Question

Alright I want to create a .csv file in C#. I have been looking around and noticed a lot of people are using the system.IO.memorystream and system.io.streamwriter.

The problem is this: I have a web application. I want to give the user the ability to export to excel. Problem is, Excel cannot be installed on the server (don’t ask). I want to be able to write an .csv sheet export for a report. Now, the reports headers and data will be different for all of the reports (looping through will solve this). Anybody have an example or better resources for me to go through?

Answer 1

This the approach i normally take. Probably not the most efficient though.

        /// <summary>
    /// Generates the contents of the log file.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>The contents of the log file.</returns>
    internal string GenerateLogFile()
    {
        StringBuilder csvExport = new StringBuilder();
        csvExport.AppendLine(Resources.CSVHeader);

        foreach (DataRow row in this.logEntries.Rows)
        {
            csvExport.AppendLine(
                string.Format(
                "\"{0}\",\"{1}\",\"{2}\",\"{3}\",\"{4}\",\"{5}\",\"{6}\",\"{7}\",\"{8}\", \"{9}\"",
                row[ColumnNames.LogTime], row[ColumnNames.Field1], row[ColumnNames.Field2], row[ColumnNames.Field3], row[ColumnNames.Field4], row[ColumnNames.Field5], row[ColumnNames.Field6], row[ColumnNames.Field7], row[ColumnNames.Field8], row[ColumnNames.Field9]));
        }

        return csvExport.ToString();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Adds the CSV file to the response.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="csvExportContents">The contents of the CSV file.</param>
    internal void DisplayLogFile(string csvExportContents)
    {
        byte[] data = new ASCIIEncoding().GetBytes(csvExportContents);

        HttpContext.Current.Response.Clear();
        HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentType = "APPLICATION/OCTET-STREAM";
        HttpContext.Current.Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=Export.csv");
        HttpContext.Current.Response.OutputStream.Write(data, 0, data.Length);
        HttpContext.Current.Response.End();
    }