Jim,

I think, both approaches should work. In DOTNET you may use System.Data.odbc or System.Data.ledb.

Other than that, I prefer to code myself using "regular" ADO when I get into problems with ado.net or if I cannot explain for myself the behavior of dotnet System.data.


>Yuri,
>
>This is the first that I have heard of Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0
>
>There is no mention of it in the ADO.NET section of the MSDN library.
>
>When I run the wizard to create a UDL file, I don't see any mention of it.
>
>Ah, just saw it now in the Data Link Properties dialog: "Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB provider". But, if I select that, and then move to the next tab to set us a connection and point to an XLS file and click Test Connection, I get an error message saying "Test connection failed because of an error in initializing provider. Unrecognized database format '....[my file].xls'.
>
>Again "ah!" if I go to the All tab and edit Extended Properties to "Excel 8.0", then Test connection works.
>
>I'm making a .NET app. Is it better to be using Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 to access Excel, or the .NET ODBC stuff (System.Data.odbc)?
>
>Thanks for your input. Send along any other advice you can give me on this.
>
>Jim