Question

Having problems with formatting CSV created from C# code. In the notepad file the output scrolls vertically down one row (the values seen in the structs below are output in one row. There is a row of numbers as well that appears directly below the struct values but the numbers should be in a new row beside the structs). When I open in excel it’s a similar story only the output from the structs is where it should be however the row of numbers appears directly below the struct values but one row to the right if that makes sense, and the numbers should appear directly beside their corresponding struct values. The code I’m using is below.

Here are the structs for the dictionaries im working with.

public enum Genders
{
    Male,
    Female,
    Other,
    UnknownorDeclined,
}

public enum Ages
{
    Upto15Years,
    Between16to17Years,
    Between18to24Years,
    Between25to34Years,
    Between35to44Years,
    Between45to54Years,
    Between55to64Years,
    Between65to74Years,
    Between75to84Years,
    EightyFiveandOver,
    UnavailableorDeclined,
}

the csv file that does the outputting using a streamwriter and stringbuilder.

public void CSVProfileCreate<T>(Dictionary<T, string> columns, Dictionary<T, int> data)
{
        StreamWriter write = new StreamWriter("c:/temp/testoutputprofile.csv");
        StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
        foreach (var pair in columns)
        {
            //output.Append(pair.Key);
            //output.Append(",");
            output.Append(pair.Value);
            output.Append(",");
            output.Append(Environment.NewLine);
        }

        foreach (var d in data)
        {
            //output.Append(pair.Key);
            output.Append(",");
            output.Append(d.Value);
            output.Append(Environment.NewLine);
        }

        write.Write(output);
        write.Dispose();
}

And finally the method to feed the dictionaries into the csv creator.

    public void RunReport()
    {
        CSVProfileCreate(genderKeys, genderValues);
        CSVProfileCreate(ageKeys, ageValues);
    }

Any ideas?

UPDATE

I fixed it by doing this:

    public void CSVProfileCreate<T>(Dictionary<T, string> columns, Dictionary<T, int> data)
    {
        StreamWriter write = new StreamWriter("c:/temp/testoutputprofile.csv");
        StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();

        IEnumerable<string> col = columns.Values.AsEnumerable();
        IEnumerable<int> dat = data.Values.AsEnumerable();

        for (int i = 0; i < col.Count(); i++)
        {
            output.Append(col.ElementAt(i));
            output.Append(",");
            output.Append(dat.ElementAt(i));
            output.Append(",");
            output.Append(Environment.NewLine);
        }

        write.Write(output);
        write.Dispose();
    }

}

Answer 1

You write Environment.NewLine after every single value that you output.

Rather than having two loops, you should have just one loop that outputs

• A “pair”
• A value
• Environment.NewLine

for each iteration.

Assuming columns and data have the same keys, that could look something like

foreach (T key in columns.Keys)
{
    pair = columns[key];
    d = data[key];
    output.Append(pair.Value);
    output.Append(",");
    output.Append(d.Value);
    output.Append(Environment.NewLine);
}

Note two complications:

• If pair.Value or d.Value contains a comma, you need to surround the output of that cell with double quotes.
• If If pair.Value or d.Value contains a comma and also contains a double-quote, you have to double up the double-quote to escape it.

Examples:

Smith, Jr

would have to be output

“Smith, Jr”

and

“Smitty” Smith, Jr

would have to be output

“””Smitty”” Smith, Jr”

UPDATE

Based on your comment about the keys…

For purposes of enumeration, each item in the dictionary is treated as a KeyValuePair structure representing a value and its key. The order in which the items are returned is undefined.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xfhwa508.aspx

If you cannot use the key to associate the right pair with the right data, how do you make that association?

If you are iterating the dictionary and they happen to be in the order you hope, that is truly undefined behavior that could change with the next .NET service pack.

You need something reliable to relate the pair with the correct data.

About the var keyword

var is not a type, but rather a shortcut that frees you from writing out the entire type. You can use var if you wish, but the actual type is KeyValuePair<T, string> and KeyValuePair<T, int> respectively. You can see that if you write var and hover over that keyword with your mouse in Visual Studio.

About disposing resources

Your line

write.Dispose();

is risky. If any of your code throws an Exception prior to reaching that line, it will never run and write will not be disposed. It is strongly preferable to make use of the using keyword like this:

using (StreamWriter write = new StreamWriter("c:/temp/testoutputprofile.csv"))
{
    // Your code here
}

When the scope of using ends (after the associated }), write.Dispose() will be automatically called whether or not an Exception was thrown. This is the same as, but shorter than,

try
{
    StreamWriter write = new StreamWriter("c:/temp/testoutputprofile.csv");
    // Your code here
}
finally
{
    write.Dispose();
}