title: Handling datetime with bcp and format file
body: <p>I'm using bcp to import a flat file into an SQL Server 2005 database.</p>
  
  <p>I'm running into a problem with datetime fields.</p>
  
  <p>My format file field is specified as:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;COLUMN SOURCE="15" NAME="DATEOFSERVICE" xsi:type="SQLDATETIME"/&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My data file has dates formatted as:
  19820101</p>
  
  <p>However, some (many) are filled with 00000000</p>
  
  <p>The 00000000 dates fail to import correctly due to a type mismatch.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to specify my format file to handle the zeroed out dates?  Or a way to tell bcp to enter a default if it comes across 00000000?</p>