Extract Datasource and Query from Excel Pivot

Have you ever tried to reverse engineer an Excel pivot table? It’s not as easy as you would think! Whether you just want to find out the datasource details, or identify the query that was used, there is just no simple way of getting Excel to tell you.

The macro below will loop through every sheet in a workbook, and will document the datasources, SQL or MDX queries as well as the page, row, column and data fields.

To use it, add it into your macros, then select a starting cell where you want te report to be placed and run the macro. It’s pretty raw, and may need some tweaks to suit your requirements but it should give you a good starting point. I use it on Excel 2003 MDX pivots from SQL Server Analysis Services 2005, but I presume it will work on other versions of Excel as well.

Public Sub PivotDetails()
   Dim ws As Worksheet
   Dim qt As QueryTable
   Dim pt As PivotTable
   Dim pc As PivotCache
   Dim pf As PivotField

   For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Sheets

      For Each qt In ws.QueryTables
        ActiveCell.Value = "Sheet"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = ws.Name

        ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
        ActiveCell.Value = "Data Source"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = qt.Connection

        ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
        ActiveCell.Value = "Query"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = qt.CommandText
      Next qt

      ActiveCell.Offset(2, 0).Select

      For Each pt In ws.PivotTables

        ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
        ActiveCell.Value = "Pivot Table"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pt.Name

        ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
        ActiveCell.Value = "Connection"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pt.PivotCache.Connection

        ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
        ActiveCell.Value = "SQL"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pt.PivotCache.CommandText

        ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
        ActiveCell.Value = "MDX"
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pt.MDX

        For Each pf In pt.PageFields
            ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
            ActiveCell.Value = "Page"
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pf.Name
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2).Value = pf.CurrentPageName
        Next pf

        For Each pf In pt.ColumnFields
            ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
            ActiveCell.Value = "Column"
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pf.Name
        Next pf

        For Each pf In pt.RowFields
            ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
            ActiveCell.Value = "Row"
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = pf.Name
        Next pf

        For Each pf In pt.DataFields
            ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
            ActiveCell.Value = "Data"
        Next pf

      Next pt
   Next ws
End Sub

Tags: Datasource, Excel, MDX, Pivot, SQL