“Invalid BXL stream” in MS-SQL server while executing R scripts

Question

I am executing an R script as ms-sql stored procedure. I\'m trying to use the \"geosphere\" package, however when I execute the stored procedure, I\'m getting the error \"Invali

Answer 1

I know this question is dated but I've run into the same issue multiple times so I wanted to leave my results here.

What I've found in using sp_execute_external_script to run R and Python scripts in MS-SQL 2016/17 is that the BXL error comes for 2 different reasons

1. Bad data types - Often, SQL doesn't understand the data types being sent out of the script. Usually explicitly casting the data as a certain datatype helps here.

2. Bad package configuration - Certain packages in the R and Anaconda distributions don't sync well with the stored procedure since the database blocks certain dependencies in these packages. Try reinstalling the package in the SQL installed instance of R or Python.

It seems that your problem falls in the latter category. I hope that helped!