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