Visual Studio 2015 SSIS - Custom SSIS component not picked up in SSIS toolbox

Question

I'm having a problem adding a custom SSIS component to SSIS in Visual Studio 2015.

My system is: Windows 8.1 64 bit

Visual Studio Community 2015 Version 14.0.24720.00 Update 1

Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services Designer Version 13.0.900.80 (I've installed the SQL Server 2016 CTP3.2 so the version of SSIS is this version - this may be part of the problem and it isn't a fully released product and this may be a bug)

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 4.6.01055

I've tried using assemblies from 110 and 120. I've added both dll's to the GAC, put them in the x86 and x64 folders (see below) with different strongly signed names.

110 assemblies

c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\PipelineComponents c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\PipelineComponents

120 assemblies

c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\120\DTS\PipelineComponents c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\DTS\PipelineComponents

I've researched this, but can't find any definitive answers to problems. People seem to ask questions, get some responses, and then there is no response telling anyone how to solve this problem as in the following post.

Visual Studio 2015 Integration Services project does not pick up my custom SSIS component

The only difference from the original post is that I'm using SQL Server Data Tools Preview (December) for Visual Studio 2015, but that shouldn't matter should it?

I've tried changing the assemblies referenced in the project. After trying my own code I found the following page that describes how to start building a custom SSIS component and without doing to much work build it, add the dll to the GAC and to the appropriate DTS folder.

• Developing a Custom SSIS Source Component

What would be really useful would be to develop an installer that picks up the system settings, installs to the GAC, and copies the dll to the correct folder for it to be picked up by the SSIS Toolbox. It's almost as if Microsoft want to make it as hard as possible to create and install new SSIS components.

So questions that I have: 1. What version of .NET should I be using for an SSIS component in Visual Studio 2015? 2. What version of the gacutil should I be using (I've heard this matters)? 3. What folder does the dll need to be put into to be picked up by the SSIS toolbox. 4. Should I put the dll in the x86 or x64 folder? My system is x64, but the Visual Studio exe is an x86 executable so I'm guessing the x86 folder is the correct one. 5. Does it matter if I put the dll in multiple folders? 5. Has anyone actually managed to add a custom SSIS component in Visual Studio 2015?

Any help or comments would be much appreciated.

Matt

Answer 1

OP's Comment, converted to answer:

Ok, I've finally managed to work this one out:

I used the .NET Framework 4.6. I made sure that I added to the gac using the gacutil.exe in the following folder: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v10.0A\\bin\\NETFX 4.6 Tools and I copied the dll to the following folder: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SQL Server\\130\\DTS\\PipelineComponents

After refreshing the SSIS toolbox the component now appears in the Common folder/subsection.

I hope this helps anyone else who has had this problem.

– mattp Jan 31 '16 at 2:14