The Trash Destination is now available for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008

The Trash Destination and this article came from early experiences of using SSIS and community feedback at the time. When developing a package it is very useful to have a destination adapter that does nothing but consume rows with no setup requirement. You often want run a package part way through development, or just add a path so you can set a Data Viewer. There are stock tasks that can be used, but with the Trash Destination all columns are treated as selected automatically (usage type of read-only), so the pipeline knows they are required. It is also obvious that this is for development or diagnostic purposes, and is clearly not a part of the functional design of the package. It is also ideal for just playing around and exploring concepts in SSIS, and is often used in conjunction with the Data Generator Source. Using these two components it is easy to setup a test of an expression in the Derived Column Transformation for example. The Data Generator Source provides some dummy data, and the Trash Destination allows you to anchor the output path and set a Data Viewer to examine the results.

It can also be used when performance tuning packages. It is a consistent and known quantity that has no external influences, so it is ideal as a destination when breaking the data flow into sections to isolate a bottleneck.

The adapter is really simple to use and requires no setup. Simply drop it onto the pipeline designer and use it to terminate your data flow path.

Adding the adapter to your toolbox

After you have installed the adapter you will need to add it to your toolbox before you can use it. You can follow these simple steps

1. Choose Items in your Toolbox

In your SSIS package Right click on your toolbox and select "Choose Items..."

1. Locate and select the adpater

In the tabbed dialog box that appears click the tab that is labelled "SSIS Data Flow Items", locate the Trash Destination, check the box next to it and click OK

1. Viewing the adapter in your toolbox

In your SSIS package now move to the DataFlow tab and look under the "Data Flow Destinations" section of your toolbox. The adapter should now appear as below. Enjoy.

The Trash Destination Adapter is available for both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008, and now supports seamless upgrades. Please choose the version to match your SQL Server version, or you can install both versions and use them side by side if you have both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 installed.

Version 2.0.0.33 - SQL Server 2008 February 2008 CTP. Includes support for upgrade of 2005 packages.
(4 Mar 2008)

Version 2.0.0.31 - SQL Server 2008 November 2007 CTP.
(14 Feb 2008)

Version 1.0.2.18 - SQL Server 2005 RTM Refresh. SP1 Compatibility Testing.
(12 Jun 2006)

Version 1.0.1.1 - SQL Server 2005 IDW 15 June CTP. Minor enhancements over v1.0.1.0.
(11 Jun 2005)

Version 1.0.1.0 - SQL Server 2005 IDW 14 April CTP. First Public Release.
(30 May 2005)

There are no settings or options for this destination, but just for completeness: