Question

I’m trying to import a text file defined by a .fmt format. Instead of being comma-delimited, this text file is what I would call column-delimited (i.e. the first 8 characters is the first field, the next 3 characters is the second, etc). When I run the query below, I get a "Operating system error code (null)" message, which is odd since I’m using SQL Server 2008r2 with Vista.

Please explain to me what this error message means and how do I get around it? I’ve googled it and found similar questions on other forums, but they’re never really answered.

Here’s my query:

BULK INSERT LoadTable FROM '\\Dev2\Queries\Test.txt'
WITH (FIRSTROW = 2,
      FORMATFILE = '\\Dev2\fmt\Test.fmt',
      KEEPNULLS)

Here’s the error I get:

Cannot bulk load because the file "\\Dev2\fmt\test.fmt" could not be read. 
Operating system error code (null).

Here’s what Test.fmt contains:

9.0
7
1   SQLCHAR 0   8   ""  1   Record_Control_Data SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
2   SQLCHAR 0   3   ""  2   Filler  ""
3   SQLCHAR 0   1   ""  3   Member_Code SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
4   SQLCHAR 0   2   ""  4   Member_Sequence_Number  SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
5   SQLCHAR 0   9   ""  5   Participant_SSN SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
6   SQLCHAR 0   20  ""  6   LastName    SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
7   SQLCHAR 0   250 "\r\n"  7   Filler10    SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

(This test.fmt and test.txt is a simplified version of a dataset with 120 columns. But the error message is the same. Once I can get this test version running, I’ll apply the fix to the real data)

Edit

In response to the other half-answers around the web, I should have complete read/write permission to these folders & files.

Answer 1

The .fmt file needs a blank line at the very end.