BI xPress Expressions

EOL: Bi xPress reached its end of life date on June 15, 2022. See the Solarwinds End of Life Policy for more information.

Introduction

Icon	Description
	The Expressions tool allow you to add and edit user-defined expressions. View all of the expressions and configurations within an SSIS Package, and manage pre-written expressions for later use.

Feature Highlights

Keep a library of pre-written expressions
Add new expressions
Edit existing expressions

Expressions Editor

BI xPress Expression Editor

The BI xPress Expression Editor contains all of the functionality provided by the native SSIS expression editor, and offers many more features:

Clean look with only one tree view	Snippet library with more than 25 reusable expressions
Multiple Undo actions	Better description for standard functions provided for expressions
Object icon, object name and property name/data type is displayed in the header	Easy way to enter value or expression for variables (Select the Evaluate As Expression option. This option is not visible for tasks and connections)

Open the BI xPress Expressions Editor by doing one of the following:

Select the Edit Variable icon on the variable toolbar in Visual Studio
Select Expression from the SentryOne Workbench
Select the Edit link in the Expressions window

Note: You can drag and drop variables, snippets, or functions to the specified cursor location in the expression text area.

Expression Highlighter

BI xPress Expression Highlighter

The Expression Highlighter highlights SSIS objects that contain expressions, or objects that are modified by an external configuration.

Note: SSIS items that are modified by an expression are indicated with a Red Circle. SSIS items that are modified by an external configurations are indicated with Blue Circle.

Expression Manager

BI xPress Expression Manager

Expression Manager organizes all your common SSIS expressions that you can use with variables, control flow tasks or a Data Flow pipeline. When you edit a variable task or expression in Visual Studio, all of the user defined expressions are listed under the My Expression node on the expression editor.

Note: Re-arrange item nodes by dragging them into different folder nodes.

Open the Expression Manger by doing one of the following:

Select the Expression manager button from the Variable Toolbar in Visual Studio Select the Expression button on the SentryOne Workbench Select the Expression Manager icon in the Expression Editor

The Expression Manager offers the following features:

Create new expressions and define Title, Description and Syntax (i.e. Expression)	Delete Expressions
Add/Delete Folders to organize expression in groups	Change path of User defined expression file. If you want to share expression file with team you can put expression file on network share so other developers can use it
View standard expressions in read-only mode

The Expression List Add-in automatically lists all expressions for any SSIS objects.

Select Edit to edit the selected expression.
Select the Auto Refresh List option in the Expressions window to toggle this setting on or off.

Note: By default Expressions are refreshed automatically when you add, delete, or rename various SSIS objects.

BI xPress Expressions window in Visual Studio

Use the Enter key to edit selected expression.
Use the Delete key to delete selected expressions in the list.
Hover the mouse on the task icon in the first column to see the property path.
Select the column header to sort in ascending or descending order.