Could not find installable ISAM

[Tommy Malone]

I'm attempting to read from an Excel file with a oledb.oledbconnection and
get an error "Could not find installable ISAM".

How does one fix this problem and does this fix need be done in both design
time and deployment to the client (as with .net framework)?

Thanks.

 

[William Ryan eMVP]

You probably have an error in your connection string
http://www.knowdotnet.com/articles/exceldatasource.html. If you post the
connection string you are using I'll be glad to take a look at it.

--

W.G. Ryan, eMVP

http://forums.devbuzz.com/
http://www.knowdotnet.com/williamryan.html
http://www.msmvps.com/WilliamRyan/

 

[Tommy Malone]

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\INV_xls.xls;Extended
Properties=Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"

 

[William Ryan eMVP]

@"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data
Source=C:\Inv_xml.xls;ExtendedProperties=Excel 8.0;";

works fine. Is this C# by any change? You may just need to escape the path
separators.


--

W.G. Ryan, eMVP

http://forums.devbuzz.com/
http://www.knowdotnet.com/williamryan.html
http://www.msmvps.com/WilliamRyan/

 

[William Ryan eMVP]

One other thing, where is it erroring? It could also be the query that's
blowing up. After you specify the connection string, see if you can do a
Connection.Open();

--

W.G. Ryan, eMVP

http://forums.devbuzz.com/
http://www.knowdotnet.com/williamryan.html
http://www.msmvps.com/WilliamRyan/

 

[Paul Clement]

¤ "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\INV_xls.xls;Extended
¤ Properties=Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"
¤
¤

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\INV_xls.xls;" & _
"Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"""


Paul ~~~ (e-mail address removed)
Microsoft MVP (Visual Basic)

 

[Tommy Malone]

Dim _cn As New OleDb.OleDbConnection

_cn.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" &
OpenFileDialog1.FileName & ";Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"

I cannot _cn.open. Throws error. "Could not find installable ISAM"

Is there a specific reference which has to be included in the solution?

 

[Tommy Malone]

The problem appears to be in the "HDR=YES" portion of the connection string.
When I remove that portion, all works as advertised.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Dim _cn As New OleDb.OleDbConnection

_cn.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" &
OpenFileDialog1.FileName & ";Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"

I cannot _cn.open. Throws error. "Could not find installable ISAM"

Is there a specific reference which has to be included in the solution?

 

[Tommy Malone]

Also, upon inspection of the dataset that is loaded with a simple fill, the
header row is assumed. I guess the question now is, what if you don't have a
header row?

The problem appears to be in the "HDR=YES" portion of the connection string.
When I remove that portion, all works as advertised.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Paul Clement]

¤ Also, upon inspection of the dataset that is loaded with a simple fill, the
¤ header row is assumed. I guess the question now is, what if you don't have a
¤ header row?
¤

Then you specify HDR=NO in the connection string. I'm assuming you worked out the syntax problem
(missing sets of double quotes in your example) that was causing the ISAM error?


Paul ~~~ (e-mail address removed)
Microsoft MVP (Visual Basic)

 

[Tommy Malone]

I had to remove the HDR=NO from the connection string to overcome the
problem of the installable ISAM. I'm not clear what the double quote issue
is. At this time I am not using any "" in my string.

 

[Paul Clement]

¤ I had to remove the HDR=NO from the connection string to overcome the
¤ problem of the installable ISAM. I'm not clear what the double quote issue
¤ is. At this time I am not using any "" in my string.
¤

Here it is again. Please note the extra sets of double quotes when using additional Extended
Properties arguments:

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\INV_xls.xls;" & _
"Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=NO;"""

Any deviation from the above syntax will generate the installable ISAM error message.


Paul ~~~ (e-mail address removed)
Microsoft MVP (Visual Basic)