Vb.Net using Excel as database?

Question

i previously wrote a vb.net program that retrieve, read, write data from sql server. everything works fine.
but now i want to edit the program so that it retrieve data from excel file. meaning, my database now is an excel file.
sql server uses select, insert, update, etc statement , what about excel ? is it the same ?
i search on the internet for help, but what i can find is method on retrieving and writing data to a specific cell on a specific worksheet. i don't want this.
Please help.

Answer 1

Yes, it still uses the same STANDARD QUERY LANGUAGE (SQL) Syntax for RETRIEVING DATA.



I haven't tried to use INSERT, UPDATE AND DELETE...

Answer 2

Excel is a spreadsheet, it is not a database engine. It is not designed for running queries, it stores its data in spreadsheets not rows, it has very little relationship logic. Just because your company won't buy a screwdriver does not mean you can use a tape measure instead of a screwdriver. If the company won't buy Microsoft Access, get them to obtain a copy of MySQL. This is a free product in some versions and is a REAL database engine.

Answer 3

If you already have the program working, then you might be able to get away with just changing the connection string assuming you're using odbc connection.

http://www.connectionstrings.com/excel



Or you could try automating excel from vb.net, but that would take more rewriting of your code.