reading open Excel file

Use ADO.Net:

Dim cnn As New OleDb.OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\Test.xls;Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;""")
Dim da As New OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter("Select * from [Sheet1$]", cnn)
Dim ds As New DataSet("TestExcel")

da.Fill(ds)

Tom

Tgannetts, I know how to open a closed excel file the problem reading an OPEN excel file.
The problem is the excel file I need to read is opened by an external program and is constantly updated by that program.

Tgannetts, I though about that solution myself , but it is too slow.

I found another solution though, I just made a macro in the excel file that saves itself to another file every 10 minutes.

Thanks for your time though, I will award you the points.

You can view my code also. If it can help you.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21080437/How-to-get-cell-color-in-excel-using-vb-net.html

This is a bit off topic, but related to this code.  
I put the code in exactly as listed in the first note (changed for my file names).  When I run the code, I get an "Unhandled Exception" error when running the Fill command.  And it does not appear that I have valid access to the excel data, from looking at the watchlog.  I'm new to VB net, and do not know how to determine what is not working right.  

These are the error logs:
'DefaultDomain': Loaded 'e:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v1.1.4322\mscorlib.dll', No symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation': Loaded 'E:\Documents and Settings\D865\My Documents\Visual Studio Projects\My Excel Automation\bin\My Excel Automation.exe', Symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation.exe': Loaded 'e:\windows\assembly\gac\system.windows.forms\1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089\system.windows.forms.dll', No symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation.exe': Loaded 'e:\windows\assembly\gac\system\1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089\system.dll', No symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation.exe': Loaded 'e:\windows\assembly\gac\system.drawing\1.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\system.drawing.dll', No symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation.exe': Loaded 'e:\windows\assembly\gac\microsoft.visualbasic\7.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\microsoft.visualbasic.dll', No symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation.exe': Loaded 'e:\windows\assembly\gac\system.data\1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089\system.data.dll', No symbols loaded.
'My Excel Automation.exe': Loaded 'e:\windows\assembly\gac\system.xml\1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089\system.xml.dll', No symbols loaded.
An unhandled exception of type 'System.Data.OleDb.OleDbException' occurred in system.data.dll


I expect that I have not defined something, but am at a ooss where to look.  

Any suggestion where to look or read would be appreciated.

ALex