NAME

DBD::Excel - A class for DBI drivers that act on Excel File.

This is still alpha version.

SYNOPSIS

    use DBI;
    my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:Excel:file=test.xls") or die "Cannot connect: " . $DBI::errstr;
    my $sth = $dbh->prepare("CREATE TABLE a (id INTEGER, name CHAR(10))") or die "Cannot prepare: " . $dbh->errstr();
    $sth->execute() or die "Cannot execute: " . $sth->errstr();
    $sth->finish();
    $dbh->disconnect();

DESCRIPTION

This is still alpha version.

The DBD::Excel module is a DBI driver. The module is based on these modules:

This module assumes TABLE = Worksheet. The contents of the first row of each worksheet are used as column name.

Adding that, this module accepts a temporary table definition in the connect method with the xl_vtbl option.

Example:

    my %options = (
        xl_vtbl => { # define temporary tables here
            TESTV => { # temporary table name => options
                sheetName => 'TEST_V', # actual Excel sheet name
                ttlRow    => 5,
                startCol  => 1,
                colCnt    => 4,
                datRow    => 6,
                datLmt    => 4,
            }
        }
    );
    my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:Excel:file=dbdtest.xls", undef, undef, \%options);

For more information please refer to the file sample/tex.pl which is included in this distribution.

Metadata

The following attributes are handled by DBI itself and not by DBD::Excel, thus they all work like expected:

    Active
    ActiveKids
    CachedKids
    CompatMode             (Not used)
    InactiveDestroy
    Kids
    PrintError
    RaiseError
    Warn                   (Not used)

The following DBI attributes are handled by DBD::Excel:

AutoCommit

Always on

ChopBlanks

Works

NUM_OF_FIELDS

Valid after $sth->execute

NUM_OF_PARAMS

Valid after $sth->prepare

NAME

Valid after $sth->execute; undef for Non-Select statements.

NULLABLE

Not really working, always returns an array ref of one's. Valid after $sth->execute; undef for Non-Select statements.

These attributes and methods are not supported:

    bind_param_inout
    CursorName
    LongReadLen
    LongTruncOk

Additional to the DBI attributes, you can use the following attributes:

xl_fmt

This attribute is used for setting the formatter class for parsing.

xl_dir

This attribute is used only with data_sources on setting the directory where Excel files ('*.xls') are searched. It defaults to the current directory (".").

xl_vtbl

assumes specified area as a table. See sample/tex.pl.

xl_skiphidden

skip hidden rows(=row height is 0) and hidden columns(=column width is 0). See sample/thidden.pl.

xl_ignorecase

set casesensitive or not about table name and columns. Default is sensitive (maybe as SQL::Statement). See sample/thidden.pl.

Driver private methods

data_sources

The data_sources method returns a list of '*.xls' files of the current directory in the form "DBI:Excel:xl_dir=$dirname".

If you want to read the subdirectories of another directory, use

    my($drh) = DBI->install_driver("Excel");
    my(@list) = $drh->data_sources( { xl_dir => '/usr/local/xl_data' } );
list_tables

This method returns a list of sheet names contained in the $dbh-{file}>. Example:

    my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:Excel:file=test.xls");
    my @list = $dbh->func('list_tables');

TODO

More tests

First of all...

Type and Format

The current version not support date/time and text formating.

Joins

The current version of the module works with single table SELECT's only, although the basic design of the SQL::Statement module allows joins and the likes.

KNOWN BUGS

  • There are too many TODO things. So I can't determine what is BUG. :-)

AUTHOR

Kawai Takanori (Hippo2000) originally created this module. Currently maintained by Alexander Becker.

SEE ALSO

DBI, Spreadsheet::WriteExcel, Spreadsheet::ParseExcel, SQL::Statement

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2001 KAWAI,Takanori All rights reserved.

You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.