My recommendation is that you move away from the data enviroment and start exploring the ADO data access model more. I started with the DE also but I did not have the flexibility I have with just writing the SQL statement and either executing it or returning a recordset against it. Try a starter like

Dim cnn as ADODB.Connection
Dim rst as ADODb.Recordset
Dim strSQL as String

set cnn= New ADODB.Connection
Set rst = New ADODB.Recordset

cnn.ConnectionString = "MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;Data Source=Test"

cnn.Open

strSQL = " SELECT nlTest, tTest, dDate "
strsq