Chapter Summary

In this chapter, you learned how to use the ActiveX Script task to enable the packages in the data movement application to retrieve parameters from the Windows registry and update global variable values retrieved from the Windows registry and from a SQL table. As a result of the steps you performed in this chapter, as well as the steps you performed in the previous chapters, you are now able to change the names and locations of the data source files, change the database used for source and destination data, and change the folders used for logging, all without having to open or edit a single package. When your data movement application comprises dozens of packages, not having to open and edit the packages will save you time when you migrate the application from the development environment to the production environment.

You also learned how to add branching to the data movement application. You enabled individual packages to be bypassed for a particular execution. You also enabled individual packages to perform a dual function: each dimension package can either add data to its corresponding staging table or delete data from that table. Finally, you enabled a package to add data to its corresponding staging table without necessarily also inserting or updating data in the corresponding dimension table during the same execution.