,' ') + CHR(9) + ; address + CHR(9) + ; city + CHR(9) + ; region + CHR(9) + ; postalcode + CHR(9) + ; STR(salary,12,2) ) 3. Create a bcp Format file necessary to transfer data. For example, from the bin directory under SQL Server: bcp mydatabase.dbo.employee out c:\temp\emp.txt /Sservename /Usa /Ppassword NOTE: This command should be on one line. 4. Follow the prompts, and type "\t" (without the quotation marks) for the field terminator for each field. 5. When prompted, save the format file with a meaningful name such as employee.fmt. 6. Edit the format file with an MS-DOS editor. 7. Change the second column for each row to SYBCHAR as in the following example using employee.fmt: 6.0 11 1 SYBCHAR 0 6 "\t" 1 emp_id 2 SYBCHAR 0 20 "\t" 2 last_name 3 SYBCHAR 0 10 "\t" 3 first_name 4 SYBCHAR 0 30 "\t" 4 title 5 SYBCHAR 0 16 "\t" 5 birth_date 6 SYBCHAR 0 16 "\t" 6 hire_date 7 SYBCHAR 0 60 "\t" 7 address 8 SYBCHAR 0 15 "\t" 8 city 9 SYBCHAR 0 15 "\t" 9 region 10 SYBCHAR 0 10 "\t" 10 postalcode 11 SYBCHAR 0 8 "\r\n" 11 salary 8. Change the 5th column for the last row to "\r\n" as the end of file marker. 9. Transfer the ASCII file into SQL Server using BCP as follows: bcp mydatabase.dbo.employee in c:\temp\employ.txt /femployee.fmt /Sservernamec /Usa /P"" 10. When completed, set the Bulkcopy option back to FALSE using Step 1 with the FALSE parameter. REFERENCES ========== For additional information, please see the SQL Server System Administrator's Guide. Additional query words: upsize upsized ====================================================================== Keywords : kb3rdparty kbinterop kbODBC kbvfp300 kbvfp300b kbvfp600 kbvfp260 Technology : kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbFoxproSearch kbFoxPro260a kbVFP300 kbVFP300b kbVFP600 Version : WINDOWS:2.6a,3.0,3.0b,6.0 Issue type : kbhowto ============================================================================= THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1999.