SSIS: Word-wrapping Annotations (Using Only Notepad)

Remember that Twilight Zone episode, where a man sells his soul to the Devil for immortality, only to be sentenced to life in prison the next day?

I'm learning SSIS (2005, for now), and have discovered, like all those before me, that Microsoft implemented Annotations, but... they don't word-wrap! Your Annotation must fit on one really long one line! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Of course, I'm no longer surprised by anything SSIS: I even have a bookmark for "SSIS" Google searches now. And that's how I found Paul Blackwell's excellent Hidden SSIS Features: Word Wrapping Your Annotations And More which covers the subject extremely well. I highly recommend the entire article, especially the section titled Transparency & Word Wrapping.

Another very interesting read is [SSIS] Modifier l'apparence des packages via l'API [FAIL] by François Jehl. (We non-Francophones can use Google's translate-to-English, or the page itself has a Microsoft translation button.) After some research, his conclusion is that Annotations are a feature from a product created before SSIS ("DaVinci Design Surface", hence "MSDDS"), which might explain why Annotations are hacked implemented in SSIS package files as XML nested inside the document's XML. (Hmmm... that would explain all the <s and >s floating around!) For what François was attempting, that was a fatal roadblock. Fortunately, we're not trying anything nearly so ambitious or useful as he was - certainly nothing Notepad can't handle!

Anyway, using what they've uncovered, here's how to make your Annotations word-wrap. (This is how I do it - use at your own risk, and make a backup of your package file first). Close Visual Studio, and open the package file in Notepad. Search for controlprogid="MSDDS.Text", and you'll be treated to nested XML that looks something like this:

<ddscontrol controlprogid="MSDDS.Text" left="4118" top="-655" logicalid="18" controlid="9" masterid="0" hint1="0" hint2="0" width="6153" height="994" noresize="0" nomove="0" nodefaultattachpoints="1" autodrag="0" usedefaultiddshape="1" selectable="1" showselectionhandles="1" allownudging="1" isannotation="0" dontautolayout="0" groupcollapsed="0" tabstop="1" visible="1" snaptogrid="0">
    <control>
      <ddsxmlobjectstreaminitwrapper binary="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" />
    </control>
    <layoutobject>
      <ddsxmlobj />
    </layoutobject>
    <shape groupshapeid="0" groupnode="0" />
  </ddscontrol>

See the red "2" at position 61 of the ddsxmlobjectstreaminitwrapper item? To enable word-wrap, simply OR in a value of 1: in this case, we change the "10" (decimal 2) to "11" (decimal 3). Once that's done, save the package file (you made a backup first, right?), exit Notepad, open the package with Visual Studio, and - viola! - your Annotation is word-wrapped! Now do the same thing for all your other Annotations. (Hey, it's a hack, not magic.)

So, if it's just a bit-flip, why didn't Microsoft simply put a checkbox on the Properties page for Annotations? Because... Annotations don't have Property pages! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!