How do I read a closed excel using VBA? - excel

Question

I have a collection of .xls files in one folder. I wish to use VBA to extract values from these .xls while the files are closed.

Answer 1

If you are familiar with SQL then you can run queries against Excel files to get the data. It is much faster than opening an Excel file, but the data in your excel files needs to be well organized like a SQL table. Here is an example.
Write SQL query on excel tables

Answer 2

Import data from a closed workbook (ADO)
If you want to import a lot of data from a closed workbook you can do this with ADO and the macro below. If you want to retrieve data from another worksheet than the first worksheet in the closed workbook, you have to refer to a user defined named range. The macro below can be used like this (in Excel 2000 or later):
GetDataFromClosedWorkbook "C:\FolderName\WorkbookName.xls", "A1:B21", ActiveCell, False
GetDataFromClosedWorkbook "C:\FolderName\WorkbookName.xls", "MyDataRange", Range ("B3"), True
Sub GetDataFromClosedWorkbook(SourceFile As String, SourceRange As String, _
TargetRange As Range, IncludeFieldNames As Boolean)
' requires a reference to the Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects library
' if SourceRange is a range reference:
' this will return data from the first worksheet in SourceFile
' if SourceRange is a defined name reference:
' this will return data from any worksheet in SourceFile
' SourceRange must include the range headers
'
Dim dbConnection As ADODB.Connection, rs As ADODB.Recordset
Dim dbConnectionString As String
Dim TargetCell As Range, i As Integer
dbConnectionString = "DRIVER={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};" & _
"ReadOnly=1;DBQ=" & SourceFile
Set dbConnection = New ADODB.Connection
On Error GoTo InvalidInput
dbConnection.Open dbConnectionString ' open the database connection
Set rs = dbConnection.Execute("[" & SourceRange & "]")
Set TargetCell = TargetRange.Cells(1, 1)
If IncludeFieldNames Then
For i = 0 To rs.Fields.Count - 1
TargetCell.Offset(0, i).Formula = rs.Fields(i).Name
Next i
Set TargetCell = TargetCell.Offset(1, 0)
End If
TargetCell.CopyFromRecordset rs
rs.Close
dbConnection.Close ' close the database connection
Set TargetCell = Nothing
Set rs = Nothing
Set dbConnection = Nothing
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Sub
InvalidInput:
MsgBox "The source file or source range is invalid!", _
vbExclamation, "Get data from closed workbook"
End Sub
Another method that doesn't use the CopyFromRecordSet-method
With the macro below you can perform the import and have better control over the results returned from the RecordSet.
Sub TestReadDataFromWorkbook()
' fills data from a closed workbook in at the active cell
Dim tArray As Variant, r As Long, c As Long
tArray = ReadDataFromWorkbook("C:\FolderName\SourceWbName.xls", "A1:B21")
' without using the transpose function
For r = LBound(tArray, 2) To UBound(tArray, 2)
For c = LBound(tArray, 1) To UBound(tArray, 1)
ActiveCell.Offset(r, c).Formula = tArray(c, r)
Next c
Next r
' using the transpose function (has limitations)
' tArray = Application.WorksheetFunction.Transpose(tArray)
' For r = LBound(tArray, 1) To UBound(tArray, 1)
' For c = LBound(tArray, 2) To UBound(tArray, 2)
' ActiveCell.Offset(r - 1, c - 1).Formula = tArray(r, c)
' Next c
' Next r
End Sub
Private Function ReadDataFromWorkbook(SourceFile As String, SourceRange As String) As Variant
' requires a reference to the Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects library
' if SourceRange is a range reference:
' this function can only return data from the first worksheet in SourceFile
' if SourceRange is a defined name reference:
' this function can return data from any worksheet in SourceFile
' SourceRange must include the range headers
' examples:
' varRecordSetData = ReadDataFromWorkbook("C:\FolderName\SourceWbName.xls", "A1:A21")
' varRecordSetData = ReadDataFromWorkbook("C:\FolderName\SourceWbName.xls", "A1:B21")
' varRecordSetData = ReadDataFromWorkbook("C:\FolderName\SourceWbName.xls", "DefinedRangeName")
Dim dbConnection As ADODB.Connection, rs As ADODB.Recordset
Dim dbConnectionString As String
dbConnectionString = "DRIVER={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};ReadOnly=1;DBQ=" & SourceFile
Set dbConnection = New ADODB.Connection
On Error GoTo InvalidInput
dbConnection.Open dbConnectionString ' open the database connection
Set rs = dbConnection.Execute("[" & SourceRange & "]")
On Error GoTo 0
ReadDataFromWorkbook = rs.GetRows ' returns a two dim array with all records in rs
rs.Close
dbConnection.Close ' close the database connection
Set rs = Nothing
Set dbConnection = Nothing
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Function
InvalidInput:
MsgBox "The source file or source range is invalid!", vbExclamation, "Get data from closed workbook"
Set rs = Nothing
Set dbConnection = Nothing
End Function
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