Question

I need to parse a pretty simple csv file which represents 7 columns and 3 rows. Is there anything built into .Net to do this or should I do it manually?

Answer 1

It turns out this worked: (Well, ‘this’ being an approximation)

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    List<List<string>> data = GetListFromCsv(this.DataFile);

    Table table = GetHtmlTable(data);

    this.plcDataTable.Controls.Add(table);
}

// get list of 'rows' (event though each row is just a list of strings)
public static List<List<string>> GetListFromCsv(string file)
{
    String[] csvData = File.ReadAllLines(file);

    List<string> rowList = new List<string>();

    if (csvData.Length == 0)
    {
        throw new Exception("CSV File Appears to be Empty");
    }

    var rows = (from r in csvData
                select r.Split(',').ToList()
               ).ToList();

    return rows;

}

private Table GetHtmlTable(List<List<string>> dataTable)
{
    List<TableRow> rows = new List<TableRow>();

    rows.AddRange(GetListOfRows(dataTable));

    Table table = new Table();
    table.Rows.AddRange(rows.ToArray());

    return table;
}

// convert the 'rows' to real rows.
public static IEnumerable<TableRow> GetListOfRows(List<List<string>> table)
{
    var rows = new List<TableRow>();

    foreach (var row in table
    {
        rows.Add(GetTableRow(row));
    }

    return rows;
}

private static TableRow GetTableRow(List<string> rows)
{
    TableRow row = new TableRow();

    row.Cells.Add(GetColumnOneCell(rows));
    row.Cells.AddRange(GetValueCells(rows).ToArray());

    return row;
}