PowerShell Scripting to Replicate CSV Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for CSV offer live access to CSV data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for CSV and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate CSV data to a MySQL database.

After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing CSV data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

The DataSource property must be set to a valid local folder name.

Also, specify the IncludeFiles property to work with text files having extensions that differ from .csv, .tab, or .txt. Specify multiple file extensions in a comma-separated list. You can also set Extended Properties compatible with the Microsoft Jet OLE DB 4.0 driver. Alternatively, you can provide the format of text files in a Schema.ini file.

Set UseRowNumbers to true if you are deleting or updating in CSV. This will create a new column with the name RowNumber which will be used as key for that table.

Collecting CSV Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module CSVCmdlets

2. Connect to CSV:

   $csv = Connect-CSV -DataSource $DataSource

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-CSV -Connection $csv -Table "Customer"

   You can also use the Invoke-CSV cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

   $data = Invoke-CSV -Connection $csv -Query 'SELECT * FROM Customer WHERE FirstName = @FirstName' -Params @{'@FirstName'='Bob'}

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name

Inserting CSV Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

   $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port

3. Loop through the CSV data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the CSV resource (Customer) and to exist in the database.

   $data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Customer" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

You have now replicated your CSV data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with CSV data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to CSV and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

  Select-CSV -Connection $csv -Table "Customer" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Customer" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

• If you wish to replicate the CSV data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-CSV cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

  $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}