Export data to CSV in SQL Server

Question

Hi,
I am trying to write a Java JDBC program exporting data
from the database into CSV file using SQL Server 2005 DB.
From that query:
String="SELECT * into OUTFILE '"+filename+'" FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' FROM table1";
getting: "SQLException: Incorrect syntax near 'myfilename.csv'
Yes, I put filename in single quotes. Same problem without them, but it strips out csv file extension.
Using JTDS driver 1.2.4 on WinXP.
Will later need to insert that into a batch process.
What is a reason for that error? - I saw many many posts on the net, but no good explanations so far.
So how do I fix that ?
Is there a better way of doing it in SQL server ?
I am a Java developer, not a DBA or Unix Sys Admin ;-)
Please help !
TIA,
Oleg.

Answer 1

Here is one way to do it in Java. You can customize as you like. Do a Google on how to get a DataSource (or DriverManager) connection for SqlServer. If you do not know how to get a PrintWriter, you do something like:
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(new FileOutputStream('results.csv");This will generate a generic CSV. It is probably not ideal, but should get you started.
    public final void serialize(final DataSource ds, final String sql, final PrintWriter writer)
        throws SQLException {
        Connection conn = null;
        PreparedStatement stmt = null;
        ResultSet results = null;
        try {
            conn = ds.getConnection();
            stmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql);
            results = stmt.executeQuery();
            ResultSetMetaData meta = results.getMetaData();
            int columnCount = meta.getColumnCount();
            while (results.next()) {
                for (int current = 0; current < columnCount; current++) {
                    Object value = results.getObject(current + 1);
                    if (current > 0) {
                        writer.print(", ");
                    writer.print("\"" + (value == null ? "" : value.toString()) + "\"");
                writer.println();
            writer.flush();
        finally {
            if (results != null) {
                try {
                    results.close();
                catch (SQLException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
            if (stmt != null) {
                try {
                    stmt.close();
                catch (SQLException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
            if (conn != null) {
                try {
                    conn.close();
                catch (SQLException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
    }My advice is to use BCP to start. The docs for the tool are here: [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174646(SQL.80).aspx]. You can manipulate the results in Access or Excel if you need to. Since it seems you are being thrown into an emergency and getting it fast is more important than you spending months learning additional Java API's.
- Saish