How to export a C# list 'T' to a excel file

Question

I have a c# List I need export it to a excel file

Jaganathan Bantheswaran · Answer

Hi, Try this, using NsExcel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel; public void ListToExcel(List list) { //start excel NsExcel.ApplicationClass excapp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.ApplicationClass(); //if you want to make excel visible excapp.Visible = true; //create a blank workbook var workbook = excapp.Workbooks.Add(NsExcel.XlWBATemplate.xlWBATWorksheet); //or open one - this is no pleasant, but yue're probably interested in the first parameter string workbookPath = "C:	est.xls"; var workbook = Workbooks.Open(workbookPath, 0, false, 5, "", "", false, Excel.XlPlatform.xlWindows, "", true, false, 0, true, false, false); //Not done yet. You have to work on a specific sheet - note the cast //You may not have any sheets at all. Then you have to add one with NsExcel.Worksheet.Add() var sheet = (NsExcel.Worksheet)workbook.Sheets[1]; //indexing starts from 1 //do something usefull: you select now an individual cell var range = sheet.get_Range("A1", "A1"); range.Value2 = "test"; //Value2 is not a typo //now the list string cellName; int counter = 1; foreach (var item in list) { cellName = "A" + counter.ToString(); var range = sheet.get_Range(cellName, cellName); range.Value2 = item.ToString(); ++counter; } //you've probably got the point by now, so a detailed explanation about workbook.SaveAs and workbook.Close is not necessary //important: if you did not make excel visible terminating your application will terminate excel as well - I tested it //but if you did it - to be honest - I don't know how to close the main excel window - maybee somewhere around excapp.Windows or excapp.ActiveWindow }

Kyle Story · Answer

Hi, in case anyone has a generic list (not a string list) like list of entities from Entity Framework or any other list of objects that contain the required information in their properties, then here is what you can do: public static void ExportGenericListToExcel ( List list, string excelFilePath) { PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = TypeDescriptor .GetProperties( typeof (T)); ExcelFile file = new ExcelFile (); ExcelWorksheet sheet = file.Worksheets.Add( "Exported List" ); for ( int i = 0; i sheet.Cells[0, i].Value = properties[i].Name; for ( int i = 0; i for ( int j = 0; j sheet.Cells[i + 1, j].Value = properties[j].GetValue(list[i]); file.Save(excelFilePath); } And here is an example how you can use it: // My custom type called 'Student'. var students = new List Student >(); // ... ExportGenericListToExcel(students, "Students.xlsx" ); Code uses this helper .NET component for Excel .

How to export a C# list 'T' to a excel file

Answers (2)