Thank you for your reply, Tanya. I had read up on the DDT driver before making the call to go with ADO a couple of years back. I'll read over it some more, but it doesn't appear it have the functionality I need, namely being able to access data using column names. I could, of course, read and compare first row data programatically, and will look at that as an option.
So, is it not possible to create a disconnected ado recordset? I have an already established keyword driven framework that uses excel tables to specify what tests to run, what actions to take against what object, and what data to specify/verify in a given action. It has been working fine using ADO. Now, however, I'm adding a new piece that iterates through an external data file. The external data portion of the framework is generic and can use any data file, which is why I need to be able to access data by column names.
