Reading from Excel sheet

Question

I have written the code below to read data from an Excel sheet and display data in a combobox in Visual Basic.

However, when I click "run" nothing is displayed.

Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyConnection As New OleDb.OleDbConnection
        Dim MyCommand As New OleDb.OleDbCommand
        Dim filePath, sql As String
        filePath = "C:\Users\Nour\Desktop\projects\grade10\grade10\atlas.xlsx"
        sql = "Select continent from [Sheet1]"
        MyConnection.ConnectionString = $"Provider= Microsoft.Jet._OLEDB 11.0;data source = {filePath};Extended_Properties=Excel 8.0"
        MyConnection.Open()
        MyCommand.Connection = MyConnection
        MyCommand.CommandText = sql
        Dim da As New OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter
        da.SelectCommand = MyCommand
        Dim dt As New DataTable
        da.Fill(dt)
        Me.ComboBox1.DataSource = dt
        Me.ComboBox1.DisplayMember = dt.Columns(0).ToString


        MyConnection.Close()

Answer 1

Try this code

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim fname As String = "C:\Users\Nour\Desktop\projects\grade10\grade10\atlas.xlsx"
        Dim connectionStringTemplate As String = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;" + "Data Source={0};" + "Extended Properties=""Excel 12.0;HDR=Yes"""
        Dim connectionString As String = String.Format(connectionStringTemplate, fname)
        Dim sqlSelect As String = "SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$];"
        Dim workbook As DataSet = New DataSet()
        Dim excelAdapter As System.Data.Common.DataAdapter = New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter(sqlSelect, connectionString)
        excelAdapter.Fill(workbook)
        Dim worksheet As DataTable = workbook.Tables(0)
        ComboBox1.DataSource = worksheet
        Me.ComboBox1.DisplayMember = worksheet.Columns(0).ToString
    End Sub

Answer 2

To read an xlsx file, rather than an xls file, you will need the ACE provider instead of the JET provider. You need to add the Extended Property "HDR=Yes" to tell it there is a header row.

The name of a worksheet needs a $ after it.

To make up a connection string, you can use a connectionstringbuilder - it will take care of adding any quotes or whatever is needed to create a valid connection string from the individual parts.

A DataAdapter will open and close the connection for you.

Some entities use unmanaged resources (i.e. they don't get automatically cleaned up after use) - they will have a .Dispose() method which will release those resources. Or you can use the Using construct to have it taken care of for you.

I used the ColumnName property instead of ToString as it is more obvious what it is.

I made a small Excel xlsx file to test with and used this program:

Imports System.Data.OleDb

Public Class Form1

    Sub PopulateCB()
        Dim filepath = "C:\temp\Continents.xlsx"

        Dim csb As New OleDbConnectionStringBuilder
        csb.Provider = "Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0"
        csb.DataSource = filepath
        csb.Add("Extended Properties", "Excel 12.0 Xml;HDR=YES")

        Dim sql = "SELECT Continent FROM [Sheet1$]"
        Dim dt As New DataTable

        Using da As New OleDbDataAdapter(sql, csb.ConnectionString)
            da.Fill(dt)
        End Using

        ComboBox1.DataSource = dt
        ComboBox1.DisplayMember = dt.Columns(0).ColumnName

    End Sub

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        PopulateCB()

    End Sub

End Class

to get a combobox like this:

Answer 3

First thing to check before going into code, compatibility between your database and your excel . If you are using a 32bits excel version you will never be able to query a 64bits database.

Answer 4

Start with something simple, and then work up to more complex things.

Imports Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel
Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        Dim xlApp As Excel.Application
        Dim xlWorkBook As Excel.Workbook
        Dim xlWorkSheet As Excel.Worksheet

        xlApp = New Excel.ApplicationClass
        xlWorkBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open("c:\test1.xlsx")
        xlWorkSheet = xlWorkBook.Worksheets("sheet1")
        'display the cells value B2
        MsgBox(xlWorkSheet.Cells(2, 2).value)
        'edit the cell with new value
        xlWorkSheet.Cells(2, 2) = "http://vb.net-informations.com"
        xlWorkBook.Close()
        xlApp.Quit()

        releaseObject(xlApp)
        releaseObject(xlWorkBook)
        releaseObject(xlWorkSheet)

    End Sub

    Private Sub releaseObject(ByVal obj As Object)
        Try
            System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj)
            obj = Nothing
        Catch ex As Exception
            obj = Nothing
        Finally
            GC.Collect()
        End Try
    End Sub

End Class

Make this work, and then add in a ComboBox object.

http://vb.net-informations.com/excel-2007/vb.net_excel_2007_open_file.htm