R: Insert csv-file into database using RJDBC - r

Question

As RJDBC is the only package I have been able to make work on Ubuntu, I am trying to use it to INSERT a CSV-file into a database.
I can make the following work:
# Connecting to database
library(RJDBC)
drv <- JDBC('com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver', 'drivers/sqljdbc42.jar', identifier.quote="'")
connection_string <- "jdbc:sqlserver://blablaserver;databaseName=testdatabase"
ch <- dbConnect(drv, connection_string, "username", "password")
# Inserting a row
dbSendQuery(ch, "INSERT INTO cpr_esben.CPR000_Startrecord (SORTFELT_10,OPGAVENR,PRODDTO,PRODDTOFORRIG,opretdato) VALUES ('TEST', 123, '2012-01-01', '2012-01-01', '2012-01-01')")
The insert works. Next I try to make an INSERT of a CSV-file with the same data, that is separated by the default "tab" and I am working on windows.
# Creating csv
df <- data.frame(matrix(c('TEST', 123, '2012-01-01', '2012-01-01', '2012-01-01'), nrow = 1), stringsAsFactors = F)
colnames(df) <- c("SORTFELT_10","OPGAVENR","PRODDTO","PRODDTOFORRIG","opretdato")
class(df$SORTFELT_10) <- "character"
class(df$OPGAVENR) <- "character"
class(df$PRODDTO) <- "character"
class(df$PRODDTOFORRIG) <- "character"
class(df$opretdato) <- "character"
write.table(df, file = "test.csv", col.names = FALSE, quote = FALSE)
# Inserting CSV to database
dbSendQuery(ch, "INSERT cpr_esben.CPR000_Startrecord FROM 'test.csv'")
Unable to retrieve JDBC result set for INSERT cpr_esben.CPR000_Startrecord FROM 'test.csv' (Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'FROM'.)
Do you have any suggestions to what I am doing wrong, when trying to insert the csv-file? I do not get the Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'FROM' error?

Answer 1

What if you create a statement from your data? Something like:
# Data from your example
df <- data.frame(matrix(c('TEST', 123, '2012-01-01', '2012-01-01', '2012-01-01'), nrow = 1), stringsAsFactors = F)
colnames(df) <- c("SORTFELT_10","OPGAVENR","PRODDTO","PRODDTOFORRIG","opretdato")
class(df$SORTFELT_10) <- "character"
class(df$OPGAVENR) <- "character"
class(df$PRODDTO) <- "character"
class(df$PRODDTOFORRIG) <- "character"
class(df$opretdato) <- "character"
# Formatting rows to insert into SQL statement
rows <- apply(df, 1, function(x){paste0('"', x, '"', collapse = ', ')})
rows <- paste0('(', rows, ')')
# SQL statement
statement <- paste0(
"INSERT INTO cpr_esben.CPR000_Startrecord (",
paste0(colnames(df), collapse = ', '),
')',
' VALUES ',
paste0(rows, collapse = ', ')
)
dbSendQuery(ch, statement)
This should work for any number of rows in your df

Answer 2

RJDBC is built on DBI, which has many useful functions to do tasks like this. What you want is dbWriteTable. Syntax would be:
dbWriteTable(ch, 'cpr_esben.CPR000_Startrecord', df, append = TRUE)
and would replace your write.table line.
I am not that familiar with RJDBC specifically, but I think the issue with your sendQuery is that you are referencing test.csv inside your SQL statement, which does not locate the file that you created with write.table as the scope of that SQL statement is not in your working directory.

Answer 3

Have you tried loading the file directly to the database as below.
library(RJDBC)
drv <- JDBC("connections")
conn <- dbConnect(drv,"...")
query = "LOAD DATA INFILE 'test.csv' INTO TABLE test"
dbSendUpdate(conn, query)
You can also try to include other statements in the end like delimiter for column like "|" for .txt file and "," for csv file.