Export Generic List To Excel File in Asp.net

In this post we will go throw a small example and very simple code export List of Employees to Excel File using StringWriter and HtmlTextWriter.
First i think we need to create a simple Employee Class:

   1: public class Employee

   2: {

   3:     public Employee(int age , string name )

   4:     {

   5:         this.Age = age;

   6:         this.Name = name; 

   7:     }

   8:     int _Age;

   9:     public int Age { get { return _Age; } set { _Age = value; } }

  10:     string _Name;

  11:     public string Name { get { return _Name; } set { _Name = value; } }

  12: }

second i will fill List of Employee Class with 3 employees and pass it to our Export method:

   1: protected void btnExportToExcel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

   2:    {

   3:        List<Employee> empList = new List<Employee>();

   4:        empList.Add(new Employee(20, "Ahmed"));

   5:        empList.Add(new Employee(23, "Mohamed"));

   6:        empList.Add(new Employee(30, "Ramy"));

   7: // take excel FileName and the Exported List 

   8:        Export("FileName", empList);

   9:    }

Discover Export method and read  its code comments:

   1: public void Export(string fileName, List<Employee> empList)

   2:     {

   3:         //The Clear method erases any buffered HTML output.

   4:         HttpContext.Current.Response.Clear();

   5:         //The AddHeader method adds a new HTML header and value to the response sent to the client.

   6:         HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader(

   7:             "content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename={0}", fileName + ".xls"));

   8:         //The ContentType property specifies the HTTP content type for the response.

   9:         HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel";

  10:         //Implements a TextWriter for writing information to a string. The information is stored in an underlying StringBuilder.

  11:         using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())

  12:         {

  13:             //Writes markup characters and text to an ASP.NET server control output stream. This class provides formatting capabilities that ASP.NET server controls use when rendering markup to clients.

  14:             using (HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw))

  15:             {

  16:                 //  Create a form to contain the List

  17:                 Table table = new Table();

  18:                 TableRow row = new TableRow();

  19:                 foreach (PropertyInfo proinfo in new Employee(1,"Name").GetType().GetProperties())

  20:                 {

  21:                     TableHeaderCell hcell = new TableHeaderCell();

  22:                     hcell.Text = proinfo.Name;

  23:                     row.Cells.Add(hcell);

  24:                 }

  25:                 table.Rows.Add(row);

  26:                 //  add each of the data item to the table

  27:                 foreach (Employee emp in empList)

  28:                 {

  29:                     TableRow row1 = new TableRow();

  30:                     TableCell cellAge = new TableCell();

  31:                     cellAge.Text = "" + emp.Age;

  32:                     TableCell cellName = new TableCell();

  33:                     cellName.Text = "" + emp.Name;

  34:                     row1.Cells.Add(cellAge);

  35:                     row1.Cells.Add(cellName);

  36:                     table.Rows.Add(row1);

  37:                 }

  38:                 //  render the table into the htmlwriter

  39:                 table.RenderControl(htw);

  40:                 //  render the htmlwriter into the response

  41:                 HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(sw.ToString());

  42:                 HttpContext.Current.Response.End();

  43:             }

  44:         }

  45:     }

Please if you have free time make this example more generic for me :) .