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In SSIS, if I start with one step, then have a lot of steps that can happen all at once, and then have another single step after all of those are done, the constraint lines are all over the place. It's ugly and that makes it hard to read. I can move them around, but the next time I load the package, they are ugly again. Is there a way to make them stay where I put them, so I can keep this looking neat?

Here is a partial picture of what I am talking about (This graphic doesn't show up for me).Lots of ugly lines

Lacking the graphic, here is an example in words:

step 1: start a log file 
step 2 (10 of them): load file 1 through load file 10 
step 3: create a flag file 
step 4: ftp all the files to another location
thursdaysgeek
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  • They should stay put. Are you loading the files into source control? This seems to suggest that can cause a problem: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlintegrationservices/thread/7b7919ea-0a4b-4cd8-8208-1997997dfadc – DKnight Mar 22 '11 at 16:22
  • No source control. I mean, yes we use it, but I'm just closing and reopening the same dtsx package in two editing sessions, sometimes without even closing the project. – thursdaysgeek Mar 22 '11 at 16:40
  • In some packages the constraint lines stay put, in others they seem to have a mind of their own, an ugly default that they WILL use. – thursdaysgeek Mar 22 '11 at 16:47
  • Any chance that the Format>Auto Layout looks pretty? Not a fix, i know, but could be better than nothing – DKnight Mar 22 '11 at 16:52
  • That's ugly, but nowhere near as ugly as I had. Put it as an answer and I'll accept it. I see it puts the tasks top to bottom, and I was going mostly left to right. – thursdaysgeek Mar 23 '11 at 00:11
  • Added, but I certainly would not be offended if you hold out for a real fix instead of just a work around. - Good Luck! – DKnight Mar 23 '11 at 03:13
  • I could hold out, but I'm not seeing a lot of activity on this question. If I get a better answer, it will be upvoted over the workaround. I'm not holding my breath. – thursdaysgeek Mar 23 '11 at 17:47
  • Has anyone found a permanent solution for this problem? I've seen it in wholly different environments, so surely it's fairly common. –  May 17 '11 at 15:50

2 Answers2

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They should stay put, i think that you've got a bug there. You can use Format > Auto Layout every time you open it to make it more readable, but that's really just a workaround.

DKnight
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    enourmous kudos for this answer, sorry but i've recently gone back to ssis after a hiatus and had lines everywhere you just made me very happy with this old but accurate answer :) – krystan honour May 31 '13 at 08:55
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Move your 10 tasks in step 2 into a sequence container. Drag line from step 1 to sequence container. Drag line from sequence container to step 3.

You don't need any lines between the 10 tasks (if they are to be run in parallel in whatever order ssis chooses). You'll end up with one line from step 1 to sequence container, and one line from sequence container to step 3.

cairnz
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  • That's a better solution, although ideally, the lines stay where you put them. It's better, however, because there are less lines to begin with. – thursdaysgeek May 17 '11 at 21:25