.mdb to SQL

Yamini · January 7th, 2009, 07:53 AM

I've an .mdb file(its an access DB)...i dnt 've access installed in my sys...i need to convert this file into some readable format.......i'm not planning to use the DB....is there any way it cud b done......thanks

Old Pedant · January 7th, 2009, 05:21 PM

There are a handful of things you could do. You could write a little VBScript ".vbs" file that would convert the ".mdb" to CSV (Comma Separated Value) format, for instance.

But what operating system are you using?

Yamini · January 8th, 2009, 12:40 AM

I'm working on a XP2 SP3 .. programming using vs2008/c#....n 've never in my life worked in VB script..can it be done any other way ..thanks

Old Pedant · January 8th, 2009, 01:43 AM

Oh, sure! You could easily create either a C# standalone program or a C#-base ASP.NET web page to do this!

You just have to use the right connection string to hit the Access ".mdb" file.

Look in your docs for the namespace "System.Data.OleDb"

For example:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...onnection.aspx

Something as simple as:

Code:

String connString      "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\myPath\myJet.mdb;"
OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(connString)
...

If you don't know the names of the tables and/or fields, you can use the GetSchema method on that class to find them.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.oledb.oledbconnection.getschema(VS.80) .aspx

But you know, if you are using VS2008, you should be able to just ask VS to create a connection to the ".mdb" database for you and then it will automatically give you access to all its tables and fields.

Just for example, I used Visual Web Developer 2005 (just now) to find and connect to a ".mdb" database I had lying around and it took maybe 20 seconds, tops. Not sure if the names of things are the same as in VS2008, but something like this:
-- Click on TOOLS menu
-- Click on CONNECT TO DATABASE
-- In the ADD CONNECTION dialog, choose DATA SOURCE "Microsoft Access Database File (OLE DB)" [if that's not already the default]
-- Browse to find the ".mdb" file you want to connect to
-- Enter Username and password if applicable (many ".mdb" files are not password protected, in which case leave both fields blank)
-- Click "Test Connection"
-- If all works, just say OK

Now go to DATABASE EXPLORERE and DATA CONNECTIONS VIEW.
Find the database you just made the connection to and click on it.
There you'll see TABLES and VIEWS. Click on any table to see the fields in it. VIEWS shown are actually "stored queries" in Access; I can't find any way to see the textual SQL form of those queries, so that might be the big stumbling block if you find you must have that SQL.