Microsoft KB Archive/129156

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Article ID: 129156

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006



APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition



This article was previously published under Q129156


SYMPTOMS

When you use the SQLRetrieve function to return data to Microsoft Excel, the data that will be returned to a cell is one row below the cell specified in a previous call to the SQLBind function.

CAUSE

It is possible to bind one column of an external data source to a specific cell location on a worksheet. This is accomplished using the SQLBind function.

The SQLRetrieve function performs the action of retrieving the results of a query to a worksheet. There is an option associated with this function that allows you to retrieve data with or without column headings.

When you retrieve data using SQLRetrieve, if you do not request column headings to be returned, and you have previously used the SQLBind function to designate the location for data to be returned, the cell location designated will be left blank, and your data will be returned beginning one row below the specified location.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. When you use SQLBind and SQLRetrieve together, as in the "Symptoms" and "Cause" sections above; you will need to adjust for the blank cell when you retrieve data that does not contain column headings.

One way to work around this problem is to delete the blank cell after the data is returned, shifting the remainder of the column upward. The following sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro (Sub procedure) accomplishes this workaround.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub FixBindProblem()

      ' Open ODBC channel.
      chan = SQLOpen("DSN=NWind")

      ' Send SQL query to channel.
      SQLExecQuery chan, "SELECT * FROM customer"

      ' Bind third column of result set to ActiveCell.
      SQLBind chan, column:=3, reference:=ActiveCell

      ' Retrive query results.  Default setting is do not retrieve column
      ' headings. No destination is specified, so data will be returned
      ' to bound location.
      SQLRetrieve chan

      ' Close ODBC channel.
      SQLClose chan

      ' Delete blank cell, shifting remainder of column upwards.
      ActiveCell.Delete Shift:=xlUp

   End Sub
                

Note that another method for adjusting the blank cell is to adjust the reference made in the SQLBind command to be one row above the originally planned cell. However, this method can present a problem if you want to return data to row number one, because there is no row above row number one.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the versions of Microsoft Excel listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

If the SQLBind function has not been used to specify a location for the data to be returned, the SQLRetrieve function will return the data and/or column headings to the correct destination, as specified by the SQLRetrieve function.

REFERENCES

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications



Additional query words: 5.0 7.0 SQLBind SQLRetrieve blank XL

Keywords: kbbug kbnofix kbdtacode KB129156