XL: How to Use DAO to Create a New Microsoft Excel Workbook

ID: Q139402

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can use the Data Access Object (DAO) library in a Visual Basic for Applications macro to work with an external database. You can create a new Microsoft Excel workbook with DAO using the instructions included in this article.

MORE INFORMATION

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To create a new Microsoft Excel database, follow these steps:

1. Use the OpenDatabase method to open a new .xls file.

2. Create a new table definition for the database.

3. Create a new field for the new table.

4. Append the field to the table.

5. Append the table to the database.

The macro below demonstrates this process.

NOTE: To use this macro, you must do the following: 

   1. In Microsoft Excel 97, activate the module that will contain your
      subroutine. On the Tools menu, click References. In the list of
      Available References, select the checkbox next to "Microsoft
      DAO 3.5 Object Library". Then, click OK.

      In Microsoft Excel 7.0 for Windows 95, activate the module that will
      contain your subroutine. On the Tools menu, click References. In the
      list of Available References, select the checkbox next to "Microsoft
      DAO 3.0 Object Library". Then, click OK.
2. Create an empty folder called "C:\Test".

Sample Macro

Sub CreateXLS()
Dim Db as Database Dim Tbl as TableDef Dim Fld as Field 

    'Create and open an Excel 5.0 database
    Set Db = OpenDatabase("C:\Test\Book1.xls", False, False, "Excel 5.0;")

    'Create a new table definition for a table called NewTable
    Set Tbl = Db.CreateTableDef("NewTable")

    'Create a new field in NewTable and call it NewField
    Set Fld = tbl.CreateField("NewField", dbInteger)

    'Append the field to the table and then append the table to the
    'database
    Tbl.Fields.Append Fld
    Db.TableDefs.Append Tbl

    'Close the database
    Db.Close

End Sub
After you run this macro, a Microsoft Excel 5.0 workbook called Book1.xls will reside in the directory C:\Test. This workbook will contain one worksheet called "NewTable" and also a defined name called "NewTable" which refers to the range NewTable!$A$1:$A$1. Cell A1 will contain the text "NewField."

Additional query words: 7.00 8.00 97 XL97 

Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode xlloadsave xldao KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999