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Reading and writing an Excel file using VB.NET

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20 Mar 2007CPOL 394.5K   5.8K   49   51
This code helps the user to interact with an Excel file using the OleDBDataProvider in VB.NET.

Screenshot - ExcelSheet.jpg

Introduction

This articles helps user to Insert, Update, Delete, and Select data in Excel files using the OLEDBDataProvider in VB.NET.

Here is the connection string to connect with Excel using OleDBDataProvider:

VB
Private Const connstring As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
        "Data Source=C:\Test.xls;Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"""

Here is the code on the button click event to select and insert data in an Excel file:

VB
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
        ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    Dim pram As OleDbParameter
    Dim dr As DataRow
    Dim olecon As OleDbConnection
    Dim olecomm As OleDbCommand
    Dim olecomm1 As OleDbCommand
    Dim oleadpt As OleDbDataAdapter
    Dim ds As DataSet
    Try
        olecon = New OleDbConnection
        olecon.ConnectionString = connstring
        olecomm = New OleDbCommand
        olecomm.CommandText = _
           "Select FirstName, LastName, Age, Phone from [Sheet1$]"
        olecomm.Connection = olecon
        olecomm1 = New OleDbCommand
        olecomm1.CommandText = "Insert into [Sheet1$] " & _
            "(FirstName, LastName, Age, Phone) values " & _
            "(@FName, @LName, @Age, @Phone)"
        olecomm1.Connection = olecon
        pram = olecomm1.Parameters.Add("@FName", OleDbType.VarChar)
        pram.SourceColumn = "FirstName"
        pram = olecomm1.Parameters.Add("@LName", OleDbType.VarChar)
        pram.SourceColumn = "LastName"
        pram = olecomm1.Parameters.Add("@Age", OleDbType.VarChar)
        pram.SourceColumn = "Age"
        pram = olecomm1.Parameters.Add("@Phone", OleDbType.VarChar)
        pram.SourceColumn = "Phone"
        oleadpt = New OleDbDataAdapter(olecomm)
        ds = New DataSet
        olecon.Open()
        oleadpt.Fill(ds, "Sheet1")
        If IsNothing(ds) = False Then
            dr = ds.Tables(0).NewRow
            dr("FirstName") = "Raman"
            dr("LastName") = "Tayal"
            dr("Age") = 24
            dr("Phone") = 98989898
            ds.Tables(0).Rows.Add(dr)
            oleadpt = New OleDbDataAdapter
            oleadpt.InsertCommand = olecomm1
            Dim i As Integer = oleadpt.Update(ds, "Sheet1")
            MessageBox.Show(i & " row affected")
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
    Finally
        olecon.Close()
        olecon = Nothing
        olecomm = Nothing
        oleadpt = Nothing
        ds = Nothing
        dr = Nothing
        pram = Nothing
    End Try
End Sub

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


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Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: Great more code being posted THAT DOESN'T WORK OUT OF THE BOX. Pin
Member 389560128-Jan-09 5:28
Member 389560128-Jan-09 5:28 
GeneralRe: Great more code being posted THAT DOESN'T WORK OUT OF THE BOX. Pin
Raman Tayal28-Jan-09 18:14
Raman Tayal28-Jan-09 18:14 
GeneralRe: Great more code being posted THAT DOESN'T WORK OUT OF THE BOX. Pin
Alejandro Marín20-Oct-09 6:42
Alejandro Marín20-Oct-09 6:42 
GeneralRe: Great more code being posted THAT DOESN'T WORK OUT OF THE BOX. Pin
Raman Tayal21-Oct-09 7:47
Raman Tayal21-Oct-09 7:47 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
Member 389560127-Jan-09 13:59
Member 389560127-Jan-09 13:59 
Questionit takes much time to insert nearly 2000 rows from dataset to Excel. Pin
Uemsh19-Jun-08 4:59
Uemsh19-Jun-08 4:59 
AnswerRe: it takes much time to insert nearly 2000 rows from dataset to Excel. Pin
Raman Tayal23-Jun-08 19:35
Raman Tayal23-Jun-08 19:35 
GeneralRe: it takes much time to insert nearly 2000 rows from dataset to Excel. Pin
Uemsh8-Jul-08 11:44
Uemsh8-Jul-08 11:44 
Dataset ds contains data from SQL Server.
I have more than 32 colums in dataset which I need to transform to excel sheet.

Earlier I was assigning values to each cell by looping through dataset as below.

dim i as integer
dim rowNum as integer
Do While i < ds.Tables(0).Rows.Count
wrksheet.Range("A" & rowNum).Value = ds.Tables(0).Rows(i)("wphId")
wrksheet.Range("B" & rowNum).Value = ds.Tables(0).Rows(i)("wphMpdId")
wrksheet.Range("C" & rowNum).Value = ds.Tables(0).Rows(i)("wphCustId")
wrksheet.Range("D" & rowNum).Value = ds.Tables(0).Rows(i)("wphComnts")
'
'
'
'
so on up to total 32 colums
'
'
i += 1
rowNum += 1Loop
Loop


But I found that, instead of going trough all cells one by one we can directly assign values to all cells by using following code
which gives me result within couple if seconds

compare to 32 lines above now i have to write onlyn one line.

Do While i < ds.Tables(0).Rows.Count
wrksheet.Range("A1:AF1").Value = ds.Tables(0).Rows(i).ItemArray
i += 1
Loop

of course your code will give even faster result than above one, but as I was in hurry and need to complete task within my time limit, I found above one as a faster alternative.

today I tried your code, you used something like, "dr.SetAdded()", I am using VB.NET2003 and this gives me error like datarow have no method named SetAdded()

Any way, thanks a lot for answering my question. It was my first question in this website and had good experience.

Thanks
Questionhow can I insert these dataset into my databse Pin
lama819858-May-08 2:50
lama819858-May-08 2:50 
GeneralRead Excel (xls) file which is present on internet (by using VB.Net) Pin
kirangh5-May-08 21:45
kirangh5-May-08 21:45 
GeneralRe: Read Excel (xls) file which is present on internet (by using VB.Net) Pin
SCL_896-Aug-09 22:11
SCL_896-Aug-09 22:11 
GeneralThird party components Pin
FilipKrnjic28-Apr-08 4:04
FilipKrnjic28-Apr-08 4:04 
QuestionError on reading excel file Pin
neelu777930-Oct-07 23:11
neelu777930-Oct-07 23:11 
AnswerRe: Error on reading excel file Pin
Raman Tayal31-Oct-07 18:03
Raman Tayal31-Oct-07 18:03 
GeneralRe: Error on reading excel file [modified] Pin
neelu77791-Nov-07 7:01
neelu77791-Nov-07 7:01 
Generalhelp me Pin
slayer_stb30-Oct-07 18:24
slayer_stb30-Oct-07 18:24 
GeneralRe: help me Pin
Raman Tayal31-Oct-07 18:34
Raman Tayal31-Oct-07 18:34 
GeneralRe: help me Pin
Mick_wijaya30-Jul-08 21:50
Mick_wijaya30-Jul-08 21:50 
Generalpassword protected excel Pin
kenchua525-Jul-07 20:33
kenchua525-Jul-07 20:33 
GeneralRe: password protected excel Pin
privacy space29-Feb-08 3:04
privacy space29-Feb-08 3:04 
GeneralDelete and update Pin
amu rath8-May-07 0:48
amu rath8-May-07 0:48 
GeneralAbout Excel Pin
G.NaaNee12-Apr-07 2:22
G.NaaNee12-Apr-07 2:22 
GeneralRe: About Excel Pin
Raman Tayal12-Apr-07 6:06
Raman Tayal12-Apr-07 6:06 
GeneralRe: About Excel Pin
B_u_n_d_y5-Mar-08 8:51
B_u_n_d_y5-Mar-08 8:51 
GeneralRe: About Excel Pin
Raman Tayal7-Mar-08 6:20
Raman Tayal7-Mar-08 6:20 

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