Task Objects

A DTS package includes one or more tasks; each task defines a work item to be performed as part of the transformation process.

The types of tasks that can be defined include:

• Execute SQL task

  Executes one or more SQL statements.

• Data Pump task

  Specifies the source and destination data sources and the data transformations for a Data Pump operation. The DTS Data Pump copies and transforms heterogeneous data from a source OLE DB data source to a destination OLE DB data source.

• Microsoft® ActiveX® Script task

  Executes a ActiveX, Microsoft Visual Basic® Scripting Edition, Microsoft JScript®, or PerlScript script. These scripts can perform any operation supported by their scripting language, allowing the implementation of any complex procedural logic required. ActiveX scripts can also access and manipulate data using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), or invoke any object that supports OLE Automation.

• Execute Process task

  Executes an external program.

• Bulk Insert task

  Performs a SQL Server bulk copy operation.

• Send Mail task

  Sends an e-mail or page using SQL Mail.

• Data Driven Query task

  Performs advanced data transformations between OLE DB data sources.

• Transfer SQL Server Objects task

  Transfers complete objects from on SQL Server 7.0 OLE DB data source to another.

You also can create custom tasks when you need to implement more complex processing than can be specified in the DTS tasks that ship with SQL Server. A custom task is implemented in Visual Basic or C++. Custom tasks can include their own customized user interface and dialog boxes. A custom task can be included in DTS Designer by clicking Register Custom Task on the Task menu. A custom task can define its own icon. When the custom task is registered in DTS Designer its icon is added to the Task pad. The custom task also can be used in COM applications using the DTS API.