Conecting to an Excel spreadsheet w/ PHP

Anon

I am not quite sure how Excel works as compared to MySQL or other databases. I have a few questions:

1) How do you determine the connection string for ODBC_PConnect("connection string", , ,);

I have set up the DSN already w/ the Excel DB driver.

2) Do you need to pass any other arguments besides the connection string to ODBC_PConnect()? (Excel is not password protected, so userID and login are not needed.)

3) How do you specifiy the FIELD names? Are they just A, B, C, etc. (like in a normal spreadsheet) OR are the FIELD names the contents of cells A1, B1, C1, etc?

4) Lastly, how much traffic can an Excel Spreadsheet handle reliably? What about an MS Access DB?

Thanks,
Mark

Anon

Don't use MS Excel, don't use MS Access. (generalisation: Don't use MS. 🙂

Anon

I haven't done anything like this, but i know there is an ODBC Driver for Excel which you can use to treat a spreadsheet as it if were a database. Check that out. The PHP manual is quite helpful when it comes to ODBC.

Anon

I realize there is a driver, as I have setup the DSN on my server. I am not sure how to create fields, however... are the fields just the letters at the top of the spreadsheet columns, or are they the first entries for each column?

Also, I am attempting to connect to my DSN and get the S1000 "General Error" message. It says there is not enough information to connect to the DSN. I am not sure if I need a password/login combo or not... the DSN did not ask for one when I created it...

Here is the string I used to attempt to connect to the DSN, "BRoffer":

$dbID = odbc_connect("BRoffer","","");

I am running on a Windows 2000 server. Any suggestions?

Anon

1st, my experience. One time I did try to receive data in PHP using ODBC from Excel, but without result. Win98, Office97Pro. I am afraid usual windows user have to download too many fixpacks to make it functional.
2nd, in any case you can't use Excel in real site.

Anon

Ok, my last option for DB support is MS Access... is there a way for me to create an Access DB for use on my web site without actually owning a version of MS Access?

For instance, can I create an Access DB with PHP?

Anon

🙂 I don't think so. PHP has no embeded MS Jet engine. Whe you can't use MySQL?

Anon

My web host does not support MySQL... just mainly Access... they also have the Excel and SQL drivers installed.

Anon

I suggest to change provider. You will have problems in the future if they can't install even MySQL...

Anon

I asked them about this... they said they would have to setup a database server for the MySQL, which is why they didn't want to do it. Apparently they are targeting to lower-priced hosting.

How does Access compare to MySQL? In terms of traffic handling, that is...

Anon

You can access .mdb files with no need of MS Access at all (look for DSN-less connections).

Regards

Pepe

Anon

I have the Microsoft Access DSN setup on my web host's Windows 2000 web server. I need a means of creating .mdb files to use for my web apps. Basically, all I need to do is create the field names, save it as a .mdb file, and upload it so that I can setup the DSN.

Anon

of course you could also just use asp since you are on a windows and just use the excel as a datasource.