Connecting to Access from Excel, then create table from txt file - vba

Question

I am writing VBA code for an Excel workbook. I would like to be able to open a connection with an Access database, and then import a txt file (pipe delimited) and create a new table in the database from this txt file. I have searched everywhere but to no avail. I have only been able to find VBA code that will accomplish this from within Access itself, rather than from Excel. Please help! Thank you

Answer 1

Google "Open access database from excel VBA" and you'll find lots of resources. Here's the general idea though:
Dim db As Access.Application
Public Sub OpenDB()
Set db = New Access.Application
db.OpenCurrentDatabase "C:\My Documents\db2.mdb"
db.Application.Visible = True
End Sub
You can also use a data access technology like ODBC or ADODB. I'd look into those if you're planning more extensive functionality. Good luck!

Answer 2

I had to do this exact same problem. You have a large problem presented in a small question here, but here is my solution to the hardest hurdle. You first parse each line of the text file into an array:
Function ParseLineEntry(LineEntry As String) As Variant
'Take a text file string and parse it into individual elements in an array.
Dim NumFields As Integer, LastFieldStart As Integer
Dim LineFieldArray() As Variant
Dim i As Long, j As Long
'Determine how many delimitations there are. My data always had the format
'data1|data2|data3|...|dataN|, so there was always at least one field.
NumFields = 0
For I = 1 To Len(LineEntry)
If Mid(LineEntry, i, 1) = "|" Then NumFields = NumFields + 1
Next i
ReDim LineFieldArray(1 To NumFields)
'Parse out each element from the string and assign it into the appropriate array value
LastFieldStart = 1
For i = 1 to NumFields
For j = LastFieldStart To Len(LineEntry)
If Mid(LineEntry, j , 1) = "|" Then
LineFieldArray(i) = Mid(LineEntry, LastFieldStart, j - LastFieldStart)
LastFieldStart = j + 1
Exit For
End If
Next j
Next i
ParseLineEntry = LineFieldArray
End Function
You then use another routine to add the connection in (I am using ADODB). My format for entries was TableName|Field1Value|Field2Value|...|FieldNValue|:
Dim InsertDataCommand as String
'LineArray = array populated by ParseLineEntry
InsertDataCommand = "INSERT INTO " & LineArray(1) & " VALUES ("
For i = 2 To UBound(LineArray)
If i = UBound(LineArray) Then
InsertDataCommand = InsertDataCommand & "'" & LineArray(i) & "'" & ")"
Else
InsertDataCommand = InsertDataCommand & LineArray(i) & ", "
End If
Next i
Just keep in mind that you will have to build some case handling into this. For example, if you have an empty value (e.g. Val1|Val2||Val4) and it is a string, you can enter "" which will already be in the ParseLineEntry array. However, if you are entering this into a number column it will fail on you, you have to insert "Null" instead inside the string. Also, if you are adding any strings with an apostrophe, you will have to change it to a ''. In sum, I had to go through my lines character by character to find these issues, but the concept is demonstrated.
I built the table programmatically too using the same parsing function, but of this .csv format: TableName|Field1Name|Field1Type|Field1Size|...|.
Again, this is a big problem you are tackling, but I hope this answer helps you with the less straight forward parts.