How do I connect to SQL Server using VBA? - sql-server

Question

I want to automate some Mail Merge functionality using data drawn from a SQL Server Database. Here’s the code I’m using:
Sub open_DSN()
Dim strConnection As String
ActiveDocument.MailMerge.CreateDataSource Name:="DB-NAME", _
Connection:="Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=DB-NAME;Data Source=DATA-SOURCE", _
SQLStatement:="select * from DataTable"
ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource Name:="DB-NAME"
If ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource.Name <> "" Then _
MsgBox ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource.Name
' – code lifted from MS Help within Word that seems the nearest to what I require
'With ActiveDocument.MailMerge
' .MainDocumentType = wdFormLetters
' strConnection = "DSN=MS Access Databases;" _
' & "DBQ=C:\Northwind.mdb;" _
' & "FIL=RedISAM;"
' .OpenDataSource Name:="C:\NorthWind.mdb", _
' Connection:=strConnection, _
' SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM Customers"
'End With
With ActiveDocument.MailMerge
.MainDocumentType = wdFormLetters
strConnection = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=DB-NAME;Data Source=DATA-SOURCE"
.OpenDataSource Name:="DB-NAME", _
Connection:=strConnection, _
SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM DataTable"
End With
End Sub
Unfortunately I can’t get this code to display the data. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Did you replace "DB-NAME" and "DATA-SOURCE" with the actual values in the connection string?

Answer 2

So do you have a sql server instance called DATA-Source with a Database called DB-Name?
Probably not?
More Like MyServer\MyInstance and MyDatabase

Answer 3

I don't know MailMerge, so I can't comment on the code that you use to establish the connection.
But if you are sure that the code is okay, then it's probably the connection string.
There are lots of different possible connection strings to connect to SQL Server, so the right solution depends on your SQL Server version and setup (for example, Windows authentification or SQL Server authentification...).
This MSDN article which says that MailMerge supports OLE DB and ODBC, so you can use either of these.
If you tell us more about your SQL Server setup, we can help you find the correct connection string for your use case.