PRB: DTS Wizard "Fixed Field Column Positions" Wraps Text (271247)

MORE INFORMATION

Consider a text file that contains the following:

Data1  Data2
Data1  DataXXX
Data1  DataYYY

Perform these steps:

Open the DTS Wizard.
Select Text File as the import source, and then point the Wizard to the saved text file.
Select the Fixed Field option button.
Accept the other defaults.
Press Next.
In the Fixed Field Column Positions dialog box, note that the text is wrapped as follows:
```
Data1  Data2
Data1  DataX
XXData1  Dat
aYYY 
					
```
Place a column break on position 5 (for illustration purposes).
Note that the data is divided by this marker as follows:
```
     |
Data1|  Data2
Data1|  DataX
XXDat|a1  Dat
aYYY |
     |
						
```
This seems to imply that after insertion, the result set may appear as follows:
```
Col001       Col002
---------------------
Data1        Data2
Data1        DataX
XXDat        a1  Dat
aYYY         (null)
						
```
However, this is not the case. Actually, the data is read in fixed lengths until the end of the text row is reached by the row delimiter. At that point, any data that appears after the fixed length columns (set by the first row of data) is ignored. The next row in the text file does not consider these left over characters. Instead, it is read from the beginning. The result set that would be inserted is as follows:
```
Col001       Col002
---------------------
Data1        Data2
Data1        DataX
Data1        DataY
						
```