First let’s see what the CSV file is:
CSV file is a text based file in which data are separated by comma. It can be opened by excel so you can use excel functionality. Each row of data including the title is in separate line. Meanwhile, each row has data separated by comma.
How to create a CSV file?
We need to write data to the Response object. Meanwhile the content type should be text/csv also a header type of attachment should be added to response. Afterwards, column names are written to response then to actual data is written (each row should be just in one line).Finally you need to call Response.End to finalize your work.
Important: if any part of data has comma unfortunately the CSV file will screw up. What I did in the code is that I am replacing comma with space so I am sure that the only comma exists in each row is just for separating data rather than being part of data.
public class CSVExporter
{
public static void WriteToCSV(List<Person> personList)
{
string attachment = "attachment; filename=PersonList.csv";
HttpContext.Current.Response.Clear();
HttpContext.Current.Response.ClearHeaders();
HttpContext.Current.Response.ClearContent();
HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", attachment);
HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentType = "text/csv";
HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("Pragma", "public");
WriteColumnName();
foreach (Person person in personList)
{
WriteUserInfo(person);
}
HttpContext.Current.Response.End();
}
private static void WriteUserInfo(Person person)
{
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
AddComma(person.Name, stringBuilder);
AddComma(person.Family, stringBuilder);
AddComma(person.Age.ToString(), stringBuilder);
AddComma(string.Format("{0:C2}", person.Salary), stringBuilder);
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(stringBuilder.ToString());
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(Environment.NewLine);
}
private static void AddComma(string value, StringBuilder stringBuilder)
{
stringBuilder.Append(value.Replace(',', ' '));
stringBuilder.Append(", ");
}
private static void WriteColumnName()
{
string columnNames = "Name, Family, Age, Salary";
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(columnNames);
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(Environment.NewLine);
}
} |
