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Integration Services Projects

SQL Server provides two environments, Business Intelligence Development Studio and SQL Server Management Studio, for the development and management of Integration Services packages.

  • Business Intelligence Development Studio supports the development of Integration Services packages. You can also create the Data Source and Data Source View objects that packages use. For more information, see Introducing Business Intelligence Development Studio.

  • SQL Server Management Studio uses the Integration Services service to supports the management of Integration Services packages in test and production environments. For more information, see Introducing SQL Server Management Studio.

Both environments use the concept of projects within solutions to organize and manage the items that you use when you build business intelligence solutions. For more information, see Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items.

Note

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 does not support Business Intelligence Development Studio Integration Services, Report Services and Analysis Services projects for SQL Server 2008. To work around this issue, you can install Visual Studio 2008 alongside Visual Studio 2010 on the same machine and then open the Business Intelligence Development Studio projects in Visual Studio 2008.

Understanding Integration Services Projects

In SQL Server Management Studio and Business Intelligence Development Studio, a project is a container in which you develop Integration Services packages.

In Business Intelligence Development Studio, an Integration Services project stores and groups the files that are related to the package. For example, a project includes the files that are required to create a specific extract, transfer, and load (ETL) solution, including the package, data source, and data source view definitions.

Before you create an Integration Services project, you should become familiar with the basic contents of this kind of project. After you understand what a project contains, you can begin creating and working with an Integration Services project.

Folders in Integration Services Projects

The following diagram shows the folders in an Integration Services project.

Integration Services project and folders

The following table describes the folders that appear in an Integration Services project.

Folder

Description

Data Sources

Contains project-level data sources that can be referenced by multiple packages. For more information, see Data Source (SSIS)

Data Source Views

Contains data source views, which are built on data sources and can be referenced by sources, transformations, and destinations. For more information, see Data Source View (SSIS).

SSIS Packages

Contains packages. For more information, see Integration Services Packages and Designing and Implementing Packages (Integration Services).

Miscellaneous

Contains files other than source, data source view, or package files.

Files in Integration Services Projects

When you add a new or an existing Integration Services project to a solution, Business Intelligence Development Studio creates project files that have the extensions .dtproj and .dtproj.user and .database.

  • The *.dtproj file contains information about project configurations and items such as data sources and packages.

  • The *.dtproj.user file contains information about your preferences for working with the project.

  • The *.database file contains information that Business Intelligence Development Studio requires to open the Integration Services project.

Understanding Solutions

In SQL Server Management Studio and Business Intelligence Development Studio, a solution is a container that groups and manages the projects that you use when you develop end-to-end business solutions. A solution lets you handle multiple projects as one unit and to bring together one or more related projects that contribute to a business solution. For more information, see Solutions as Containers.

Solutions in SQL Server Management Studio and Business Intelligence Development Studio can include different types of projects. If you want to use SSIS Designer to create an Integration Services package, you work in an Integration Services project in a solution provided by Business Intelligence Development Studio. For more information, see Introducing Business Intelligence Development Studio.

When you create a new solution, Business Intelligence Development Studio adds a Solution folder to Solution Explorer, and creates files that have the extensions, .sln and .suo:

  • The *.sln file contains information about the solution configuration and lists the projects in the solution.

  • The *.suo file contains information about your preferences for working with the solution.

While Business Intelligence Development Studio automatically creates a solution when you create a new project, you can also create a blank solution, and then add projects later.

Note

By default, when you create a new Integration Services project in Business Intelligence Development Studio, the solution is not shown in the Project Explorer pane. To change this default behavior, on the Tools menus, click Options. In the Options dialog box, expand Projects and Solutions, and then click General. On the General page, select Always show solution.

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Change History

Updated content

Added information about Visual Studio 2010 support for Business Intelligence Development Studio projects.