ASP.NET

Create Excel File From DataBase Using ASP.Net C#

Background
 
There is often a need in a project's reporting module to create an Excel file from a database, so by considering that requirement I decided to write this article especially focusing on beginners and those who want to learn how to create an Excel file from a database using ASP.NET C#.

Now before creating the application, let us create a table named employee in a database from where we show the records in a Grid View, the table has the following fields (shown in the following image):
 


I hope you have created the same type of table.

Now create the project as:
  1. "Start" - "All Programs" - "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010".

  2. "File" - "New Project" - "C#" - "Empty Project" (to avoid adding a master page).

  3. Provide the Project name such as CreateExcelFile or another as you wish and specify the location.

  4. Then right-click on Solution Explorer and select "Add New Item" then select Default.aspx page.

  5. One Button and a grid view.
Now the Default.aspx source code will be as follows:
 
  1. <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>  
  2.   
  3. <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">  
  4.   
  5. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">  
  6. <head runat="server">  
  7.     <title></title>  
  8. </head>  
  9. <body bgcolor="Silver">  
  10.     <form id="form1" runat="server">  
  11.     <br />  
  12.     <h2 style="color: #808000; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bolder;">  
  13.         Article by Vithal Wadje</h2>  
  14.     <br />  
  15.     <div>  
  16.         <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" AutoGenerateColumns="false" runat="server" CellPadding="6"  
  17.             ForeColor="#333333" GridLines="None">  
  18.             <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" />  
  19.             <EditRowStyle BackColor="#7C6F57" />  
  20.             <FooterStyle BackColor="#1C5E55" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />  
  21.             <HeaderStyle BackColor="#1C5E55" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />  
  22.             <PagerStyle BackColor="#666666" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />  
  23.             <RowStyle BackColor="#E3EAEB" />  
  24.             <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#C5BBAF" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />  
  25.             <SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#F8FAFA" />  
  26.             <SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#246B61" />  
  27.             <SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#D4DFE1" />  
  28.             <SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#15524A" />  
  29.             <Columns>  
  30.                 <asp:BoundField DataField="id" HeaderText="id" />  
  31.                 <asp:BoundField DataField="Name" HeaderText="Name" />  
  32.                 <asp:BoundField DataField="City" HeaderText="City" />  
  33.                 <asp:BoundField DataField="Address" HeaderText="Address" />  
  34.                 <asp:BoundField DataField="Designation" HeaderText="Designation" />  
  35.             </Columns>  
  36.         </asp:GridView>  
  37.         <br />  
  38.                    <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server"  
  39.             Text="Create Excel File" onclick="Button1_Click"/>  
  40.     </div>  
  41.     </form>  
  42. </body>  
  43. </html> 
 

If you are a beginner and don't understand in detail how to bind a Grid View from a database then refer to the following article of mine.

Now, for this article create the following function in the default.aspx.cs page to bind the Grid View:

  1. private void Bindgrid()  
  2.     {  
  3.         connection();  
  4.         query = "select *from Employee";//not recommended this i have written just for example,write stored procedure for security  
  5.         com = new SqlCommand(query, con);  
  6.         SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(query, con);  
  7.         DataSet ds = new DataSet();  
  8.         da.Fill(ds);  
  9.         GridView1.DataSource = ds;  
  10.         GridView1.DataBind();  
  11.         con.Close();  
  12.         ViewState["DataTable"] = ds.Tables[0];  
  13.     } 

Now, call the preceding function on page load as in the following:
  1. protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  2.     {  
  3.         if (!IsPostBack)  
  4.         {  
  5.             Bindgrid();  
  6.   
  7.         }  
  8.     } 
 Now create the following function to create an Excel File from the database as in the following:
 
  1. public void CreateExcelFile(DataTable Excel)  
  2.     {  
  3.   
  4.         //Clears all content output from the buffer stream.  
  5.         Response.ClearContent();  
  6.         //Adds HTTP header to the output stream  
  7.         Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename=C#cornerVithalWadje.xls"));  
  8.   
  9.        // Gets or sets the HTTP MIME type of the output stream  
  10.         Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";  
  11.         string space = "";  
  12.   
  13.         foreach (DataColumn dcolumn in Excel.Columns)  
  14.         {  
  15.   
  16.             Response.Write(space + dcolumn.ColumnName);  
  17.             space = "\t";          
  18.         }  
  19.         Response.Write("\n");  
  20.         int countcolumn;  
  21.         foreach (DataRow dr in Excel.Rows)  
  22.         {  
  23.             space = "";  
  24.             for (countcolumn = 0; countcolumn < Excel.Columns.Count; countcolumn++)  
  25.             {   
  26.               
  27.             Response.Write(space+dr[countcolumn].ToString());  
  28.                 space="\t";  
  29.               
  30.             }  
  31.           
  32.         Response.Write("\n");  
  33.           
  34.           
  35.         }  
  36.     Response.End();  
  37.     } 
We have created the preceding function to create an Excel File from the database. Now call the preceding function on the Create Excel File button click as in the following:
  1. protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  2.     {  
  3.         //getting datatable from viewstate  
  4.         DataTable dt =(DataTable)ViewState["DataTable"];  
  5.   
  6.         //calling create Excel File Method and ing dataTable   
  7.         CreateExcelFile(dt);  
  8.     } 
 The entire code of the default.aspx page will look as follows.
  1. using System;  
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;  
  3. using System.Linq;  
  4. using System.Web;  
  5. using System.Web.UI;  
  6. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;  
  7. using System.Data;  
  8. using System.IO;  
  9. using System.Configuration;  
  10. using System.Data.SqlClient;  
  11. public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page  
  12. {  
  13.       
  14.   
  15.   
  16.     private SqlConnection con;  
  17.     private SqlCommand com;  
  18.     private string constr, query;  
  19.     private void connection()  
  20.     {  
  21.         constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["getconn"].ToString();  
  22.         con = new SqlConnection(constr);  
  23.         con.Open();  
  24.   
  25.     }  
  26.     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  27.     {  
  28.         if (!IsPostBack)  
  29.         {  
  30.             Bindgrid();  
  31.   
  32.         }  
  33.     }  
  34.   
  35.   
  36.     private void Bindgrid()  
  37.     {  
  38.         connection();  
  39.         query = "select *from Employee";//not recommended this i have written just for example,write stored procedure for security  
  40.         com = new SqlCommand(query, con);  
  41.         SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(query, con);  
  42.         DataSet ds = new DataSet();  
  43.         da.Fill(ds);  
  44.         GridView1.DataSource = ds;  
  45.         GridView1.DataBind();  
  46.         con.Close();  
  47.         ViewState["DataTable"] = ds.Tables[0];  
  48.     }  
  49.   
  50.   
  51.     public void CreateExcelFile(DataTable Excel)  
  52.     {  
  53.   
  54.         //Clears all content output from the buffer stream.  
  55.         Response.ClearContent();  
  56.         //Adds HTTP header to the output stream  
  57.         Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename=C#cornerVithalWadje.xls"));  
  58.   
  59.        // Gets or sets the HTTP MIME type of the output stream  
  60.         Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";  
  61.         string space = "";  
  62.   
  63.         foreach (DataColumn dcolumn in Excel.Columns)  
  64.         {  
  65.   
  66.             Response.Write(space + dcolumn.ColumnName);  
  67.             space = "\t";          
  68.         }  
  69.         Response.Write("\n");  
  70.         int countcolumn;  
  71.         foreach (DataRow dr in Excel.Rows)  
  72.         {  
  73.             space = "";  
  74.             for (countcolumn = 0; countcolumn < Excel.Columns.Count; countcolumn++)  
  75.             {   
  76.               
  77.             Response.Write(space+dr[countcolumn].ToString());  
  78.                 space="\t";  
  79.               
  80.             }  
  81.           
  82.         Response.Write("\n");  
  83.           
  84.           
  85.         }  
  86.     Response.End();  
  87.     }  
  88.   
  89.   
  90.     protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  91.     {  
  92.         //getting datatable from viewstate  
  93.         DataTable dt =(DataTable)ViewState["DataTable"];  
  94.   
  95.         //calling create Excel File Method and ing dataTable   
  96.         CreateExcelFile(dt);  
  97.     }  
  98. } 
  Now run the application and then we can see the following records in the Grid view:
 
 
Now click on the Create Excel File button, the following dialog will appear: 
 
 
 
Now select the option to open or save and click on the OK button, then the Created Excel file records will look such as follows: 
 
 
Now you can see that the Excel file is created from the database and the records will look as above.

Notes
  • Download the Zip file from the attachment for the full source code of the application.
  • Change the connection string in the web.config file to specify your server location.
Summary

I hope this article is useful for all readers. If you have any suggestion then please contact me including beginners also. 

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