How to create CSV Excel file C#? [closed]

Answer 1

great work on this class. Simple and easy to use. I modified the class to include a title in the first row of the export; figured I would share:

use:

CsvExport myExport = new CsvExport();
myExport.addTitle = String.Format("Name: {0},{1}", lastName, firstName));

class:

public class CsvExport
{
    List fields = new List();

    public string addTitle { get; set; } // string for the first row of the export

    List> rows = new List>();
    Dictionary currentRow
    {
        get
        {
            return rows[rows.Count - 1];
        }
    }

    public object this[string field]
    {
        set
        {
            if (!fields.Contains(field)) fields.Add(field);
            currentRow[field] = value;
        }
    }

    public void AddRow()
    {
        rows.Add(new Dictionary());
    }

    string MakeValueCsvFriendly(object value)
    {
        if (value == null) return "";
        if (value is Nullable && ((INullable)value).IsNull) return "";
        if (value is DateTime)
        {
            if (((DateTime)value).TimeOfDay.TotalSeconds == 0)
                return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
            return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
        }
        string output = value.ToString();
        if (output.Contains(",") || output.Contains("\""))
            output = '"' + output.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + '"';
        return output;

    }

    public string Export()
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        // if there is a title
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(addTitle))
        {
            // escape chars that would otherwise break the row / export
            char[] csvTokens = new[] { '\"', ',', '\n', '\r' };

            if (addTitle.IndexOfAny(csvTokens) >= 0)
            {
                addTitle = "\"" + addTitle.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + "\"";
            }
            sb.Append(addTitle).Append(",");
            sb.AppendLine();
        }


        // The header
        foreach (string field in fields)
        sb.Append(field).Append(",");
        sb.AppendLine();

        // The rows
        foreach (Dictionary row in rows)
        {
            foreach (string field in fields)
                sb.Append(MakeValueCsvFriendly(row[field])).Append(",");
            sb.AppendLine();
        }

        return sb.ToString();
    }

    public void ExportToFile(string path)
    {
        File.WriteAllText(path, Export());
    }

    public byte[] ExportToBytes()
    {
        return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Export());
    }
}