Build MVC Applications with Connectivity to Excel Online Data

In this article, we will guide you through the process of utilizing wizards within Visual Studio to seamlessly integrate the CData ADO.NET Provider for Excel Online into a basic MVC (Model, View, Controller) project.

Create the Entity Framework Model

Follow the steps below to save connection properties and map tables to entities in the data model.

1. Create a new MVC project in Visual Studio. In this example, the project name is MvcExcelOnlineApp.

2. If you are using Entity Framework 6, you will need to take the preliminary step of registering the Excel Online Entity Framework provider for your project. See the "LINQ and Entity Framework" chapter in the help documentation for a guide.

   Note that MVC 3 scaffolding and MVC 4 scaffolding do not support Entity Framework 6. You can use your scaffolding with Entity Framework 6 by upgrading to the latest version of MVC.
3. To add the .edmx file from the designer, right-click your Models folder and click Add New Item. Select ADO.NET Entity Data Model, name the model, and click Add. In this example, the name of the model is ExcelOnlineModel.
4. In the Entity Data Model wizard, select the option 'EF Designer from database'. The Entity Data Model wizard is displayed.
5. Click New Connection. Select CData Excel Online Data Source in the dialog that is displayed.

6. Specify the required connection string properties.

   You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

   • : Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

     If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

   • : Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

   You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

   A typical connection string is below:

   InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   👁 The connection for the model. (QuickBooks is shown.)
   

7. Name the connection and select whether to include sensitive information, such as connection credentials, in the connection string. For simplicity, this example saves sensitive information in Web.config. The connection settings are saved as ExcelOnlineEntities.

   👁 The completed connection step in the ADO.NET Entity Data Model wizard. (A QuickBooks connection is shown.)
   
8. Select the tables and views you need. In this example, Test_xlsx_Sheet1 is imported. Also, the option to pluralize object names is deselected in this example. Click Finish to create the .edmx file.👁 Tables to be imported into the .edmx file. (QuickBooks is shown.)
   
9. Build your project to complete this step.

Scaffold the Controller and Views

Once you've established the model and completed the project build, you can employ ASP.NET Scaffolding wizards to generate both the controller and the views.

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the controllers folder and click Add -> Controller. Select MVC 5 Controller with views, using Entity Framework.
2. In the Add Controller dialog that is then displayed, select the following options:
   • Model class: Select a table you imported; for example, Test_xlsx_Sheet1.
   • Data context class: Select your context class.
3. Leave the default values for the other fields. 👁 Creating a new controller from an existing entity data model in the Add Controller dialog in MVC 5. (QuickBooks is shown.)
   

You can now access the list of Test_xlsx_Sheet1 records at http://MySite/Test_xlsx_Sheet1. Next to each record are links to edit, delete, and see more information. You can also create new Test_xlsx_Sheet1 records. With every state change the site picks up any data changes. 👁 The live table. (QuickBooks is shown.)