How to create and download excel document using asp net

Question

How to create and download excel documents using asp.net?

The purpose is to use XML, LINQ, or whatever to send an excel document to a customer via a browser.

Answer 1

First, download the Open XML Format SDK 2.0.

It comes with 3 useful tools:

C:\Program Files\Open XML Format SDK\V2.0\tools

• DocumentReflector.exe which auto-generates the c# to build a spreadsheet from the code.
• OpenXmlClassesExplorer.exe display Ecma specification and the class documentation (using an MSDN style format).
• OpenXmlDiff.exe graphically compares two Open XML files and searches for errors.

Namespaces references

using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Spreadsheet;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml;


// Database object
        DataClassesDataContext db = new DataClassesDataContext();

        // Make a copy of the template file.
        File.Copy(@"C:\inetpub\wwwroot\project.Web\Clients\Handlers\oxml-tpl\livreurs.xlsx", @"C:\inetpub\wwwroot\project.Web\Clients\Handlers\oxml-tpl\generated.xlsx", true);

        // Open the copied template workbook. 
        using (SpreadsheetDocument myWorkbook = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(@"C:\inetpub\wwwroot\project.Web\Clients\Handlers\oxml-tpl\generated.xlsx", true))
        {
            // Access the main Workbook part, which contains all references.
            WorkbookPart workbookPart = myWorkbook.WorkbookPart;

            // Get the first worksheet. 
            WorksheetPart worksheetPart = workbookPart.WorksheetParts.ElementAt(2);

            // The SheetData object will contain all the data.
            SheetData sheetData = worksheetPart.Worksheet.GetFirstChild<SheetData>();

            // Begining Row pointer                       
            int index = 2;

            // Database results
            var query = from t in db.Clients select t;

            // For each item in the database, add a Row to SheetData.
            foreach (var item in query)
            {
                // Cell related variable
                string Nom = item.Nom;

                // New Row
                Row row = new Row();
                row.RowIndex = (UInt32)index;

                // New Cell
                Cell cell = new Cell();
                cell.DataType = CellValues.InlineString;
                // Column A1, 2, 3 ... and so on
                cell.CellReference = "A"+index;

                // Create Text object
                Text t = new Text();
                t.Text = Nom;

                // Append Text to InlineString object
                InlineString inlineString = new InlineString();
                inlineString.AppendChild(t);

                // Append InlineString to Cell
                cell.AppendChild(inlineString);

                // Append Cell to Row
                row.AppendChild(cell);

                // Append Row to SheetData
                sheetData.AppendChild(row);

                // increase row pointer
                index++;                

            }

            // save
            worksheetPart.Worksheet.Save();

        }

I haven't finished yet, my second job is to auto-download the spreadsheet after modification.

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Finally, I redirect the user to my generated spreadsheet (from my aspx)

 context.Response.Redirect("Oxml-tpl/generated.xlsx");