XL: How to Retrieve a Table from Access into Excel Using DAO

• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

In the versions of Microsoft Excel listed above, you can use Data Access Objects (DAO) in Visual Basic for Applications to retrieve a table from Microsoft Access.

To provide an example of how you can use DAO to retrieve a table from Microsoft Access, the macro described in this article uses the Northwind database that shipped with both Microsoft Office Professional for Windows 95, version 7.0, and Microsoft Office 97 Professional for Windows. If you selected the default options when you installed Microsoft Office Professional for Windows 95, version 7.0, the database is located in:

   \MSOffice\Access\Samples\Northwind.mdb

   \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb

To use DAO in your macro, you must reference the Microsoft DAO Object Library or you may receive the error "User-defined type not defined". To reference this library in Microsoft Excel version 7.0, activate a module sheet, click References on the Tools menu, and check the "Microsoft DAO 3.0 Object Library" option. To reference this library in Microsoft Excel version 97, click References on the Tools menu in the Visual Basic Editor and check the "Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library".

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. While Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) Engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based services, including creating custom macros. For more information about Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service at (800) 426-9400.

To retrieve a table from Microsoft Access, you need to perform the following four steps:

1. Establish a Database object.

2. Establish a Recordset object.

3. Retrieve the Headers (if desired).

4. Retrieve the data from the table.

To retrieve a table from Microsoft Access programmatically, use the following Visual Basic for Applications code:

Sub GetTable()
'This sub will retrieve all the data in the "Customers" table in
'Northwind

   'Declare variables
   Dim Db As Database
   Dim Rs As Recordset
   Dim Ws As Object
   Dim i As Integer
   Dim Path as String

   'This line will define the Object "Ws" as Sheets("Sheet1")
   'The purpose of this is to save typing Sheets("Sheet1")
   'over and over again
   Set Ws = Sheets("Sheet1")

   'Set the Path to the database. This line is useful because
   'if your database is in another location, you just need to change
   'it here and the Path Variable will be used throughout the code
   Path = "c:\msoffice\access\samples\northwind.mdb"

   'This set of code will activate Sheet1 and clear any existing data
   'After clearing the data it will select cell A1
   Ws.Activate
   Range("A1").Activate
   Selection.CurrentRegion.Select
   Selection.ClearContents
   Range("A1").Select

   'Set the Database, and RecordSet  This Table exists in the database
   Set Db = Workspaces(0).OpenDatabase(Path, ReadOnly:=True)

   'This will set the RecordSet to all records in the Customers table
   Set Rs = Db.OpenRecordset("Customers")

   'You could instead set the RecordSet to, for example, the records
   'where the Country Code is "UK", without quotes. To do this, replace
   'the line above: Set Rs = Db.OpenRecordset("Customers") with the
   'following:
   '
   'Set Rs = _
   'Db.OpenRecordset("SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE Country = 'UK';")


   'This loop will collect the field names and place them in the first
   'row starting at "A1"
   For i = 0 To Rs.Fields.Count - 1
      Ws.Cells(1, i + 1).Value = Rs.Fields(i).Name
   Next I

   'The next line simply formats the headers to bold font
   Ws.Range(Ws.Cells(1, 1), Ws.Cells(1, Rs.Fields.Count)).Font.Bold=True

   'The next line will get the data from the recordset and copy it
   'into the Worksheet (Sheet1).
   Ws.Range("A2").CopyFromRecordset Rs

   'This next code set will just select the data region and
   'auto-fit the columns
   Sheets("Sheet1").Select
   Range("A1").Select
   Selection.CurrentRegion.Select
   Selection.Columns.AutoFit
   Range("A1").Select

   Rs.Close
   Db.Close
End Sub

REFERENCES

For more information about Data Access, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

   data access in DAO