Importing Excel into a DataTable Quickly

Question

I am trying to read an Excel file into a list of Data.DataTable, although with my current method it can take a very long time. I essentually go Worksheet by Worksheet, cell

Answer 1

 class DataReader
    {
        Excel.Application xlApp;
        Excel.Workbook xlBook;
        Excel.Range xlRange;
        Excel.Worksheet xlSheet;
        public DataTable GetSheetDataAsDataTable(String filePath, String sheetName)
        {
            DataTable dt = new DataTable();
            try
            {
                xlApp = new Excel.Application();
                xlBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(filePath);
                xlSheet = xlBook.Worksheets[sheetName];
                xlRange = xlSheet.UsedRange;
                DataRow row=null;
                for (int i = 1; i <= xlRange.Rows.Count; i++)
                {
                    if (i != 1)
                        row = dt.NewRow();
                    for (int j = 1; j <= xlRange.Columns.Count; j++)
                    {
                        if (i == 1)
                            dt.Columns.Add(xlRange.Cells[1, j].value);
                        else
                            row[j-1] = xlRange.Cells[i, j].value;
                    }
                    if(row !=null)
                        dt.Rows.Add(row);
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                xlBook.Close();
                xlApp.Quit();
            }
            return dt;
        }
    }