I am doing my first dts and I am getting very fustrated.

Need to ftp some files, massage some data, and load it in a table.
Using dts seems very cumbersome
Reading the files via ftp doesn't work because can't change directories on
mainframe
Copy files from win server cumbersome because can't specify user connection
Checking/reporting errors and controling program flow very hard because
error handling is very primitive (getting exception, global handlers etc).
Doing transaction handling for failures doesn't seem intuitive. Going into
disconnected edit all the time to set parameters, doesn't make the package
easy to understand or edit.

My boss said to use DTS because it would be easier for a non-programer to
debug if it the package failed. I don't know if I agree because getting good
error messages to the operator seems hard. For example in an exe it's
trivial to have exception handling and report that permissions were bad, the
network is down etc. In DTS many of the functions (e.g. FTP) report success
even if they don't work. So you write tons of code to check to see if a task
really completed. You get a message that the task didn't complete, but why
didn't it complete.

Should I shelve DTS because I can write an exe to do the same thing much
faster or am I missing something??????????

p.s., this is not a flame just wondering if I should use an exe or trudge on
with DTS. I am fluent in C# so writing a robust program would only take a
little while (less since I am DTS newbie).

DTS is a hammer but not everything is a nail. Your choice of tool
should be about what you and the people after you feel most comfortable
with. If your C# version is much quicker and more supportable in your
opinion then go with it.

Error handling sure is a pain right now in DTS (Wait until IS comes
along)

Use a batch file to do FTP and call through the ExecuteProcess task

Transaction handling is something I have never found to be a problem
although remember that not everything supports them.

Don't know why you need to use Disco Edit to set parameters al the time
though???


Allan

"Chuck P" <nospam (AT) crlf (DOT) com> wrote