Exporting data from MS Access to Excel using VBA - ms-access

Question

I have a table in MS Access, which has the following data to be exported to excel
Release numbers
Test cases
Results
After exporting to Excel I want to have distinct release numbers as rows starting from A2 and distinct test case name as columns starting from B1. There might be couple thousands records. Then each cell will be set to result tag. Additionally will need some fancy coloring/bordering stuff.
The question - is it possible to do this using VBA in Access and if yes what is the way to go? Any hint, sample, example, resource would be appreciated... I've googled but the most thing I came accross is DoCmd.TransferSpreadsheet or DoCmd.OutputTo which I believe will not do what I want. Saw some examples with CreateObject("Excel.Application") but not sure what are limitations and performance using this way.

Answer 1

I don't know if it would work for your case, but you might try adding the VBA code to an Excel document rather than the Access database. Then you could refresh the data from the Excel file and add the formatting there much easier. Here is one example:
http://www.exceltip.com/st/Import_data_from_Access_to_Excel_%28ADO%29_using_VBA_in_Microsoft_Excel/427.html
(Or see other examples at http://www.exceltip.com/exceltips.php?view=category&ID=213)
Again, it may not work for your case, but it may be an option to consider. Essentially, instead of pushing from Access, you would pull from Excel.

Answer 2

Yes, there are many cases when the DoCmd.TransferSpreadsheet command is inadaquate.
The easiest way is to reference the Excel xx.x Object model within Access (Early Binding). Create and test your vba export function that way. Then once you are satisfied with your output, remove the Excel object model reference, then change your objects to use use Late Binding using CreateObject. This allows you to easily have other machines that are using different versions of Excel/Access to use it just the same.
Here is a quick example:
Sub ExportRecordsetToExcel(outputPath As String, rs As ADODB.Recordset)
'exports the past due report in correct formattig to the specified path
On Error GoTo handler:
Const xlUP As Long = -4162 'excel constants if used need to be referenced manually!
Dim oExcel As Object
Dim oBook As Object
Dim oSheet As Object
Dim row As Long
If rs.BOF And rs.EOF Then
Exit Sub 'no data to write
Else
rs.MoveFirst
End If
row = 1
Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
oExcel.Visible = False 'toggle for debugging
Set oBook = oExcel.Workbooks.Add 'default workbook has 3 sheets
'Add data to cells of the first worksheet in the new workbook.
Set oSheet = oBook.worksheets(1)
Do While rs.EOF = False
oSheet.range("A" & row).value = rs.Fields("MyField").value
'increase row
row = row + 1
Loop
oBook.SaveAs (outputPath)
'tidy up, dont leave open excel process
Set oSheet = Nothing
Set oBook = Nothing
oExcel.Quit
Set oExcel = Nothing
Exit Sub
handler:
'clean up all objects to not leave hanging processes
End Sub