Import date from Excel spreadsheet into R using RODBC package

Package RODBC can be used not only for ODBC database connectivity, but also for importing Excel spreadsheet data into R, as shown in following R code:

library(RODBC)
data=odbcConnectExcel(file.choose())
mydata=sqlFetch(data,"Sheet1")
odbcClose(data)
mydata

Here, the odbcConnectExcel establishes a connection to an external Excel spreadsheet.

Note:

• Function 'odbcConnectExcel' is only usable with 32-bit R. Under Eclipse IDE under 64-bit Windows, you need to activate 32-bit R console in order to run above code.
• It is said 'odbcConnectExcel2007' works for 64-bit environment, but I had no luck to make it works.