Using ADO in Access to import CSV data - ms-access

Question

So I navigated to the following MSDN Resource Page that addresses how to use ADO objects. My problem is that I cannot get it to work.
What I am trying to do is open a CSV file and read it line-by-line, then create SQL INSERT statements to insert the records into an existing Table in Access 2010. I have tried to find an easier method of doing this, but this appears to be my only option. doing this with the included tools, but so far, I haven't had any luck.
The main issue here is that I have CSV files with inconsistent headings. I want to import 5 files into the same table, but each file will be different depending on which fields contained data. Those fields with no data in them were ignored during the extract. This is why I can't use something like DoCmd.TransferText.
So, now I need to create a script that will open the text file, read the headers in the first line and create a SQL INSERT statement dependent on the configuration of that particular file.
I have a feeling that I have a good handle on how to appraoch the issue, but no matter what I try, I can't seem to get things working using ADO.
Could anyone explain how I can achieve this? My sticking point is getting the Access DB to receive information from the CSV files via ADO.

Answer 1

Instead of reading the CSV file line-by-line, then doing something with each line, I think you should open the file as an ADO recordset. And open a DAO recordset for your Access destination table.
You can then iterate through the fields in each row of the ADO recordset and add their values into a new row of the DAO recordset. As long as the destination table includes fields with the same names and compatible data types as the CSV fields, this can be fairly smooth.
Public Sub Addikt()
#If ProjectStatus = "DEV" Then
' needs reference for Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects
Dim cn As ADODB.Connection
Dim fld As ADODB.Field
Dim rs As ADODB.Recordset
Set cn = New ADODB.Connection
Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset
#Else ' assume PROD
Const adCmdText As Long = 1
Const adLockReadOnly As Long = 1
Const adOpenForwardOnly As Long = 0
Dim cn As Object
Dim fld As Object
Dim rs As Object
Set cn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
#End If
Const cstrDestination As String = "tblMaster"
Const cstrFile As String = "temp.csv"
Const cstrFolder As String = "C:\share\Access"
Dim db As DAO.Database
Dim rsDao As DAO.Recordset
Dim strConnectionString As String
Dim strName As String
Dim strSelect As String
strConnectionString = "Provider=" & _
CurrentProject.Connection.Provider & _
";Data Source=" & cstrFolder & Chr(92) & _
";Extended Properties='text;HDR=YES;FMT=Delimited'"
'Debug.Print strConnectionString
cn.Open strConnectionString
strSelect = "SELECT * FROM " & cstrFile
rs.Open strSelect, cn, adOpenForwardOnly, _
adLockReadOnly, adCmdText
Set db = CurrentDb
Set rsDao = db.OpenRecordset(cstrDestination, _
dbOpenTable, dbAppendOnly + dbFailOnError)
Do While Not rs.EOF
rsDao.AddNew
For Each fld In rs.Fields
strName = fld.Name
rsDao.Fields(strName) = rs.Fields(strName).value
Next fld
rsDao.Update
rs.MoveNext
Loop
rsDao.Close
Set rsDao = Nothing
Set db = Nothing
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
cn.Close
Set cn = Nothing
End Sub
This is the Declarations section of the module where I saved that procedure:
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
#Const ProjectStatus = "DEV" '"DEV" or "PROD"
Change the values for these constants to test it on your system:
Const cstrDestination As String = "tblMaster"
Const cstrFile As String = "temp.csv"
Const cstrFolder As String = "C:\share\Access"
Note the folder name does not include a trailing backslash.
You will want to adapt that procedure to pass the file name as a parameter instead of leaving it as a constant. And, if your CSV files are stored in more than one directory, you will want to pass the folder name as a parameter, too.
Hopefully showing you how to do it for one file will be enough and you can then take it from here to handle all your CSV files. Also consider adding error handling.

Answer 2

I think the previous answer is unnecessarily complicated. All you need to do it send an XMLHTTP request. That fetches the CSV data as a string, which can then be parsed into a table.
I've posted a VBA subroutine that does that in an answer to a similar question. Documentation of where I found the techniques is in the code comments. I've run it in Access 2019, and it works.