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Get the Report →Working with Excel Online Data in LINQPad
Execute LINQ queries to Excel Online data in LINQPad.
The CData ADO.NET Provider for Excel Online enables you to use standard ADO.NET interfaces like LINQ and the Entity Framework to work with Excel Online data. This article will demonstrate the process of establishing a connection from LINQPad and executing LINQ queries.
Create the Data Model
After downloading and installing both the provider and LINQPad, create a new class library project within Visual Studio.
See the help documentation for a guide to setting up an EF 6 project to use the provider.
Right-click your project and click Add -> New Item -> ADO.NET Entity Data Model. In the resulting dialog, select Code First from database. Click New Connection and specify the connection string options in the resulting wizard.
You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:
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Workbook: 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.
- UseSandbox: 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.
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Select the desired tables and views and click Finish to create the data model.
- Build the project. The generated files can be used to create the Excel Online connection in LINQPad.
Connect to Excel Online Data in LINQPad
After you have obtained the required connection properties and created the data model assembly, follow the steps below to start using the data model in LINQPad.
Open LINQPad and click Add Connection.
Select the "Use a typed data context from your own assembly" option.
Select Entity Framework DbContext.
Click Browse next to the Path to Custom Assembly box and browse to your project folder. Browse to the .dll or .exe under the bin folder.
- Select the name of the DbContext.
- If you saved your connection string in App.Config, specify the path to the App.config.
You can now query Excel Online data through LINQPad. For examples of the supported LINQ queries, see the "LINQ and Entity Framework" chapter in the help documentation.