Question

thanks for reading, my doubt is the following, im trying to get data from an xls file but it has to be done locally, without uploading the file, i have done something similiar with txts files and works perfectly :

Function Send(ByVal file As HttpPostedFileBase) As ActionResult
    Dim line As String
    Dim textreader As System.IO.StreamReader = New StreamReader(file.InputStream)
    While Not textreader.EndOfStream
        line = textreader.ReadLine()
        ViewBag.line = line
    End While
    Return View("Index")
End Function

but i cant do the same to the excel file, first of all, because i cant use the streamreader, so when using this code i dont know how to specify the dir of my xls file

    Dim oApp As Excel.Application = New Excel.Application
    Dim oWB As Excel.Workbook
    Dim oSheet As Excel.Worksheet
    oWB = oApp.Workbooks.Open(file.inputstream)  <-- HERE IS WHERE I GET (AN OBVIOUS) ERROR

does anybody knows how to open the file locally? thanks for reading 🙂

Answer 1

There are several ways of doing it, one of them is accessing the file “database style”
…

...
    string filePath = string.Format("C:\\TEST\\{0}.xlsx", Guid.NewGuid().ToString());
    var fileStream = File.Create(filePath);
    input.CopyTo(file.InputStream);
    fileStream.Close();

    string cn = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + filePath  + ";Extended Properties=\"Excel 12.0;HDR=YES;\"";
    string query = "SELECT * FROM SHEET_NAME";

    conn= new OleDbConnection(cn);
    conn.Open();
    OleDbCommand woOleCommand = new OleDbCommand(query, conn);

    DbDataReader result = woOleCommand.ExecuteReader();

    // Read the DataReader...
...

So basically you query Sheets like tables, if they are indeed tables, this code might be what you’re looking for.

On the other hand, if you still need to use automation, try something like this instead:

...    
object missing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
wBook = (Excel._Workbook)xl.Workbooks.Open(filePath, false, false, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing); 
...

---

Reading InputStream

using (var fileStream = File.Create(filePath)) {
     file.InputStream.CopyTo(fileStream); 
} 
// Now you got your stream on a file (filePath) so you can work with it.