Automatically Annotating Expression Constraints in SSIS

So thanks to Nick from my course this week for this tip!

The Scenario

Suppose that you have an expression constraint, which will only let SSIS proceed to archive a file if you've imported at least ten rows from it:

The expression constraint shows up as fx.

Here's what this expression constraint looks like:

Assume that NumberRows is a variable which holds ... the number of rows imported.

My previous incorrect advice - use annotations

So until this week, I'd thought that this was about the only case in SSIS where it's worth creating an annotation:

You can right-click to add annotations to control flow diagrams, but the annotation won't move as you drag tasks around.

Better advice - change the property of the expression constraint

A better idea is to right-click on the line joining the tasks, to change its properties:

Right-click on the joining line, and choose Properties as shown.

Choose one of these options:

See below for the annotation options.

Your choices are:

Here's what you'd see for a couple of choices:

ConstraintName	ConstraintOptions

Chouette!