Extending Packages with Scripting

If you find that the built-in components Integration Services do not meet your requirements, you can extend the power of Integration Services by coding your own extensions. You have two discrete options for extending your packages: you can write code within the powerful wrappers provided by the Script task and the Script component, or you can create custom Integration Services extensions from scratch by deriving from the base classes provided by the Integration Services object model.

This section explores the simpler of the two options — extending packages with scripting.

The Script task and the Script component let you extend both the control flow and the data flow of an Integration Services package with very little coding. Both objects use the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) development environment and the Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 or Microsoft Visual C# 2008 programming languages, and benefit from all the functionality offered by the Microsoft .NET Framework class library, as well as custom assemblies. The Script task and the Script component let the developer create custom functionality without having to write all the infrastructure code that is typically required when developing a custom task or custom data flow component.

In This Section

• Comparing the Script Task and the Script Component
  Discusses the similarities and differences between the Script task and the Script component.

• Comparing Scripting Solutions and Custom Objects
  Discusses the criteria to use in choosing between a scripting solution and the development of a custom object.

• Referencing Other Assemblies in Scripting Solutions
  Discusses the steps required to reference and use external assemblies and namespaces in a scripting project.

• Extending the Package with the Script Task
  Discusses how to create custom tasks by using the Script task. A task is typically called one time per package execution, or one time for each data source opened by a package.

• Extending the Data Flow with the Script Component
  Discusses how to create custom data flow sources, transformations, and destinations by using the Script component. A data flow component is typically called one time for each row of data that is processed.

Reference

• Integration Services Error and Message Reference
  Lists the predefined Integration Services error codes with their symbolic names and descriptions.

Related Sections

• Developer's Guide (Integration Services)
  Introduces Integration Services programming concepts.

• Extending Packages with Custom Objects
  Discusses how to create program custom tasks, data flow components, and other package objects for use in multiple packages.

• Building Packages Programmatically
  Describes how to create, configure, run, load, save, and manage Integration Services packages programmatically.

External Resources

• CodePlex samples, Integration Services Product Samples, on www.codeplex.com/MSFTISProdSamples

Stay Up to Date with Integration Services For the latest downloads, articles, samples, and videos from Microsoft, as well as selected solutions from the community, visit the Integration Services page on MSDN or TechNet: Visit the Integration Services page on MSDN Visit the Integration Services page on TechNet For automatic notification of these updates, subscribe to the RSS feeds available on the page.

See Also

Concepts

Developer's Guide (Integration Services)

SQL Server Integration Services

Integration Services Developer InfoCenter