Question

I have a cshtml view in mvc filled with xml such as :

@model myproject.net.Models.mymodel
@{
    Layout = null;
    Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
    Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; " + "filename=" + 
        Model.myusername.ToString()  + "(" + 
        Model.mydate.Date.ToShortDateString() + ").xls");
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ss:Workbook xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet">
    <Styles>
        <Style ss:ID="s25">
            <Alignment ss:Horizontal="Center" ss:Vertical="Bottom"/>
            <Borders>
                <Border ss:Position="Bottom" ss:LineStyle="Continuous" ss:Weight="1"/>
            </Borders>
            <Interior ss:Color="#FFA500" ss:Pattern="Solid"/>
        </Style>
    </Styles>
    <ss:Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet1">
        <ss:Table>
        @if (Model.someNumerableContent.Count > 0)
        {
            <!-- MyContent -->
            <ss:Row>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">Content Header</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
            </ss:Row>
            <ss:Row>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">SubHeader 1</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">SubHeader 2</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">SubHeader 3</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">SubHeader 4</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">SubHeader 5</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
            </ss:Row>
            foreach (var subContent in Model.someNumerableContent)
            {
            <ss:Row>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">@subContent.mydate.Date.ToShortDateString()</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">@subContent.number</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">@subContent.name</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">@subContent.surname</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type="String">@subContent.issue</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
            </ss:Row>
            }
            <ss:Row> </ss:Row>
        }
        </ss:Table>
    </ss:Worksheet>
</ss:Workbook>

and i wanna convert it to .xls file and attach to a mail without saving it anywhere.
but couldnt figure out how can i achive this. I cant use office.interop for some restrictions i got in the server so its not an option to me. I only want to create an .xls file by Xml and send it using .net mail. so far i’ve done this:

// Memory stream for the xml file
using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
    //                                                 Can i use something like this?
    byte[] contentAsBytes = Encoding.Default.GetBytes( View("ExportToExcel").ToString() );
    memoryStream.Write(contentAsBytes, 0, contentAsBytes.Length);
    // Set the position to the beginning of the stream.
    memoryStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
    // Create attachment
    ContentType contentType = new ContentType();
    contentType.MediaType = MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml;
    contentType.Name = UserName + "(" + FileDate + ").xls";
    // Attach
    mail.Attachment = new Attachment(memoryStream, contentType);
}

so how can i achive this?

Answer 1

I couldnt implement razor view successfull but after working 30 hours on it. i found another method..

First I created an XmlString as below:

public String XmlToImplement(int id)
{
    // Add values from db to model
    MyModel model = new MyModel();
    model.contents = db.contents.Where(c => c.MyData.id == id).ToList();
    // XmlString
    String XmlString = @"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
    <ss:Workbook xmlns='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet'
                xmlns:o='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office'
                xmlns:x='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel'
                xmlns:ss='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet'
                xmlns:html='http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40'>
        <Styles>
            <Style ss:ID='s25'>
                <Alignment ss:Horizontal='Center' ss:Vertical='Bottom'/>
                <Borders>
                    <Border ss:Position='Bottom' ss:LineStyle='Continuous' ss:Weight='1'/>
                </Borders>
                <Interior ss:Color='#FFA500' ss:Pattern='Solid'/>
            </Style>
        </Styles>
        <ss:Worksheet ss:Name='Sheet1'>
            <ss:Table>";
            if (model.contents.Count > 0)
            {
                XmlString = XmlString + @"<!-- MyModelData -->
                <ss:Row>
                    <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'> MyModelData </ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                </ss:Row>
                <ss:Row>
                    <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'>Date</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                    <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'>Number</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                    <ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'>Name/Surname</ss:Data></ss:Cell>
                </ss:Row>"; 
                foreach (var content in model.contents)
                {
                    XmlString = XmlString + @"<ss:Row>";
                    XmlString = XmlString + @"<ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'>" + content.thedate.Date.ToShortDateString() + "</ss:Data></ss:Cell>";
                    XmlString = XmlString + @"<ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'>" + content.number + "</ss:Data></ss:Cell>";
                    XmlString = XmlString + @"<ss:Cell><ss:Data ss:Type='String'>" + content.namesurname+ "</ss:Data></ss:Cell>";
                    XmlString = XmlString + @"</ss:Row>";
                }
                // An empty row for next value set
                XmlString = XmlString + "<ss:Row> </ss:Row>"; 
            }
            XmlString = XmlString + @"</ss:Table>
        </ss:Worksheet>
    </ss:Workbook>";
    return XmlString;
}

Then i saved it to MemoryStream with UTF8 Encoding..

// Create attachment
// Add XML to MemoryStream                                          /* MyXmlString */
MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(XmlToImplement(id)));

Then defined ContentType as Excel

// Content Type
ContentType contentType = new ContentType("application/vnd.ms-excel");
contentType.Name = UserName + "(" + FileDate + ").xls";

At last i attached it to .net mail

// Attach
mail.Attachment = new Attachment(memoryStream, contentType);
mail.Attachment.NameEncoding = UTF8Encoding.UTF8;
mail.Attachment.TransferEncoding = TransferEncoding.Base64;
mail.Attachment.ContentDisposition.DispositionType = DispositionTypeNames.Attachment;

and it worked just fine. I may not be able to turn an xml view to mail attachment but easily i could turn an xml string to mail attachment and i hope this helps to the others that goes trough this problem.