Using SilkTest’s

DB_Tester Functions
with an Excel
Spreadsheet
INTRODUCTION
It is often desirable to be able to store test data in an easily accessible environment.
Standard ASCII files can fit that bill. However, if one wants more power for getting data into
and out of a test data structure, Segue’s Silk Test’s DB Tester functions are an excellent way of
accessing information in database. Additionally, for even greater ease-of-user, an Excel
spreadsheet can be used as a database provided that proper conditions are met.
This white paper will not cover all of the intricacies of SQL statements. There are plenty
of on-line guides to SQL. Here are a few:
o http://www.sqlcourse.com/
o http://w3.one.net/~jhoffman/sqltut.htm

E S TA B L I S H I N G AN E X C E L D ATA B A S E
One might think that putting data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and saving the
spreadsheet would be all that’s needed. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
It might be logical if each spreadsheet contained in a Microsoft Excel workbook were
considered a table in the database. However, Microsoft designed Excel differently. In the
following example, the worksheet named “Ages” is not a database table, just a worksheet.

In order to make the data into a table, you must select the desired region of the
spreadsheet or select the entire spreadsheet and name the region. This is accomplished by enter a
name for the new region into the Name Box in Excel. If you plan on your database table
contents growing, it may be best to make the entire spreadsheet the named region.

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 After selecting the desired region, enter a name into the Name Box and hit Enter.

Name Box

Any time you want to select the entire region later, all you have to do is select it from the
Name Box PopupList. The entire named region will be selected.
Save your Excel workbook wherever you like. But remember where it is.

E S TA B L I S H I N G AN O D B C D ATA S O U R C E
SilkTest’s DB Tester functions require that the database have an ODBC Data Source.
In order to make your Excel spreadsheet an ODBC Data Source, launch the ODBC
Manager from Control Panel.

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 Click the Add… PushButton.
You will then be prompted for which driver you want to use.

After clicking Finish you’re not really finished. You will then be prompted for more
information about the Excel database you’re trying to establish a connection to.
Give your data source a name (recommended not to use spaces in your name) and then
use the Select Workbook PushButton to browse to the database you just selected.

Click OK.

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 You’ve now created a new ODBC Data Source and it should appear in your list of data
sources.

A C C E S S I N G D ATA FROM SILKTEST

The DB Tester functions in SilkTest are very well documented. However, here’s a brief
look at the functions and how they’re used.
o DB_Connect
o This must be executed prior to any other statement as it returns the connection
handle to the database. The argument passed to the function is the connection
string to the database. In terms of an Excel database, the connection string will
look like this: “dsn=SilkTest_DB” (or whatever name you gave the ODBC Data
Source in the ODBC Manager). If you need to write to the database, the
connection string must also include “ReadOnly=False” such as
“dsn=SilkTest_DB;ReadOnly=False” even if you specified that the connection is
not read only in the ODBC Administrator.
o DB_ExecuteSQL
o This actually executes the desired query on the database and returns a connection
handle to the temporary table that the query returns (in the case of SELECT
queries). There are two arguments passed to this function:
 Database connection handle returned by DB_Connect. It is possible to
connect to more than one database at a time, which is why this function
needs to know which database connection to use.
 SQL Statement. This can be any valid SQL statement.
o DB_FetchNext

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 o This is the workhorse that actually retrieves data from the spreadsheet/database.
It has two arguments to it.
 Handle to the SQL connection made by DB_ExecuteSQL. Just as you can
have multiple database connections open, you may have multiple SQL
queries running. As such, this function needs to know what query to
retrieve data from.
 Variable(s) to retrieve the data into. You can either specify multiple
variables for a query that’ll retrieve multiple data, or you can specify a
record datatype whose fields match the data to be returned.
o DB_FinishSQL
o This closes the SQL connection, essentially cleaning up after yourself and
deleting the temporary table created by the SELECT query. The only argument
required is the handle to the SQL connection.
o DB_Disconnect
o This closes the connection to the database. Pass in the handle to the database
connection as an argument.

Here’s an example of a simple query on the spreadsheet and ODBC Data Source created
earlier in this document.

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 As mentioned, if getting more information from the database, you can pass multiple
arguments to the DB_FetchNext function:

Or, you can create a record data structure:

And then you can use the data structure in DB_FetchNext:

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CONCLUSION
Retrieving data from an Excel spreadsheet isn’t all that difficult so long as you know how
to setup the spreadsheet, the system, and SilkTest correctly. In short:
o Name a region to be considered a “table”.
o Create a data source pointing to the spreadsheet.
o Call it like any other database.

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