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Asked: 2026-05-11T10:28:52+00:00

Is there a predefined or easy method of writing a datatable to a text

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Is there a predefined or ‘easy’ method of writing a datatable to a text file or TextBox Control (With monospace font) such as DataTable.Print():

  Column1| Column2| --------|--------|       v1|      v2|       v3|      v4|       v5|      v6|

Edit

Here’s an initial version (vb.net) – in case anyone is interested or wants to build their own:

Public Function BuildTable(ByVal dt As DataTable) As String      Dim result As New StringBuilder     Dim widths As New List(Of Integer)     Const ColumnSeparator As Char = '|'c     Const HeadingUnderline As Char = '-'c      ' determine width of each column based on widest of either column heading or values in that column     For Each col As DataColumn In dt.Columns         Dim colWidth As Integer = Integer.MinValue         For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows             Dim len As Integer = row(col.ColumnName).ToString.Length             If len > colWidth Then                 colWidth = len             End If         Next         widths.Add(CInt(IIf(colWidth < col.ColumnName.Length, col.ColumnName.Length + 1, colWidth + 1)))     Next      ' write column headers     For Each col As DataColumn In dt.Columns         result.Append(col.ColumnName.PadLeft(widths(col.Ordinal)))         result.Append(ColumnSeparator)     Next     result.AppendLine()      ' write heading underline     For Each col As DataColumn In dt.Columns         Dim horizontal As String = New String(HeadingUnderline, widths(col.Ordinal))         result.Append(horizontal.PadLeft(widths(col.Ordinal)))         result.Append(ColumnSeparator)     Next     result.AppendLine()      ' write each row     For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows         For Each col As DataColumn In dt.Columns             result.Append(row(col.ColumnName).ToString.PadLeft(widths(col.Ordinal)))             result.Append(ColumnSeparator)         Next         result.AppendLine()     Next      Return result.ToString()  End Function
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1 Answer

  1. No, there isn’t. You will have to do the formatting yourself, or find a third-party library that will do this yourself.

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