Is it possible to insert an entire VB.NET DataTable into a SQL Server at once

Question

I have a SQLClient.DataSet in VB.NET, and I want to insert the entire thing into a SQL Server table without having to do the following:

For Each dr as Datarow in MyDataset
  Dim sc As New SqlCommand("INSERT INTO MyNewTable " & _
                            "VALUES (@column1, @column2)", MyDBConnection)
  sc.Parameters.AddWithValue("@column1", dr.Item(0))
  sc.Parameters.AddWithValue("@column2", dr.Item(1))
  sc.ExecuteNonQuery()
Next

Since I've got close to a million rows (all pretty skinny, so it's not much space), I obviously don't want to run this loop and generate a million INSERT statements.

I know that one option is to use a linked server when I initially fetch the data, since it's coming from another SQL Server, and just have it to the INSERT from there. However, if I already have the data in my application, is there a more efficient way to bulk insert it? Can I somehow pass the DataTable as a parameter to SQL Server and have it sort it out and insert the rows?

Answer 1

try with SqlBulkCopy

Answer 2

You could call .WriteXML() on the DataSet and dump that into the database in one insert.

Answer 3

Use the SqlDataAdapter's InsertCommand to define your Insert query. Then call the DataAdapter's Update Method with your dataset as a parameter to have it push the data.

Something like:

Dim DA As SqlDataAdapter = New SqlDataAdapter
Dim Parm As New SqlParameter

DA.InsertCommand = New SqlCommand("Insert Into tbl1(fld0, fld1, fld2) Values(@fld0, @fld1, @fld2)", conn)
Parm = DA.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter ("@fld0", NVarChar, 50, "fld0"))
Parm = sqlDA.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter ("@fld1", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50, "fld1"))
Parm = sqlDA.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter ("@fld2", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50, "fld2"))
DA.Update(dataset1, "tbl1")

Answer 4

With SQL Server 2008 you can use Table-Valued Parameters:

Dim sc As New SqlCommand(
  "INSERT INTO MyNewTable (field1, field2,...)"&
    "SELECT field1, field2,... FROM @MyTable;", MyDBConnection) 
sc.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MyTable", MyDataset)  
sc.ExecuteNonQuery()