Exporting DataTable to Excel in C# Using Interop

Introduction

I would like to share a utility that can be used to export a datatable to Excel file using C#.

We have various approaches to perform this activity.

In ASP.NET we can do this by changing the Content type to xls but in C# .Net we might have various other approaches.

Through this article we will learn how to export a data table to Excel using Interop.

Code and Steps

Here in this application we will use a Sample datatable and then learn how to export data to an Excel file.

We will learn the following things in this article:

1. Creating Excel file using C#
2. Writing data to cells
3. Formatting data to cells
4. Working with Excel range

1. Adding References

First we need to add a reference for Microsoft.office.interop.Excel as in the following:

2. Adding sample data table to the code

 

Use the following code to add the sample data table:

 

    static DataTable GetTable()

    {

        //

        // Here we create a DataTable with four columns.

        //

        DataTable table = new DataTable();

        table.Columns.Add("ID", typeof(int));

        table.Columns.Add("Name", typeof(string));

        table.Columns.Add("Sex", typeof(string));

        table.Columns.Add("CreatedDate", typeof(string));

        table.Columns.Add("City", typeof(string));

        //

        // Here we add five DataRows.

        //

        table.Rows.Add(25, "Devesh Omar", "M", DateTime.Now, "Noida");

        table.Rows.Add(50, "Nikhil Vats", "M", DateTime.Now, "Noida");

        table.Rows.Add(10, "Heena Sharma", "F", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        table.Rows.Add(21, "Nancy Sharma", "F", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        table.Rows.Add(100, "Avinash", "M", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        table.Rows.Add(25, "Devesh gupta", "M", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        table.Rows.Add(50, "Nikhil gupta", "M", DateTime.Now, "Noida");

        table.Rows.Add(10, "HS gupta", "F", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        table.Rows.Add(21, "VS gupta", "F", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        table.Rows.Add(100, "RJ gupta", "M", DateTime.Now, "Delhi");

        return table;

    } 

3. Class file for generating Excel

We created a separate class file for generating the Excel (Excelutlity.cs).

4. Creation of Excel objects

Define the following variables:

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application excel;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbook excelworkBook;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet excelSheet;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range excelCellrange;

I have attached sample code for more details.

5. Initialization of Excel objects

// Start Excel and get Application object.

excel = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();

 

// for making Excel visible

excel.Visible = false;

excel.DisplayAlerts = false;

 

// Creation a new Workbook

excelworkBook = excel.Workbooks.Add(Type.Missing);

 

// Workk sheet

excelSheet = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet)excelworkBook.ActiveSheet;

excelSheet.Name = "Test work sheet";

6. Writing to Excel file

excelSheet.Cells[1, 1] = “Sample test data”;

excelSheet.Cells[1, 2] = "Date : " + DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString();

7. Working with range and formatting Excel cells

// now we resize the columns

excelCellrange = excelSheet.Range[excelSheet.Cells[1, 1], excelSheet.Cells[rowcount, dataTable.Columns.Count]];

excelCellrange.EntireColumn.AutoFit();

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Borders border = excelCellrange.Borders;

border.LineStyle = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlLineStyle.xlContinuous;

border.Weight = 2d;

8. Coloring the cells

We will use the following function to format and color Excel cells:

    public void FormattingExcelCells(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range range, string HTMLcolorCode, System.Drawing.Color fontColor, bool IsFontbool)

    {

        range.Interior.Color = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(HTMLcolorCode);

        range.Font.Color = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.ToOle(fontColor);

        if (IsFontbool == true)

        {

            range.Font.Bold = IsFontbool;

        }

    } 

9. Running the application

We are binding a DataGrid at the load of a Form.

10. After clicking on Export to Excel we will have our Excel file as per the following screen. You need to modify the file out path in the attached code.

 

Conclusion

The attached application can be used in projects for the Reporting Feature.