Excel Spreadsheet Automation on SQL Server Data with the QUERY Formula

The CData Excel Add-In for SQL Server provides formulas that can edit, save, and delete SQL Server data. The following three steps show how you can automate the following task: Search SQL Server data for a user-specified value and then organize the results into an Excel spreadsheet.

The syntax of the CDATAQUERY formula is the following:

=CDATAQUERY(Query, [Connection], [Parameters], [ResultLocation]);

This formula requires three inputs:

• Query: The declaration of the SQL Server data records you want to retrieve or the modifications to be made, written in standard SQL.

• Connection: Either the connection name, such as SQLConnection1, or a connection string. The connection string consists of the required properties for connecting to SQL Server data, separated by semicolons.

  Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server

  Connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the following properties:

  • Server: The name of the server running SQL Server.
  • User: The username provided for authentication with SQL Server.
  • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
  • Database: The name of the SQL Server database.

  Connecting to Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Warehouse

  You can authenticate to Azure SQL Server or Azure Data Warehouse by setting the following connection properties:

  • Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to "SQL databases" (or "SQL data warehouses") -> "Select your database" -> "Overview" -> "Server name."
  • User: The name of the user authenticating to Azure.
  • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
  • Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the SQL databases (or SQL warehouses) page.

  SSH Connectivity for SQL Server

  You can use SSH (Secure Shell) to authenticate with SQL Server, whether the instance is hosted on-premises or in supported cloud environments. SSH authentication ensures that access is encrypted (as compared to direct network connections).

  SSH Connections to SQL Server in Password Auth Mode

  To connect to SQL Server via SSH in Password Auth mode, set the following connection properties:

  • User: SQL Server User name
  • Password: SQL Server Password
  • Database: SQL Server database name
  • Server: SQL Server Server name
  • Port: SQL Server port number like 3306
  • UserSSH: "true"
  • SSHAuthMode: "Password"
  • SSHPort: SSH Port number
  • SSHServer: SSH Server name
  • SSHUser: SSH User name
  • SSHPassword: SSH Password

  SSH Connections to SQL Server in Public Key Auth Mode

  To connect to SQL Server via SSH in Password Auth mode, set the following connection properties:

  • User: SQL Server User name
  • Password: SQL Server Password
  • Database: SQL Server database name
  • Server: SQL Server Server name
  • Port: SQL Server port number like 3306
  • UserSSH: "true"
  • SSHAuthMode: "Public_Key"
  • SSHPort: SSH Port number
  • SSHServer: SSH Server name
  • SSHUser: SSH User name
  • SSHClientCret: the path for the public key certificate file
• ResultLocation: The cell that the output of results should start from.

Pass Spreadsheet Cells as Inputs to the Query

The procedure below results in a spreadsheet that organizes all the formula inputs in the first column.

1. Define cells for the formula inputs. In addition to the connection inputs, add another input to define a criterion for a filter to be used to search SQL Server data, such as ShipCountry.
2. In another cell, write the formula, referencing the cell values from the user input cells defined above. Single quotes are used to enclose values such as addresses that may contain spaces.

=CDATAQUERY("SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = '"&B6&"'","User="&B1&";Password="&B2&";Database="&B3&";Server="&B4&";Port="&B5&";Provider=SQL",B7)

👁 Formula inputs used in this example. (Google Apps is shown.)

3. Change the filter to change the data. 👁 The outputs of the formula. (Google Apps is shown.)