Excel VBA: Late binding reference

Question

I'm trying to write some code for an add-in in excel, which grabs some data from an SQL Server. The code itself is working flawlessly, but somehow something got corrupted.

It seems that the code will work fine a few times and then all of a sudden trigger an excel-crash. After a long time I've determined that it has something to do with the references, seeing as if upon crash I change the reference 'Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library' to something else, and then back again, the add-in will work again.

Seeing as rebuilding the add-in doesn't work, I'm beginning to explore the option of late-binding. I just can't seem to understand how to do it.

Private Sub RetrieveToWorksheet(SQL As String, WriteTo As Range, Optional WriteColumnNames As Boolean = True)

If GetStatus = "True" Then
MsgBox ("Database is currently being updated. Please try again later.")
Exit Sub
End If

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

Dim Connection As ADODB.Connection
Dim RecordSet As ADODB.RecordSet
Dim Field As ADODB.Field
Dim RowOffset As Long
Dim ColumnOffset As Long

     On Error GoTo Finalize
Err.Clear
Set Connection = New ADODB.Connection
Connection.ConnectionTimeout = 300
Connection.CommandTimeout = 300
Connection.ConnectionString = "Provider=sqloledb;Data Source=vdd1xl0001;Initial Catalog=SRDK;User Id=SRDK_user;Password=password;Connect Timeout=300"
Connection.Mode = adModeShareDenyNone
Connection.Open
Set RecordSet = New ADODB.RecordSet
RecordSet.CursorLocation = adUseServer
RecordSet.Open SQL, Connection, ADODB.CursorTypeEnum.adOpenForwardOnly
RowOffset = 0
ColumnOffset = 0

If WriteColumnNames = True Then
For Each Field In RecordSet.Fields
    WriteTo.Cells(1, 1).Offset(RowOffset, ColumnOffset).Value = Field.Name
    ColumnOffset = ColumnOffset + 1
Next
ColumnOffset = 0
RowOffset = 1
End If

WriteTo.Cells(1, 1).Offset(RowOffset, ColumnOffset).CopyFromRecordset RecordSet

Finalize:

    If Not RecordSet Is Nothing Then
        If Not RecordSet.State = ADODB.ObjectStateEnum.adStateClosed Then RecordSet.Close
        Set RecordSet = Nothing
    End If
    If Not Connection Is Nothing Then
        If Not Connection.State = ADODB.ObjectStateEnum.adStateClosed Then Connection.Close
        Set Connection = Nothing
    End If
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then Err.Raise Err.Number, Err.Source, Err.Description
End Sub

Long story short: I just want the add-in to automatically add the reference 'Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library'.

All help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

In answer to your question about late binding, this involves replacing the line of code

Dim Connection As ADODB.Connection

with

Dim Connection As object

and replacing

Set Connection = New ADODB.Connection

with

Set Connection = GetObject(, "ADODB.Connection")

And similarly for the other objects from that library.

Now, I am not sure if this will fix the actual issue that you are having. It sounds like there is a bug in the ActiveX library and you are hitting it, although nothing you are doing seems particularly esoteric.