Create Excel File Using C#

In this blog, you will learn how to create an Excel file, using C#.

Here I will explain how you can use C# code to write things to Excel. Certainly, there are several good pre-made plugins available which directly write your output to an Excel file. This is more like learning the old school way of how it was done.

 

Create a simple Console Application to interop excel dll.

 

 

Now, you can paste this code in your class.

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
             Application xlApp = new Application();

            if (xlApp == null)
            {
                //just to check if we get hold of the excel aplication
                return;
            }


            Workbook xlWorkBook;
            Worksheet xlWorkSheet;
            object misValue = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;

            xlWorkBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Add(misValue);
            xlWorkSheet = (Worksheet)xlWorkBook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);
            xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, 1] = "Sheet 1 content";
            //you can basically do what every you want

            xlWorkBook.SaveAs("f:\\csharp-Excel.xls", XlFileFormat.xlWorkbookNormal, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue, XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlExclusive, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue);
            xlWorkBook.Close(true, misValue, misValue);
            xlApp.Quit();

            releaseObject(xlWorkSheet);
            releaseObject(xlWorkBook);
            releaseObject(xlApp);


        }

        //so that we dont leave any memory leaks
        private static void releaseObject(object obj)
        {
            try
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj);
                obj = null;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                obj = null;
            }
            finally
            {
                GC.Collect();
            }
        }
    }

This will create a file and write the sample text in it. The file won't even be visible. So, everything is done in the background.