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Category: Biml

These posts are about Biml (Business Intelligence Markup Language), BimlScript, BimlExpress, BimlStudio, the BimlHero Certified Expert Program and events by the Biml community or Varigence. Older posts may mention BI Developer Extensions, BIDS Helper, Mist or BimlOnline.

Don't Repeat Your Biml - C#/VB Code Files

Biml Wheel.

Do you use C#/VB classes and methods in your Biml projects? One solution is to create class nuggets <#+ … #>, but they can only be used in their containing Biml file. You can move class nuggets to separate files and include those files, but a more elegant solution is to use C#/VB Code Files.

In addition to using C#/VB Code Files, there are four other main ways you can avoid repeating your Biml code:

In this post, we will look at how to use C#/VB Code Files.

Don't Repeat Your Biml - Include Files

Biml Wheel.

Are you using Biml so you won’t have to do the same tasks over and over and over again in multiple SSIS packages? If so, you probably don’t want to write the same Biml code over and over and over again either. Instead, you can move common code to separate files, centralize and reuse these files in many projects, and update code in one file to make changes to all projects. One of the ways to apply this Don’t Repeat Yourself software engineering principle in Biml is to use Include Files.

In addition to using Include Files, there are four other main ways you can avoid repeating your Biml code:

In this post we will look at how to use Include Files.

Create SSIS Project Parameters from Biml

Biml Wheel.

If you are using BIDS Helper or BimlExpress to generate SSIS packages in the Project Deployment model, you have probably noticed that it is not possible to create project parameters from Biml. You can write Biml for the project and project parameters, but BIDS Helper / BimlExpress will only generate the SSIS packages for you and not the SSIS project parameters. The recommended solution is that you create the project parameters manually before you generate your SSIS packages from Biml.

(Want to know why? Read Scott Currie’s explanation in my blog post Why can’t I create SSIS Project Parameters from Biml?)

However, if you are a lazy developer like me, you probably don’t want to create and update project parameters manually. Perhaps you want to automatically create or update project parameters based on some metadata? You can do that!

Let’s take a look at a (semi-hardcoded, semi-hack) solution for creating SSIS project parameters from Biml in BIDS Helper / BimlExpress 🤓

Don't Repeat Your Biml - CallBimlScript

Biml Wheel.

Are you using Biml so you won’t have to do the same tasks over and over and over again in multiple SSIS packages? If so, you probably don’t want to write the same Biml code over and over and over again either. Instead, you can move common code to separate files, centralize and reuse these files in many projects, and update code in one file to make changes to all projects. One of the ways to apply this Don’t Repeat Yourself software engineering principle in Biml is to use CallBimlScript.

In addition to using CallBimlScript, there are four other main ways you can avoid repeating your Biml code:

In this post we will look at how to use CallBimlScript with Parameters.