The Problem (Q-score 5, ranked #250th of 303 in the Excel VBA archive)
The scenario as originally posted in 2014
I am in the unusual position of having two different templates for an Excel upload, one that is ‘human friendly’ and one that is machine generated. As such, the column data headers are different and it is difficult to align them.
As such, I would like to reference the column mappings using the ordinal position rather than the ‘name’ of the column. Currently I have this:
var excel = new ExcelQueryFactory(excelFileName);
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.FirstName, "First Name");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastName, "Last Name");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastFour, "Last 4 Student ID");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastDate, "Last Date");
and I would like to do something like this:
var excel = new ExcelQueryFactory(excelFileName);
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.FirstName, "A");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastName, "C");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastFour, "G");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastDate, "H");
where the letters are the column references in Excel.
Is there a way to do this?
Why community consensus is tight on this one
Across 303 Excel VBA entries in the archive, the accepted answer here holds niche answer (below median) status — meaning voters are unusually aligned on the right fix.
The Verified Solution — niche answer (below median) (+7)
5-line Excel VBA pattern (copy-ready)
if you order is the same you can call
var columnnames= excel.GetColumnNames("worksheetName");
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.FirstName, columnnames[0]);
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.FirstName, columnnames[1]);
excel.AddMapping<Student>(x => x.LastFour, columnnames[2]);
When to Use It — classic (2013–2016)
Ranked #250th in its category — specialized fit
This pattern sits in the 98% tail relative to the top answer. Reach for it when your scenario closely matches the question title; otherwise browse the Excel VBA archive for a higher-consensus alternative.
What changed between 2014 and 2026
The answer is 12 years old. The Excel VBA object model has been stable across Office 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 365, and 2024/2026 LTSC, so the pattern still compiles. Changes that might affect you: 64-bit API declarations (use PtrSafe), blocked macros in downloaded files (Mark-of-the-Web), and the shift toward Office Scripts for web-first workflows.