Question

I need to create a new CSV file. Writing my own routine wouldn’t be a big task, but is there a routine in the Base Class Library for this?

Answer 1

Not in the framework, the code is too simple. Trivially done with StreamWriter.Write(), you only need to do a wee bit of lifting to properly quote a string. It takes just a handful of lines:

Module CsvWriter
    Public Sub WriteCsvLine(ByVal out As System.IO.TextWriter, ByVal ParamArray Values() As Object)
        For ix As Integer = 0 To Values.Length - 1
            If ix > 0 Then out.Write(",")
            If TypeOf (Values(ix)) Is String Then
                out.Write("""" + CStr(Values(ix)).Replace("""", """""") + """")
            Else
                out.Write(Values(ix).ToString())
            End If
        Next
        out.WriteLine()
    End Sub
End Module