Split Large Biml Files with the Include Directive

Biml files have a tendency to grow large and quickly become unreadable. The '#@ include file=...#' directive splits a single Biml file into smaller pieces by pulling another file's contents inline at compile time. As a rule of thumb, keep each fragment under about 100 lines.

This snippet pulls in two existing fragments: 'FFF AdventureWorks2012 Person Address.txt' (a FlatFileFormat definition) and 'CnOleDBAdventureWorks2012.txt' (an OLE DB connection definition), then declares a 'FlatFileConnection' inline that references the imported file format by name. The dataflow that follows reads from the OLE DB source and adds a row-number column. Adjust the absolute include paths and the embedded SELECT to match your own filesystem and source table.

<Biml xmlns="http://schemas.varigence.com/biml.xsd">
  <FileFormats>
    <#@ include file="C:\BIML\FFF\FFF AdventureWorks2012 Person Address.txt" #>
  </FileFormats>
  <Connections>
    <#@ include file="C:\BIML\CN\CnOleDBAdventureWorks2012.txt" #>
    <FlatFileConnection Name ="CnFFAdventureWorks2012PersonAddress"
      FileFormat ="FFF AdventureWorks2012 Person Address"
      FilePath="C:\AdventureWorks2012.Person.Address.dat"></FlatFileConnection>
  </Connections>
  <Packages>
    <Package Name="Add.RowNumber.Include" ConstraintMode="Linear">
      <Tasks>
        <Dataflow Name="DFT Add Rownumber">
          <Transformations>
            <OleDbSource Name ="ODS AdventureWorks2012 Person Address"
              ConnectionName ="CnOleDBAdventureWorks2012">
              <DirectInput>
                SELECT [AddressID]

---

Submitted by John Minkjan.