Good Morning!

I have not used IB's external tables but I have
used MS Sql's bcp utility.You can use it to populate a
table with data from a test file.

Here is a smaple bat file that we used in a
production environment:

echo off

if not exist .\Data\Bosc_Hier.txt exit
echo on

c:\MSsql\binn\isql /S %ComputerName% /U sa /P EUREKA
/n /i .\Sql\Bosc_CreateLoadTable.SQL /o
.\audits\Bosc_CreateLoadTable.LOG
type .\audits\Bosc_CreateLoadTable.LOG

This line called a SQL script that prepared the
table.

c:\MSsql\binn\bcp ws..bosc_cost_ctr_hier_load in
.\Data\Bosc_Hier.txt /S TXDFWAS011 /U sa /P EUREKA /f
.\Sql\BCP_Hier.fmt /e .\audits\Bosc_BCP_Err.LOG /b
1000 /a 8192 > .\Audits\Bosc_BCP_Hier.LOG
type .\audits\Bosc_BCP_Hier.LOG

This line pumped the data in.

Do a search in Sql Server BOL for bcp. It explains
all the switches.

HTH...Dan'l

> Unfortunatley for me, I have to support both FB and
> SQLServer (Possibly Oracle further down the road),
> so I'm either going to have two methods of doing
> this, or go with something slower. Another
> unfortunate thing is that the fast way of doing it
> in FB and SQLServer are so different (FB with the
> external tables, SQLServer with the data import
> utility). Makes me wish my customers weren't
> clamoring for SQLServer (and Oracle down the line).
> :)

=====
____________________________________
Every day is a Great day, but
some days are GREATER than others!

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com