The following example creates an ad hoc connection to the Payroll instance of SQL Server on serverLondon, and queries the AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.Employee table. (Use SQLNCLI and SQL Server will redirect to the latest version of SQL Server Native Client OLE DB Provider.)

SELECT *
FROM OPENDATASOURCE('SQLNCLI',
    'Data Source=London\Payroll;Integrated Security=SSPI')
    .AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.Employee

The following example creates an ad hoc connection to an Excel spreadsheet in the 1997 - 2003 format.

SELECT * FROM OPENDATASOURCE('Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Data Source=C:\DataFolder\Documents\TestExcel.xls;Extended Properties=EXCEL 5.0')...[Sheet1$] ;