Microsoft SQL Server

This page shows how to connect to Microsoft SQL Server and write SAP data to a Microsoft SQL Server Database or a Microsoft Azure SQL Database. The setup in Xtract Universal.iQ consists of 3 main steps:

Create a connection to a Microsoft SQL Server.
Assign the connection to a service.
Define the properties of your output, e.g, filename, column names, etc.

Connect to an SQL Server

To create a connection to a Microsoft SQL Server:

Open the Connections menu.
Click [Add Connection].
Enter a name in the Connection Name field, e.g., the name of your server.
Select Microsoft SQL Server from the Connection Type dropdown. The corresponding settings open.
Enter the server address of the Microsoft SQL server in the system settings, e.g., myServer.example or 192.168.1.1.
Select a connection method in the system settings and enter the corresponding endpoint.
Select a connection method in the authentication settings and enter the corresponding credentials.
Enter the name of an existing database in the database settings.
Click [Test Connection] to validate the connection parameters. A status message opens in the bottom right corner of the window.
If the connection is successful, click [Save].

The connection is now listed in the Connections menu and can be assigned to services.

Next, assign the destination to a service.

Assign Microsoft SQL Server to a Service

To assign the Microsoft SQL Server destination to a service:

Open the Services menu.
Select one or more services.
Click [ Edit].
Select an existing Microsoft SQL Server connection from the Destination dropdown.
Click [Save].

When running the service, the data is written to the Microsoft SQL Server database.

Next, check if the service-specific destination settings match your needs.

Connection Settings

Connection settings define how Xtract Universal.iQ connects to Microsoft SQL Server. To open the connection settings:

Open the Connections menu.
Select a connection of type Microsoft SQL Server.
Click [ Edit].

The connection settings of the Microsoft SQL Server connection open and can be modified.

System

The System section contains settings that define the Microsoft SQL Server to connect to.

Server Name

Enter the host address of the SQL Server using the following syntax:

Syntax	Example
`[ServerName]`	myServer
`[ServerName].[Domain]`	myServer.example
`[IP Address]`	192.168.1.1

Port

Enter the port number for the SQL Server connection. The default SQL Server port is 1433.

Authentication

The Authentication section contains settings that define how to connect to Microsoft SQL Server.

Authentication Method

The following authentication methods are supported for Microsoft SQL Server:

Authentication Method Description

SQL Server Authentication Connects to Microsoft SQL Server using user credentials. The connection is not encrypted.

SQL Server Authentication (TLS) Connects to Microsoft SQL Server using user credentials and Transport Layer Security encryption. This option adds the parameters Encrypt = On and TrustServerCertificate = Off to the connection string, see Microsoft Documentation: TLS considerations for database connectivity. For more information about the encryption, see Microsoft Documentation: Enable Encrypted Connections to the Database Engine.

User name

The username for the SQL Server authentication.

Password

The password for the SQL Server authentication.

Database

The Database section contains settings that define the Microsoft SQL Server database to connect to.

Database

The name of the Microsoft SQL Server database to connect to.

Test Connection

Click [Text Connection] to validate your connection settings. A status message is displayed at the bottom right corner of the screen.

Destination Settings

Destination settings define how and where a service saves its output data, such as the target folder and filename. To open the destination settings:

Open the Services menu.
Select a service that uses the Microsoft SQL Server connection.
Click [ Edit]. The service settings open.
Open the tab Destination Settings.

The destination settings for Microsoft SQL Server are open and can be modified.

File Name

Determines the name of the target table. The following options are available:

Option	Description
Same as service name	Adopt the name of the service.
Custom	Define a name of your choice in the Custom File Name input field.

Append timestamp

Adds a timestamp in the format _YYYY_MM_DD to the filename of the service.

Column Name Format

Defines the format of the column name. The following options are available:

Option	Description
Code	The SAP technical column name is used as column name in the destination e.g., MAKTX.
PrefixedCode	The SAP technical column name is prefixed by SAP object name and the tilde character e.g., MAKT~MAKTX
CodeAndText	The SAP technical column name and the SAP description separated by an underscore are used as column name in the destination e.g., MAKTX_Material Description (Short Text).
TextAndCode	The SAP description and the SAP technical column name description separated by an underscore are used as column name in the destination e.g., Material Description (Short Text)_MAKTX.
Text	The SAP description is used as column name in the destination e.g., Material Description (Short Text).

Processing

Coming soon...

Date Conversion

Convert SAP Dates

Converts the SAP date format (YYYYMMDD) to a regular date format (YYYY-MM-DD), e.g., 19900101 becomes 1990-01-01. Target data uses a real date data-type and not the string data-type to store dates.

Replace SAP Dates 0000XXXX with

Converts the SAP date 00000000 to the entered value.

Replace SAP Dates 9999XXXX with

Converts the SAP date 9999XXXX to the entered value.

Replace Invalid SAP Dates with

If an SAP date cannot be converted to a valid date format, the invalid date is converted to the entered value. NULL is supported as a value. When converting the SAP date the two special cases 00000000 and 9999XXXX are checked first.

Last update: July 3, 2026