### 4.8: Allegro ODBC

Q 4.8-1) How do I set up an Excel spreadsheet for use with AODBC?

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Q 4.8-1) How do I set up an Excel spreadsheet for use with AODBC?

A 4.8-1) It turns out there's a bit of trickiness involved in making an Excel spreadsheet truly usable via the ODBC interface. The spreadsheet must conform to two specifications. First, the first row must be a "title row" containing the names of all the columns in the spreadsheet. Second, the table, that is the portion of the spreadsheet you are interested in, must be named, so that queries can be made on it. How to name a table is described in step 2 below.

To properly set up your Excel spreadsheet for use via the ODBC interface, follow the steps below.

1. Start with a spreadsheet. The first row of items should be the list of field names above each column of actual data. This is where the ODBC driver grabs its column names.
2. To name the table in the spreadsheet that you are interested in, you must create a "Named Range." From Excel, you must first highlight the range of cells you want to create the table from; this should include the column names as well. From the menubar, choose INSERT->NAME->DEFINE. This should open a dialog where you can enter a name for your table. After typing this in, click 'ADD' and then save your spreadsheet.

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