A BCP GUI

byrmol — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 03:13:00 GMT

Due to the excessive amount of BCP work that has plagued me recently, I was sick and tired of typing.
Instead of writing a script in TSQL to build BCP commands, I decided on building a little GUI app.

I have tried to constrain the interface to only allow valid BCP argument combinations, but again due to laziness, I have not tested them all. If the BCP command appears to be doing nothing, you have the option to KILL the process.

Features:

Easy to use. (should be!)
Tool tips for each switch are taken from BOL
Batch option for building (not executing) multiple BCP commands ie. An entire database
Automatically redirects output to a temporary file for viewing the results.
Integrated File Viewer to look a the first 2MB of a file (needs improvement though)..
Monitors file growth of the target data file (OUT modes) or output file (IN mode)

Here's a picture of the main screen..

I am hoping that this application needs no help file or manual, as it is targeted at developers who at least know what BCP is...

The entry point to this app accepts a parameterless constructor (when you simply open it), or a server name. The second constructor allows us to integrate it into the "Tools" menu in QA.

To integrate this into QA..

Select "Tools".."Customise" from the main menu of QA
Select the "Tools" tab
Press the "Add" button
Enter the Display Name
Fill out the "Command" by browsing to the BCPHelper file
Fill out the "Argument" section with the word $(Server).

If you have completed it correctly it should look something like this...

Now when you select "Tools" from QA, you should see the BCP Helper application.
When you launch the app from QA, it will take the current server and populate the text box.

You will need the .NET framework v1.0 or higher to run this
Oh now there is a bitch..How on earth did MS miss the FolderBrowser Dialog control in 1.0 framework!!!!

Installation is just a matter of extracting the file
This link is the zipped file (22Kb) at SQLTeam. BCPHelper.zip

A special thank you to Damian for uploading the file and for giving some feedback. Also to Rob and Graz for some testing and hosting this...

All comments are welcome, and please report any bugs! Enjoy...

Garbage

A BCP GUI