A quicker way to get data into EXCEL from an ODBC data source

I developed a VBA app recently that was using ODBC to read text files and display their contents on a spreadsheet.
Anyway the normal procedure is to open a connection to your ODBC source, read the data into a recordset, then loop around the recordset and assign the values into you spreadsheet. Something like:

Set db_data = New Connection
db_data.CursorLocation = adUseClient
db_data.Open "PROVIDER=MSDASQL;dsn=Text Files;uid=;pwd=;database=;"

Set ado_data = New Recordset

' Assume we retrieve two columns of data that are to go into column A and B respectively
' of the spreadsheet

ado_data.Open "select col1, col2 from myfile.txt" ,adOpenStatic, adLockOptimistic

if ado_data.recordcount <= 0 then
msgbox("No data found")
end sub
end if

ado_data.movefirst

For i = 0 To ado_data.RecordCount - 1
Thisworkbook.cells(I+1,1) = ado_data.Fields.Item(0).Value)
Thisworkbook.cells(I+1,2) = ado_data.Fields.Item(1).Value)
Ado_data.MoveNext
Next

The above approach works fine but I got the idea that an even quicker way would be to use the paste buffer to write the contents into the spreadsheet. So instead of writing the retrieved data line by line into the spreadsheet we just concatenate the lines together. Copy it to the paste buffer then paste the buffer into the spreadsheet. Here's the same example as above but using the paste buffer technique.


Dim mydata As DataObject
Set mydata = New DataObject
Set db_data = New Connection
db_data.CursorLocation = adUseClient
db_data.Open "PROVIDER=MSDASQL;dsn=Text Files;uid=;pwd=;database=;"

Set ado_data = New Recordset

' Assume we retrieve two columns of data that are to go into column A abd B respectively
' of the spreadsheet

ado_data.Open "select col1, col2 from myfile.txt" ,adOpenStatic, adLockOptimistic

if ado_data.recordcount <= 0 then
msgbox("No data found")
end sub
end if

ado_data.movefirst

For i = 0 To ado_data.RecordCount - 1
Db_block = db_block & ado_data.fields(0).value & vbTAB & ado_data.fields(1).value & vbcrlf
Ado_data.MoveNext
Next

mydata.SetText Mid(data_block, 1)
mydata.PutInClipboard
Cells(1, 1).Select
Activesheet.paste

Slightly more complicated to code but much, much faster especially for large data voulmes. See also my other FAQ for ways in which the string concatenation in the above example can be made much faster too if required.