We Keep Coding

Save Window at Excel Report in C#

I have a working Excel Report code. Still, when I click the button the file goes directly to my download folder, without giving me the option to change its name or selecting where I want to save it.
Code is the following:
public void GetExcel()
{
var list = (IList<LeaseViewModel>)Session["currentList"];
var grd = new GridView { DataSource = list, AutoGenerateColumns = true };
grd.DataBind();
Response.ClearContent();
Response.AddHeader("Content-type", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet");
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=Leases.xls");
Response.ContentType = "application/excel";
var swr = new StringWriter();
var tw = new HtmlTextWriter(swr);
grd.RenderControl(tw);
Response.Write(swr.ToString());
Response.Flush();
Response.End();
tw.Close();
swr.Close();
}
Can somebody please indicate what should I change in order to have the window popping?
Thanks a lot.

Thanks for everybody highlighting this is a browser-configuration issue.
I thought that once I have the definition of the default name in the code I could also define it to always ask what is the name I want. I tested in different browsers though, and fact is you were right, thanks for identifying it and noticing me.
Regarding the default name issue, here is how I solve it:
Before:
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=Leases.xls");
After:
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=" + Session["listName"] + "_Report.xls");
Now regardless the report I export, the name is always customized.
Hope it helps other newbies like me (:

mso-data-placement:same-cell not working

I am exporting data into Excel from a web page. This should be a no brainer, but there are <p> tags in the data. This causes Excel to create new rows when the data should all be in the same cell. After some research I found that mso-data-placement should do the trick, but it's not working. Excel opens, the data is displayed, but extra uncessary rows are created. Here is the code I use to export the data:
protected void doexcel()
{
string style = #"<style type='text/css'>P {mso-data-placement:same-cell; font-weight:bold;}</style>";
HttpResponse response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
// first let's clean up the response.object
response.Clear();
response.Charset = "";
//set the response mime type for excel
response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Random RandomClass = new Random();
int RandomNumber = RandomClass.Next();
String filename = "a" + RandomNumber + DateTime.Now + ".xls";
response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + filename + "\"" );
// create a string writer
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
{
using (HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw))
{
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(style);
SqlDataSourceEmployeeAssets.ConnectionString = MyObjects.Application.CurrentContext.ConnectionString;
String sql = (string)Session["sql"];
SqlDataSourceEmployeeAssets.SelectCommand = sql;
// lCount.Text = "Query returned " + getCount(query) + " rows.";
DataGrid dge = new DataGrid();
dge.DataSource = SqlDataSourceEmployeeAssets;
dge.DataBind();
dge.RenderControl(htw);
response.Write(sw.ToString());
response.End();
}
}
}
This is an example of the raw data in the database that is giving me grief:
<P>4/13/2011 : Cheng "Jonathan" Vaing is with BSES Graffiti Unit.</P><P>4/13/2011 : Cheng "Jonathan" Vaing is with</P>
Suggestions?
I tried a couple of other things
I went straight to the data and added the mso-data-placement attribute to the paragraph tag inline. Still didn't work. The data looked like this
<P style="mso-data-placement:same-cell> my data </p>
I tried other mso-* attributes, that didn't work either. For example, I changed my stylesheet to look like this
<style type='text/css'>P {mso-highlight:yellow}</style>";
Why oh why doesn't Excel recognize my mso-* attributes?!?!

There is a solution but it is not clean.
After the dge.DataBind, place the following code. This will encode the text of each cell
foreach (DataGridItem dgi in dge.Items)
{
foreach (TableCell cell in dgi.Cells)
{
cell.Text = WebUtility.HtmlEncode(cell.Text);;
}
}
The Excel file, when opened, should show the raw data with the markup, all in one cell.
I found that this works because Excel actually encodes the text, as well. To see what Excel does in action, do the following:
Create a new workbook in Excel (I am using Office 2013).
In the first cell, paste the raw data (as you have it displayed). Do this by first pressing F2 (insert into cell), then paste the text.
Save the workbook as an HTML file (or web page).
Using windows explorer, go to the folder location of where you saved the file. There should be a hidden folder (i think it is hidden) with the same name as your file. For example, if your workbook is Book1.htm, there should be a folder labeled Book1_files.
In this folder, there should be an HTM file with the name sheet001.htm. Open this file in notepad (or any text editor...not excel or word)
Locate your raw data. You will see that the text is not showing the HTML markup, rather it is showing the encoded version.
Hope this helps.

Exporting data from c# to word document

I have a grid in c# filled with data. One of the columns in that grid contains letters (followed by numbers) sorted alphabetically, like this:
A124
A256
A756
B463
B978
D322
etc.
I need to export this data in a word document (.doc or .docx format).
This is what i did to export a signle grid:
var dt = FuntionThatReturnsDatatables();
var gd = new GridView
{
DataSource = dt
};
gd.DataBind();
HttpContext.Current.Response.Clear();
HttpContext.Current.Response.Buffer = true;
HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;
filename=" + "List" + DateTime.Now.ToString("dd.MM.yyyy") + ".doc");
HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8;
HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentType = "application/ms-word";
HttpContext.Current.Response.Charset = "UTF-8";
HttpContext.Current.Response.BinaryWrite(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetPreamble());
var oStringWriter = new StringWriter();
var oHtmlTextWriter = new HtmlTextWriter(oStringWriter);
gd.RenderControl(oHtmlTextWriter);
HttpContext.Current.Response.Output.Write(oStringWriter.ToString());
HttpContext.Current.Response.Flush();
HttpContext.Current.Response.End();
But now I have to follow this logic:
- For every letter from grid a new table with title should be created like this:
Table A:
A124
A256
A756
Each new table should start from a new page, like this:
Table A:
A124,
A256,
A756,
//new page
Table B:
B463,
B978,
//new page
Table D:
D322,
etc.
Pages in that word document need to be numbered.
Is there any way to write a code in c# to do this or is there some library/plugin that can accomplish this task ?
Some examples would be appreciated.

You should be able to use OpenXML SDK from Microsoft to achieve this.
Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb448854.aspx
Reference Sample:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/acoat/archive/2010/06/19/document-creation-and-conversion-with-the-openxml-sdk-and-sharepoint-2010-word-automation-services.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/acoat/archive/2011/04/06/document-creation-and-conversion-with-the-openxml-sdk-and-sharepoint-2010-word-automation-services-part-2.aspx

What version of Word do you need to work with? If it's a version that can handle the .docx file format, i.e. 2007 and later, then you can generate those files directly. In fact, the easiest way to do that is create a .docx file in Word that you use as a kind of template, and then programmatically manipulate the xml in that file.
For more information, see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163526.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.packaging.aspx

Stop Date Auto-Format when Exporting from DataGrid to Excel in C#

I am currently formatting a Date for a specific Excel file Export from a DataSet/DataGrid.
The Date is formatted like so:
DateTime date = Convert.ToDateTime(entry.Date);
string formatdate = String.Format("{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", date);
Once creating the DataSet is said and done, I use the following code to Export the DataSet to an Excel file:
public static void ExportDStoExcel(DataSet ds, string filename)
{
HttpResponse response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
response.Clear();
response.Charset = "";
response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
{
using (HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw))
{
DataGrid dg = new DataGrid();
dg.DataSource = ds.Tables[0];
dg.DataBind();
dg.RenderControl(htw);
response.Write(sw.ToString());
response.End();
}
}
}
My only problem is once I export this to Excel, Excel Auto-Formats the Dates like this: MM/DD/YYYY instead of YYYY/MM/DD.
I understand this could be achieved manually by opening in Excel, but the Export is being built into an Automated System and needs to be hard coded.
Is there any way of bypassing Excel's DateTime Auto-Formatting?

I had the same issue and solved it by adding a non breaking space (&nbsp) in front of the text. Stopped Excel from auto-formatting. Not the cleanest solution but did the trick for me...

Right now you are just outputting HTML table, that Excel interprets how it likes. You'd have bring yourself down to Excel's level to be able to specify column's properties (set type to Text instead of General).
This means that you need to generate actual xls file (there are various libraries out there for that). Or (if restriction to Office 2010 is acceptable) got with Open XML format which you can write with regular .NET API.

You can style excel cells with mso-number-format
mso-number-format:"\\#"
\# will tell excel to treat all data in text format only. So auto format won't happen.
Please update your code like this:
response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
response.Write("<html xmlns:x=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel\">");
response.Write("<head><style> td {mso-number-format:\\#;} </style></head><body>");
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
{
using (HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw))
{
DataGrid dg = new DataGrid();
dg.DataSource = ds.Tables[0];
dg.DataBind();
dg.RenderControl(htw);
response.Write(sw.ToString());
response.Write("</body></html>");
response.End();
}
}
OR
you can try with specific date format also.
Refer: http://cosicimiento.blogspot.in/2008/11/styling-excel-cells-with-mso-number.html
mso-number-format:"yyyy\/mm\/dd"

Download .xlsx file using Response.TransmitFile()

I'm working on some code that generates an Excel spreadsheet server-side and then downloads it to the user. I'm using ExcelPackage to generate the file.
The generation is working just fine. I can open the generated files using Excel 2007 with no issues. But, I'm having trouble downloading the file with Response.TransmitFile().
Right now, I have the following code:
//Generate the file using ExcelPackage
string fileName = generateExcelFile(dataList, "MyReportData");
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=FileName.xls");
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.xls"
Response.Charset = "";
Response.TransmitFile(fileName);
When Excel 2007 opens the file downloaded as above, it gives the "file format doesn't match extension" warning. After clicking past the warning, Excel displays the raw xml contents of the file.
If I change the file extension, like so
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=FileName.xlsx");
Excel 2007 gives an "Excel found unreadable content in the file" error, followed by a dialog that offers to locate a converter on the web. If I click "no" on this dialog, Excel is able to load the data.
I've also experimented with different MIME types, like application/vnd.ms-excel and application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, combined with file extensions of .xls and .xlsx. All combinations result in one of the two behaviors mentioned above.
What is the correct combination of file extension and MIME type to use in this scenario? What else could cause this failure, other than an improper MIME type or extension?
FYI, this is occurring with Visual Studio's built-in development web server. I haven't yet tried this with IIS.

I can't definitely say that there's anything wrong with your approach, but I'll just share some observations from doing something similar.
Headers are Pascal Case, most browsers shouldn't care but I would change your content-disposition to Content-Disposition. Changing the Charset shouldn't be necessary or relevant. Your content type should be fine, I would only use application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet and .xlsx if that is actually the content of the file, otherwise stick with application/vnd.ms-excel and .xls.
Another thing you should consider is sending the browser the Content-Length:
Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", new System.IO.FileInfo("FileName.xlsx").Length);
Also have you tried this with multiple browsers? Just wondering if it's a vendor-specific problem.
As a last ditch effort, you can set your Content-Type to application/octet-stream, and any browser should offer to download it, and then most browsers will let you open it after it's downloaded based on the extension.

use this
HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"filename + ".zip" + "\"");
Response.TransmitFile(zipPath);
Response.Flush();
Response.Close();
Response.End();
in your code is
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=\FileName.xlsx\");

Try like this
public void DataTableToExcel(DataTable dt, string Filename)
{
MemoryStream ms = DataTableToExcelXlsx(dt, "Sheet1");
ms.WriteTo(HttpContext.Current.Response.OutputStream);
HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet";
HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=" + Filename);
HttpContext.Current.Response.StatusCode = 200;
HttpContext.Current.Response.End();
}
public static MemoryStream DataTableToExcelXlsx(DataTable table, string sheetName)
{
MemoryStream result = new MemoryStream();
ExcelPackage excelpack = new ExcelPackage();
ExcelWorksheet worksheet = excelpack.Workbook.Worksheets.Add(sheetName);
int col = 1;
int row = 1;
foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)
{
worksheet.Cells[row, col].Value = column.ColumnName.ToString();
col++;
}
col = 1;
row = 2;
foreach (DataRow rw in table.Rows)
{
foreach (DataColumn cl in table.Columns)
{
if (rw[cl.ColumnName] != DBNull.Value)
worksheet.Cells[row, col].Value = rw[cl.ColumnName].ToString();
col++;
}
row++;
col = 1;
}
excelpack.SaveAs(result);
return result;
}