How to execute a stored SQL procedure in Microsoft Excel?

Question

How can I execute a stored procedure in Microsoft Excel and get all the data it returns?

Answer 1

This is a job for an ADODB connection in VBA. Here's a link with a sample code for a simple SELECT query, but this will handle stored procedures just as well.

http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83016&page=1

The key items are the need to declare an ADODB.Connection, ADODB.Recordset, and a connection string that matches your database. After opening the connection, you execute your SQL statement using syntax like the following (taken from the link):

With cnt 
    .CursorLocation = adUseClient 
    .Open stADO    // stADO is the connection string.
    .CommandTimeout = 0 
    Set rst = .Execute(stSQL) 
End With

Then move the data from your recordset (rst, above) into a range using Range.CopyFromRecordSet.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about the latest incarnation of Excel, but in 2000 and 2003 all you could do was access a view and have it's data displayed on the excel sheet.

The main advantage of a stored procedure would be the ability to parameterize the result, but for that you'd need some sort of UI, and you'd need a way to programmatically modify the query definition after it's first defined within excel. We didn't find a way to do this, but using views provided enough functionality for what we needed to do.

Answer 3

This VBA is very similar to @Excellll's answer, and I've used it to good effect in my own work.

Use this little utility function:

Public Function IsEmptyRecordset(rs As Recordset) As Boolean
     IsEmptyRecordset = ((rs.BOF = True) And (rs.EOF = True))
End Function

And then here's the big function (I apologize for the crummy-looking paragraph alignment):

Option Explicit

Public Sub OpenConnection()
Dim conn As ADODB.Connection
Dim str As String
Dim cmd As ADODB.Command
Dim rs As ADODB.Recordset
Dim myPath
Dim fld
Dim i As Integer

On Error GoTo errlbl


'Open database connection
Set conn = New ADODB.Connection

'First, construct the connection string.

'NOTE:  YOU CAN DO THIS WITH A STRING SPELLING OUT THE ENTIRE CONNECTION...
'conn.ConnectionString = _
'    "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
'    "Data Source=" & _
'    myPath & "\ConnectionTest.mdb"

'...OR WITH AN ODBC CONNECTION YOU'VE ALREADY SET UP:
conn.ConnectionString = "DSN=myDSN"

conn.Open       'Here's where the connection is opened.

Debug.Print conn.ConnectionString  'This can be very handy to help debug!

Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset
'Construct string.  This can "Select" statement constructed on-the-fly,
'str = "Select * from vwMyView order by Col1, Col2, Col3"  
'or an "Execute" statement:
str = "exec uspMyStoredProc"

rs.Open str, conn, adOpenStatic, adLockReadOnly  ‘recordset is opened here

If Not IsEmptyRecordset(rs) Then     
    rs.MoveFirst

    'Populate the first row of the sheet with recordset’s field names
    i = 0
    For Each fld In rs.Fields
        Sheet1.Cells(1, i + 1).Value = rs.Fields.Item(i).Name
        i = i + 1
    Next fld
    'Populate the sheet with the data from the recordset
    Sheet1.Range("A2").CopyFromRecordset rs     


Else
    MsgBox "Unable to open recordset, or unable to connect to database.", _
       vbCritical, "Can't get requested records"

End If

'Cleanup
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
conn.Close
Set conn = Nothing

exitlbl:
  Debug.Print "Error: " & Err.Number
  If Err.Number = 0 Then
    MsgBox "All data has been pulled and placed on Sheet1", vbOKOnly, "All Done."
  End If
  Exit Sub
errlbl:
   MsgBox "Error #: " & Err.Number & ", Description:  " & Err.Description, _     vbCritical, "Error in OpenConnection()"
Exit Sub
'Resume exitlbl
End Sub

Hope this helps.