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

abdolwahab alemi

I have a c# List

I need export it to a excel file

2 Replies

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Jaganathan Bantheswaran15y ago
Accepted 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:\test.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
}
+2

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 < properties.Count; i++)
        sheet.Cells[0, i].Value = properties[i].Name;
 
    for (int i = 0; i < list.Count; i++)
        for (int j = 0; j < properties.Count; 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.