I am trying to use Excel pull data from a large Oracle Data Warehouse via an ODBC connection. I have a query that works using the editor in Access. I've tried using Power Query and Microsoft SQL to use this query to get this data into Excel and I get errors.
Therefore:
Does SQL executed from Excel need to be in a different syntax? Shouldn't it still be Oracle?
How can I use this pre-written query to ping the data warehouse and get what I need?
Here is the SQL that I have so far. I had to change some table names...sorry if that makes it weird.
The SQL you posted uses Access-specific functions. That is NOT a valid SQL query if run directly against Oracle. If you have a bunch of linked tables in Access, that would allow this.
The ODBC datasource connection in Excel works differently. ODBC executes the query directly at the datasource. It does some validation first and supports a limited subset of SQL language supported at the destination. What's included in the subset is determined in part by the driver selected for the connection.
So what you want to do is use a tool that lets you build the query directly in an Oracle environment, like Quest Toad or Oracle SQL Developer. Once you have the query working there, it should be easier to port it to Excel.
One thing I like to do is put my query into a view on the database. Then I can just select everything from the view when creating the Excel connection.
It's also worth pointing you to the My Data Sources folder. When you first setup an ODBC connection in Excel, the connection is saved by default in Windows in a folder called "My Data Sources" located just under your user profile folder. For example: C:\Users\UserName\My Data Sources\Data Source Name.odc.
You can open these *.odc files in any text editor, and you should be able to manually edit the SQL here. Especially look for the <odc:CommandText> element. In this way you can build a simple query up front, and then improve on the SQL command in your favorite environment and easily move the updated SQL to the existing ODBC connection.
Related
This is my first post in here,
I am new to SQL and I started learning it, I use it mainly in excel to get data from an outer Database
I first go to data then Refresh all then from the menu I choose connection properties
Then a dialogue appears and I input my code in the window called Command text from the Tab Definition
I added images to show where I input my SQL code
My question is what type of SQL do I input there ?
is it mySQL or SQLServer or what ??, so I can learn it, because some commands just don't work with me the way they are supposed to do
You can connect to any database type as long as you have the appropriate ODBC drivers. For example, here is documentation for MySQL for Excel. Quote from article "Use Microsoft Query to retrieve external data":
If the external database that you want to access is not supported by the
ODBC drivers that are installed with Microsoft Query, then you
need to obtain and install a Microsoft Office-compatible ODBC driver
from a third-party vendor, such as the manufacturer of the database.
Contact the database vendor for installation instructions.
OLAP databases do not require ODBC drivers. When you install Microsoft Query, drivers are installed for databases that were created
by using Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services. To connect to other
OLAP databases, you need to install a data source driver and client
software.
Whichever database type you connect to, you will still be using Microsoft's SQL variant (as developed for SQL Server). As a beginner you're not going to notice too many differences right off the top. Most of the differences are related to data types, such as DATE vs DATETIME. Here is a wiki on SQL Compliance and this article on MS Access SQL will also apply to Excel Query.
You can connect to many data source including: SQL Server database, Access database, MySQL database, PostgreSQL database etc..
You can find the full list here: Link
I have created a windows form project which is based in vb.net in Visual Studio. This form acts as the front end to the database.
I decided this time round to try use the Dataset Designer in Visual Studio and found it convenient. Using the Wizard I linked up the MS Access database to create the Dataset in the project. This then automatically generated all the relevant table adapters, datasets, bindingsources and so on.
Now, the aim is to transition the same Access database to SQL-server.
The Question is whether it is possible to simply swap the Dataset in Visual Studio to from Access to SQL which have the same table names, structure, relations... I tried modifying the connection string in Settings.settings with no success.
This would save me a lot of time from going through each object and updating the datasource to the new SQL database.
You should be able to establish a separate connection to sql server using ado. You can find typical connection strings easily: try http://www.connectionstrings.com/microsoft-ole-db-provider-for-sql-server-sqloledb/ for example. If the tables exist in sql server, you can SELECT from Access and INSERT into SSvr using 2 different connections, 2 sql command objects. If you have trouble with the SQL (which is very possible, I have not done this with Access), create a dataset from the Access SELECT and use that as an intermediate step. If the tables do not exist yet, get the script for CREATE TABLE in Access or in SSMS, and execute that before doing the SELECT/INSERT operation.
Background: I have an .mdf database containing some numeric values that I need to change (specifically, scale and offset values for sensors). The database was created by a Visual Basic program that controls some lab equipment and stores pertinent data in the .mdf file. Please excuse my rudimentary knowledge of the topic; I'm a complete novice when it comes to SQL Server and VB.
After searching through many posts, I understand that to open the .mdf file, you must "attach" it in Microsoft Server Management Studio (I'm using that with SQL Server 2005), which I have successfully done.
Problem: It seems that this only allows me to view and modify the structure of the database, ie. tables, columns, data types etc., rather than the values of the database itself.
Is there a way to do this manually, like how you can edit the field data of .mdb files in MS Access? Again, sorry for my limited knowledge on the topic. I'll gladly provide extra details where needed.
You mention you want to use access. That can be done. Your database is up and running after attaching it.
In Access you can simply create an ODBC connection in access and use Access to edit/modify your data as much as you want. you can also create queries.
It is in the menu item "external data" [I'm guessing because I use a dutch version]. You select to create a "linked table", choose your server and you are done.
Right-click on the table you want to modify in SSMS and select "Edit Top 200 Rows".
If you have more than 200 rows to edit, you can connect to the SQL Server database with either Access or Excel.
Here are the instructions for Access:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/connect-an-access-project-to-a-microsoft-sql-server-database-adp-HP005274586.aspx
I've got a database with information on servers and applications. I also have an Excel file which has some of that information saved in it .
What I'm trying to do is compare the database with the Excel file and output all the results which are present in the DB and not the Excel file, and vice versa.
After some thinking, I decided that it might be best to create temporary tables and save all the data from the Excel file into them, and then do an outer join between the corresponding tables (I'm using SQL Server).
How do I go about doing this without creating models in Rails for them (unless I specifically have to create them)?
Not sure how to use raw SQL in this instance =s
You actually have several choices on how to import the Excel data. If you're looking for a strictly SQL Server solution then you can use a linked server or distributed queries. You can also use DTS/SSIS (depending on your version of SQL Server) for a solution that's external. You could call the SSIS or DTS packages from your own code. Excel also has an OLE DB provider, so if your application uses ADO or otherwise uses OLE DB then you can use that.
All of these methods are explained in a little more detail on Microsoft's website, including some sample code for some of them.
I have inherited an Excel spreadsheet which contains an external data query. I can edit the query, which provides a list of the columns returned, but it does provide the table that this data comes from. Is there any way to retrieve the actual SQL behind the query?
I think this may depend on the version of office you're using and the type of external data you're connecting to.
I believe if you're using Office 2003, and you're seeing columns like you say, there may be a SQL icon in the toolbar.
Click that to view the SQL used to return the data.
If you're using Office 2007, Go to the Data tab, click connections, then properties, then the definition tab, and change the command text.
However I believe you're using the first method.
This is from what I can remember, so I hope it's correct.
It could also be somewhat obsfuscated by using an ODBC link or something. Another way to get it is to run SQL Profiler on the SQL Server to see the exact SQL being executed. Of course, this won't help you edit it but you'll know what it is doing.