I am working on an application where there is a desire to automate data entry as much as possible. The wish is to add a button to such entry forms for choosing an excel file to import. I have done this for one interface, and now I'm working on others. I'm looking for the best way to prevent duplicates are imported into a table. For the one I am working on now, it is a simple 2 column import. One method I have used before is to import the spreadsheet into a temp table. Then I can utilize a query to insert where <> . I just wonder if this is the best method to use.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Something like this should work. I can tailor it more if you list some more details of your projects.
From "External Data" on the ribbon, link to the excel file.
Then write the following query:
INSERT INTO table1
(
field1,
field2
)
SELECT
a.field1,
a.field2
FROM tableExcel AS a
LEFT JOIN table1 AS b ON a.field1 = b.field1
WHERE (((a.field1) Is Null));
Then just attach a macro to the button running the query above.
I ended up finding the solution that will work best. I can put an index on the 2 fields that are getting imported from the spreadsheet, into the table. Then before I issue the transferspreadsheet command, I will set warnings false, and set them true once it is done. This way, the user won't get errors for the indexes doing their job of rejecting duplicates.
Anyone see any problem with that solution? The only bummer is that if I imported to a temp table, I could get a count of items first and verify the count after insert, so I could report some info to the user in the process. Other than that, this means I don't need a temp table, and I can go directly into the goal table without worry about importing dupes.
Related
First post here.
I have an existing workbook that was created some time ago with a table by a user. Basically the user got an extract file and simply cut and pasted the data to the table, to the right of this data are a whole bunch of formulas within the table ... so they then just copy and paste any formulas down.
What I am trying to do is remove this effort and have it refreshed from the updated extract file of raw data.
I know I could do VB to deal with this (although not done any VB for a few years), HOWEVER I notice there is a data connection and Power Query so thought this would be a better way.
Problem is as there is already a Table I can not import into it due to the said error "Query results cannot overlap a table or XML Mapping", I understand that the connection creates/recreates the table.
I have tried methods to get round this ...
Recreate the Table and then Find & Replace the name references, but a lot of the formulas exceed the find and replace string.
Tried to convert the Table to a range and then import, but I ended up with 2 two tables side by side. I can't see anything to merge the 2 and not sure this will solve the problem when I try to import again.
Any starter for ten on this will help as I've not dabbled with Excel in this way for a few years.
Regards
Gary
In the current Project i Need to Keep a Excel File which gets Values from a Machine to the Access Database to work with them and Import them in the Data Model.
Problem is some of the Values give invalid results due to the way they are saved. For example the timestamp is saved like
030420 instead of 03:04:20 and Access cant handle that and gives me a #NUMBER
I can not simply Change the datatype in Excel because the whole Excel gets refreshed every hour by a source that i cant influence.
Any help appreciated.
If Erik's proposal does not work, you can
- create a backup copy of your Excel source
- tweak the file: enter text in the first row of the problematic columns
- link the tweaked file into Access
- put back the real file in place.
Now the problematic columns should be read as Text, and you can build a query that solves any issue like conversion, null handling...
Link, don't import, the Excel file, and you have a linked table.
Now, use this linked table as source in a simpel select query where you modify the data and alias the fields as needed. For example:
Select
F1 As SomeName,
F2 As OtherName,
TimeSerial(Mid([F5],1,2),Mid([F5],3,2),Mid([F5],5,2)) As TrueTime
From
LinkedTable
Where
F7 Is Not Null
The use this query for your import.
Consider querying the Excel file instead of using a linked table.
The query can directly query an Excel range:
SELECT * FROM
[Excel 12.0 XML;DATABASE=PathToMyExcel;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1].[MyRange] t
Then, you can use functions like TimeSerial to cast numbers to time values.
I am using Power Query Editor to create a working file, using multiple tables from several sources.
After I combine these and make my working file, I am using it to make some work on columns I add later on the working file.
I have noticed that the values I enter in the working file are not bound to the main key, lets assume the first column, but they are independent values in a column.
The result is that if one table changes, for example one line is deleted or I change the sorting of the Query, my working file is wrong, since the data changed but the added columns remain as they were.
Is there a way to have the added columns to be bound with a value, as it is for example with VLOOKUP?
How can I make a file that will update from different sourcesbut stil I can work on it without the risk of misplacing the work I do.
I hope I am clear.
Thank you in advance!
This is fairly simple if each line in your table is unique (which in your example you say the first column can serve as a key). Setup your working columns on the table and then load the table into PQ (as a connection only). Then go to your original query that is combining your data and add a merge at the end where you merge against the table you just loaded into PQ and match on your key. Then expand only your working columns from the merge.
This way whenever you refresh your table, it will match lines against it's existing output in your work before updating, so data in your work columns will be maintained. However note this is only going to retain values, not any formulas you may be using in your work columns.
Its a bit of a weird one but I have a linked table within my database. The table is an excel table with identical field headings and data types and until recently has worked fine however now when I traverse the linked table in Access the data will change every other move, changing from the original row to show data in the row below. Iv had a script output the values of the top row and it displays normally however I cant append this linked table into anything and I assume its this glitch.
Im stumped and would love any ideas as to how this happened and how it can be fixed.
This is an unusual post as I've never quite heard of this type issue. To sanity check things I would suggest that you delete your excel table from the navigation pane in Access - and then relink it.
So then perhaps I didn't understand, and I am wondering what is meant in your first post by: "The table is an excel table with identical field headings and data types"
A link to excel is a qualified "table" so to speak. You should be able to double click on it within Access, it opens in data sheet view and you see all the data but you can't write to it. You can't write back into the excel.
You can query it....
You can append the query results of the excel into a true Access table.
I have an excel file and I want to import the excel file basing on the existing database table using entity framework. Right now I firstly convert the excel sheet to a DataTable and have a loop to loop through each row of the DataTable. Each row has an id field and if the id exists in the database table I need to update it otherwise I need to insert this row to the database table. I want to use entity framework to wrap my loop into one transaction for roll back purpose in case of error. But I run into a scenario of two rows with the same id but different values. The first row is checked and added my entity collection, but the second row might be mistakenly updated the firstly added row because the firstly is not actually added due to the delayed context.SaveChanges() called after the loop. How can I update the previously added row in the entity collection without repeatedly calling context.SaveChanges() inside my loop? Thanks.
I don't think I have done it over the past decade or so, but I have used Microsoft Word's Mail Merge to create the SQL statement that I needed (SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE) for each line in an Excel sheet. Once I got the long SQL statement in text I simply copy-paste it into the console and the statement was executed and the job was done. I am confident that there are better ways of doing this but it worked at the time with limited knowledge but a need. This answer is probably in the category "don't try this at work, but it is fine to do it at home if it does the job".