Click here to Skip to main content
15,860,859 members
Articles / Web Development / ASP.NET
Article

C# - Retrieve Excel Workbook Sheet Names.

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.88/5 (84 votes)
25 Aug 2004 531.3K   108   49
This article provides a way to retrieve the worksheet names of an Excel Workbook. This can be used to query a workbook using ADO.NET if you do not know the names of the worksheets.

Introduction

There are many examples using ADO.NET to query an Excel Workbook but they all have a limitation, you must know the worksheet name. This might work if you know the name of the worksheet, but what if you don't? If your program is dynamic and your sheet names differ for each Excel workbook, you need a way to extract the names of the sheets. The code example provides you with a way to retrieve the work sheet names.

The following method returns a string array containing the names of the sheets. The method also shows how to loop through the array. The method has one input parameter excelFile which is the location of the Excel file.

Code Example

C#
/// <summary>
/// This mehtod retrieves the excel sheet names from 
/// an excel workbook.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="excelFile">The excel file.</param>
/// <returns>String[]</returns>
private String[] GetExcelSheetNames(string excelFile)
{
  OleDbConnection objConn = null;
  System.Data.DataTable dt = null;

  try
  {
    // Connection String. Change the excel file to the file you
    // will search.
    String connString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" + 
        "Data Source=" + excelFile + ";Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;";
    // Create connection object by using the preceding connection string.
    objConn = new OleDbConnection(connString);
    // Open connection with the database.
    objConn.Open();
    // Get the data table containg the schema guid.
    dt = objConn.GetOleDbSchemaTable(OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables, null);
 
    if(dt == null)
    {
      return null;
    }

    String[] excelSheets = new String[dt.Rows.Count];
    int i = 0;

    // Add the sheet name to the string array.
    foreach(DataRow row in dt.Rows)
    {
      excelSheets[i] = row["TABLE_NAME"].ToString();
      i++;
    }

    // Loop through all of the sheets if you want too...
    for(int j=0; j < excelSheets.Length; j++)
    {
      // Query each excel sheet.
    }

    return excelSheets;
  }
  catch(Exception ex)
  {
    return null;
  }
  finally
  {
    // Clean up.
    if(objConn != null)
    {
      objConn.Close();
      objConn.Dispose();
    }
    if(dt != null)
    {
      dt.Dispose();
    }
  }
}

Enjoy...

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
United States United States
This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralDoesn't seem to work with Excel 5.0 files. Pin
tolsen649-Feb-06 12:37
professionaltolsen649-Feb-06 12:37 
GeneralAdd Worksheet Pin
HakunaMatada7-Oct-05 20:25
HakunaMatada7-Oct-05 20:25 
GeneralGetting retriving excel sheets Pin
godfathers2-Mar-05 22:09
godfathers2-Mar-05 22:09 
GeneralRe: Getting retriving excel sheets Pin
abhi kumar16-Aug-05 20:05
abhi kumar16-Aug-05 20:05 
QuestionA Better Way??? Pin
Anonymous30-Oct-04 12:32
Anonymous30-Oct-04 12:32 
AnswerRe: A Better Way??? Pin
Mike Ellison30-Oct-04 13:59
Mike Ellison30-Oct-04 13:59 
GeneralExcel Sheets Pin
Anonymous15-Sep-04 9:23
Anonymous15-Sep-04 9:23 
GeneralGood Work Pin
Terence Wallace30-Aug-04 17:45
Terence Wallace30-Aug-04 17:45 
Never thought to use ADO.NET with an Excel Workbook. 4 Balls though, the webpage is out of wack had to scroll right to left to read the entire article.Hmmm | :|
Generalgood tip Pin
Ashley van Gerven26-Aug-04 16:31
Ashley van Gerven26-Aug-04 16:31 
GeneralRe: good tip Pin
Labrat00226-Aug-04 20:17
Labrat00226-Aug-04 20:17 
GeneralRe: good tip Pin
Ashley van Gerven30-Aug-04 3:18
Ashley van Gerven30-Aug-04 3:18 
QuestionHidden Sheets? Pin
Mike Ellison26-Aug-04 7:12
Mike Ellison26-Aug-04 7:12 
AnswerRe: Hidden Sheets? Pin
Kenneth Young30-Aug-04 9:47
Kenneth Young30-Aug-04 9:47 
QuestionRe: Hidden Sheets? Pin
ankitbansal8230-Oct-06 1:16
ankitbansal8230-Oct-06 1:16 
AnswerRe: Hidden Sheets? Pin
SuperDuckZA_PS27-Jul-07 2:26
SuperDuckZA_PS27-Jul-07 2:26 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.