ASP.NET MVC : Export data to CSV file

In this article I am going to explain how to export data to CSV file using Asp.net MVC.

In previous article I have explained how to export data to PDFfile in asp.net MVC, how to export data to Excel file in asp.net MVC and how tocheck uploaded image is Grayscale or not in asp.net.

Description:

I am showing list of movies. I want to export list of movies to CSV format. 

Implementation:

Model

public partial class Tb_Movie

    {

        public int Id { get; set; }

        public string Name { get; set; }

        public string Genre { get; set; }

        public Nullable<int> Budget { get; set; }

    }

Add controller

Add empty controller to project. On index method write the code show the list of movies. After that create new FilecontentResult method to create and download CSV file.

Complete code of Controller

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.Mvc;

using MVC_Project.Models;

using System.IO;

namespace MVC_Project.Controllers

{

   

    public class ExportExcelController : Controller

    {

        DemoEntities1 db = new DemoEntities1();

        //

        // GET: /ExportExcel/

        public ActionResult Index()

        {

            var movielist = db.Tb_Movie.ToList();

            return View(movielist);

        }

        public FileContentResult ExportToCSV()

        {

            var movie = db.Tb_Movie.ToList();

             StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();

             sw.WriteLine("\"Id\",\"Movie Name\",\"Genre\",\"Budget\"");

             foreach (var mve in movie)

             {

                 sw.WriteLine(string.Format("\"{0}\",\"{1}\",\"{2}\",\"{3}\"",

                      mve.Id,

                                            mve.Name,

                                            mve.Genre,

                                            mve.Budget));

             }

            var fileName = "Movielist" + DateTime.Now.ToString() + ".csv";

            return File(new System.Text.UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(sw.ToString()), "text/csv", fileName);

        }

    }

}

Add view

Now add view for index action.

Complete source of view:

@model IEnumerable<MVC_Project.Models.Tb_Movie>

@{

    ViewBag.Title = "Export to CSV";

}

                      <div class="content">

                         @Html.ActionLink("ExportCSV", "ExportToCSV", "ExportExcel", new { @class = "btnexport" })

                          <table>

                              <tr>

                                  <th>

                                      @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Name)

                                  </th>

                                  <th>

                                      @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Genre)

                                  </th>

                                  <th>

                                      @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Budget)

                                  </th>

                                  <th></th>

                              </tr>

                              @foreach (var item in Model)

                              {

                                  <tr>

                                      <td>

                                          @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Name)

                                      </td>

                                      <td>

                                          @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Genre)

                                      </td>

                                      <td>

                                          @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Budget)

                                      </td>

                                      <td>

                                          @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new { id = item.Id }) |

                                          @Html.ActionLink("Details", "Details", new { id = item.Id }) |

                                          @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new { id = item.Id })

                                      </td>

                                  </tr>

                              }

                          </table>

                      </div>

<style>

    .btn {

        border: none;

        background: transparent;

    }

    .content {

        min-height: 550px;

    }

    a.btnexport {

        background: url(../images/Export-excel.png) no-repeat ;

        display: block;

        width: 150px;

        height: 45px;

        text-indent: -9999px;

    }

</style>