Uploading Records from Excel file to Server - Desktop App - json

Question

I have requirements as below :
There is a folder named BATCH inside D:// drive of my PC.
Now this D://BATCH contains excel files with any random names. Every excel file has only one record.
I have to create .exe file or any Desktop Application which lets the user to browse the BATCH folder and then can upload the content or data from the excel files to our Server. We have to put the excel data into JSON and then have to upload it to the server.
One more thing is that If I have uploaded data from 3 files and then again user tries to upload by selecting the folder, data which are new or not uploaded only those data should be upload. The data in BATCH folder is generating daily with connected machine.
My background is for Web and Mobile development. So, little bit confused of achieving this thing as explained above.
So, How can I achieve this? Which technology I have to use or which are the tools that can be useful?
Thanks for the support.

Answer 1

There are probably a bunch of ways to skin this cat. Maybe import everything from all Excel files in the folder into one single Excel file, and export this to SQL Server. Just a thought.
Sub InsertInto()
'Declare some variables
Dim cnn As adodb.Connection
Dim cmd As adodb.Command
Dim strSQL As String
'Create a new Connection object
Set cnn = New adodb.Connection
'Set the connection string
cnn.ConnectionString = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=True;Initial Catalog=Northwind;Data Source=Server_Name"
'Create a new Command object
Set cmd = New adodb.Command
'Open the Connection to the database
cnn.Open
'Associate the command with the connection
cmd.ActiveConnection = cnn
'Tell the Command we are giving it a bit of SQL to run, not a stored procedure
cmd.CommandType = adCmdText
'Create the SQL
strSQL = "UPDATE TBL SET JOIN_DT = '2019-12-10' WHERE EMPID = 2"
'Pass the SQL to the Command object
cmd.CommandText = strSQL
'Execute the bit of SQL to update the database
cmd.Execute
'Close the connection again
cnn.Close
'Remove the objects
Set cmd = Nothing
Set cnn = Nothing
End Sub
Just to embellish my original answer a bit...you can easily import data from multiple excel files in a folder, into one single Excel file, using a concept like the one below.
Sub Basic_Example_1()
Dim MyPath As String, FilesInPath As String
Dim MyFiles() As String
Dim SourceRcount As Long, Fnum As Long
Dim mybook As Workbook, BaseWks As Worksheet
Dim sourceRange As Range, destrange As Range
Dim rnum As Long, CalcMode As Long
'Fill in the path\folder where the files are
MyPath = "C:\Users\Ron\test"
'Add a slash at the end if the user forget it
If Right(MyPath, 1) <> "\" Then
MyPath = MyPath & "\"
End If
'If there are no Excel files in the folder exit the sub
FilesInPath = Dir(MyPath & "*.xl*")
If FilesInPath = "" Then
MsgBox "No files found"
Exit Sub
End If
'Fill the array(myFiles)with the list of Excel files in the folder
Fnum = 0
Do While FilesInPath <> ""
Fnum = Fnum + 1
ReDim Preserve MyFiles(1 To Fnum)
MyFiles(Fnum) = FilesInPath
FilesInPath = Dir()
Loop
'Change ScreenUpdating, Calculation and EnableEvents
With Application
CalcMode = .Calculation
.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
.ScreenUpdating = False
.EnableEvents = False
End With
'Add a new workbook with one sheet
Set BaseWks = Workbooks.Add(xlWBATWorksheet).Worksheets(1)
rnum = 1
'Loop through all files in the array(myFiles)
If Fnum > 0 Then
For Fnum = LBound(MyFiles) To UBound(MyFiles)
Set mybook = Nothing
On Error Resume Next
Set mybook = Workbooks.Open(MyPath & MyFiles(Fnum))
On Error GoTo 0
If Not mybook Is Nothing Then
On Error Resume Next
With mybook.Worksheets(1)
Set sourceRange = .Range("A1:C1")
End With
If Err.Number > 0 Then
Err.Clear
Set sourceRange = Nothing
Else
'if SourceRange use all columns then skip this file
If sourceRange.Columns.Count >= BaseWks.Columns.Count Then
Set sourceRange = Nothing
End If
End If
On Error GoTo 0
If Not sourceRange Is Nothing Then
SourceRcount = sourceRange.Rows.Count
If rnum + SourceRcount >= BaseWks.Rows.Count Then
MsgBox "Sorry there are not enough rows in the sheet"
BaseWks.Columns.AutoFit
mybook.Close savechanges:=False
GoTo ExitTheSub
Else
'Copy the file name in column A
With sourceRange
BaseWks.cells(rnum, "A"). _
Resize(.Rows.Count).Value = MyFiles(Fnum)
End With
'Set the destrange
Set destrange = BaseWks.Range("B" & rnum)
'we copy the values from the sourceRange to the destrange
With sourceRange
Set destrange = destrange. _
Resize(.Rows.Count, .Columns.Count)
End With
destrange.Value = sourceRange.Value
rnum = rnum + SourceRcount
End If
End If
mybook.Close savechanges:=False
End If
Next Fnum
BaseWks.Columns.AutoFit
End If
ExitTheSub:
'Restore ScreenUpdating, Calculation and EnableEvents
With Application
.ScreenUpdating = True
.EnableEvents = True
.Calculation = CalcMode
End With
End Sub
See the link below for some ideas of how to get data from several Excel files/sources, consolidate into one single file/source.
http://www.rondebruin.nl/win/s3/win008.htm
Keep an open mind about this kind of stuff. There are several other ways to do essentially the same kind of thing.

Answer 2

The question is too broad and you can achieve your requirement in many ways.
If you consider using c# you can develop a WPF or Winforms Project.
You will need to follow these basic steps
A function to browse and pick your file like FolderBrowserDialog available in System.Windows.Forms. In case you are using WPF you have to add reference to the library
Read the excel contents. In this case you may need references to any library/nuget package like Epplus, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel, LinqToExcel or ExcelLibrary
Convert data to json format using Newtonsoft.Json nuget package
Upload or save data to SQL Server - Here you would need a connection string to the database and save the same in your .config file. you can use ADO, linq to sql etc for that.
Sample Code
OpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog();
openFileDialog.Filter = "Excel files (*.xls)|*.csv|All files (*.*)|*.*";
if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog()== DialogResult.OK)
{
//Open file and read contents
var excelFile = new LinqToExcel.ExcelQueryFactory(path);
var query =
from row in excelFile.Worksheet("Sheet1")
let item = new
{
Column1 = row["Column1"].Cast<string>(),
Column2 = row["Column2"].Cast<int>(),
}
select item;
foreach (var item in query)
{
MyCustomClass myClass = new MyCustomClass();
myClass.Column1 = item.Column1;
myClass.Column2 = item.Column2;
//Do something
}
//convert to json
// Save to database
}