read an excel file

Question

In my asp.net dynamic data project I want to read an excel file using suitable Microsoft technology (Not Excel). Someone said their was a server side tool for this? I want to read the first few columns of data from a table?

Any suggestions or directions on where to go?

Answer 1

In reply to your comments, take a look here:

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/37055/Working-with-MS-Excel-xls-xlsx-Using-MDAC-and-Oled

Here is some (untested) code to get you started.

string connectionstring = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;
                          Data Source=c:\\testexcel.xls;
                          Extended Properties\"Excel 8.0;HDR=YES\"";
string cmdText = "SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]";
using(conObj = new OleDbConnection(connectionstring))
{
   using (OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand(createTableScript, conObj)
   {
      OleDbDataAdapter adpt = new OleDbDataAdapter(cmd);
      DataSet ds = new DataSet();
      adpt.Fill(ds,"w1");
   }
}

Good luck.