DataDriven Unit Test using Excel in VS2013 - visual-studio-2013

Question

I am creating Datadriven Unit(MS Unit Test) Test using Excel(*.xlsx) file as data source.
it is erroring out with the following error
Result Message: The unit test adapter failed to connect to the data
source or to read the data. For more information on troubleshooting
this error, see "Troubleshooting Data-Driven Unit Tests"
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=62412) in the MSDN Library.
Error details: ERROR [IM014] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] The
specified DSN contains an architecture mismatch between the Driver and
Application
I have set the Copy to Output directory : always for the DateRangeTest.xlsx
I also tried defaultdir=.\;, defaultdir=.;, and defaultdir=c:\projectName\bin\debug\;
Here is the section from app.config
<configSections>
<section
name="microsoft.visualstudio.testtools"
type="Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.TestConfigurationSection, Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
/>
</configSections>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="DateRangeConstr"
connectionString="Dsn=Excel Files;dbq=DateRangeTest.xlsx;defaultdir=.\; driverid=790;maxbuffersize=2048;pagetimeout=5"
providerName="System.Data.Odbc" />
</connectionStrings>
<microsoft.visualstudio.testtools>
<dataSources>
<add name="DateRangeTestDataSource"
connectionString="DateRangeConstr"
dataTableName="Sheet1$"
dataAccessMethod="Sequential"/>
</dataSources>
</microsoft.visualstudio.testtools>

Answer 1

There are (2) options here - you can either remove the DSN requirement or install the opposite Excel/Access runtime bitness of the Office product you have installed.
Option 1 - remove DSN from Connection String
Change from this:
<add name="DateRangeConstr"
connectionString="Dsn=Excel Files;dbq=DateRangeTest.xlsx;defaultdir=.\; driverid=790;maxbuffersize=2048;pagetimeout=5"
providerName="System.Data.Odbc" />
To this:
<add name="DateRangeConstr"
connectionString="dbq=DateRangeTest.xlsx;defaultdir=.\; driverid=790;maxbuffersize=2048;pagetimeout=5"
providerName="System.Data.Odbc" />
Option 2 - Install ODBC Drivers for Opposite Bitness
For Office x64, install Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable for x86 (AccessDatabaseEngine.exe)
For Office x64, install Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable for x64 (AccessDatabaseEngine_x64.exe).
This fix should be the same whether you have Office 2010 or Office 2013.
To test this change - you should be able to configure the Excel Files DSN for both x86 and x64 once installed.
32-bit ODBC: %WINDIR%\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe
64-bit ODBC: %WINDIR%\System32\odbcad32.exe
Click on "Excel Files" and then click "Configure" and you should see a dialog. If an error occurs when you click "Configure" - you don't have the proper office driver installed for that bitness.

Answer 2

We need not to install anything to our system to run the external excel data driven unit tests.
We need to simply run the Data Source Wizard present under Visual Studio Data Source Explorer.
Watch this video. This Tutorial tells how to run Data Driven (Parameters) unit tests using Visual Studio Testing Tools.