If you’ve followed my blog at least somewhat, you’ve probably read a blog post or two where I cover one or several of the really cool features of BI xPress. That’s because, simply put, BI xPress is a very versatile and useful tool that no SSIS developer should be without. It pains me to think about all the time I have to waste whenever I go work for a client that does not have BI xPress.
With that said, one of the smaller but more useful features of BI xPress that I found myself making use of is the Quick Config Edit feature. With Quick Config Edit, you can easily view the configurations being used in your package and edit the values of those configurations very easily, all without leaving BI xPress.
To open Quick Config Edit, go to the BI xPress menu at the top of BIDS and select Quick Config Edit.
Once Configuration Editor is open, you’ll need to specify where your configurations are stored, whether it be on the File System or in a SQL Server table. In my case, I’m using a SQL Server table to configure this particular package. Specify the server, the credentials used, the database, and the table.
You’ll then be able to view the Configurations in your package, the package properties being configured, the values used to configure the package, and also make changes to those configurable values. It even becomes possible to edit multiple package configurations at one time.
Here you can see a configuration I have for a connection string. From this window I can easily adjust the connection string stored in the SQL Server table. Once I make a change to the Value I can just click Save to make the change final.
This is an example of a configuration for a Package Variable. From this view I can easily see the scope of the variable (Foreach Loop Container, in this case), the variable being configured, and the value of the package configuration.
Quick Config Edit also has a very handy feature that makes is easy for you to do a quick Find and Replace of your package configurations, allowing you to update multiple package configurations in the blink of an eye.
Quick Config Edit is a very simple but extremely useful feature. It may seem small, but these are the kinds of features that increase the speed of package development by allowing you to stay in the BIDS environment. This is hands down one of my favorite features of BI xPress because it is so convenient.
Check out this page if you’d like to read more about the features of BI xPress.