Question

SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=localhost\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=PSeminar;Integrated Security=true;Trusted_Connection=Yes;MultipleActiveResultSets=true");
SqlCommand Command = connection.CreateCommand();

SqlDataReader SQLRD;

Command.CommandText = "Select * from Attendance";

connection.Open();
SQLRD = Command.ExecuteReader();

string data = "";

while (SQLRD.Read())
{
    data += SQLRD[0].ToString()+  "\n";
    data += SQLRD[1].ToString() + "\n";
    data += SQLRD[2].ToString() + "\n";
    data += SQLRD[3].ToString() + "\n";
    data += SQLRD[4].ToString() + "\n";
    data += SQLRD[5].ToString() + "\n";
    data += SQLRD[6].ToString() + "\n";
    data += SQLRD[7].ToString() + "\n";
}

SQLRD.Close();
connection.Close();

string filename = @"C:\download.csv";//specified location
FileStream fs = new FileStream(filename,FileMode.Append, FileAccess.Write);
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
sw.WriteLine(data);
sw.Flush();
sw.Close();
fs.Close();

This is what i have done so far. currently upon clicking on download all information appear in 1 single column and is not separated into rows. I need to know how can i arrange them into rows. Also can i also know how am i to display a dialog box when the user clicks on download. Currently the file is just stored in the specified location?

Answer 1

When exporting to .csv format, you want to put commas (,) between the columns, and line returns (\n) between the rows. Currently, you are putting a line return between every single column. Try something like this:

while (SQLRD.Read())
{
     data += SQLRD[0].ToString() + ",";
                   //              ^^^ note the change from '\n' to ','
     data += SQLRD[1].ToString() + ",";
     data += SQLRD[2].ToString() + ",";
     ...
     data += SQLRD[7].ToString(); // final column doesn't need a ','
     data += "\n"; // final line separator for the entire row
}

Best regards,