How to bind and Export GridView data to Ms Excel file using asp.net C#,VB.Net

Introduction: In previous articles i explained How to bind and Export GridView data to Ms Word file and and Bind and Export GridView data to PDF file in asp.net and Bind and Export GridView data to CSV file in asp.net and How to Get city, state and country based on zip code using Google map API and How to enable JavaScript in asp.net  and JavaScript validation in asp.net website and Ajax AutoCompleteExtender control example without using web service and Get Title,Description and Keywords Meta tags from URL and How to use RangeValidator validation control with example.
 In this article I will explain with example How to Bind GridView and Export Gridview data to Ms Excel file using asp.net with C# and VB.Net.

 

Click on image to enlarge

click on image to enlarge

Implementation: Let's create an asp.net website demo to see it in action.

• Create a Database e.g. "MyDataBase" and a table under that DataBase in Sql Server and name it "EMPLOYEE" as shown in figure: 

Note: EMP_ID column is set to Primary key and Identity specification is set to yes with Identity increment and Identity seed equal to 1. Insert some data in this table that you  want to show in the Gridview.

• Now in web.config file add the connection string under <configuration> tag

<connectionStrings>

    <add name="conStr" connectionString="Data Source=LocalServer;Initial Catalog=MyDataBase;Integrated Security=True"/>

  </connectionStrings>

Note: Replace the Data Source and Initial Catalog(i.e. Database Name) as per your application.

Source Code:


• In the design page (.aspx) place a GridView control to bind data and a Button control to Export the GridView data to MS Excel file.

<fieldset style="width:360px;">

            <legend>Bind and Export GridView data to Ms Excel in asp.net</legend>

            <table>

                <tr>

                    <td>

                        <asp:GridView ID="grEmp" runat="server" AllowPaging="True" AutoGenerateColumns="False"

                   GridLines="None" Width="100%" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333">

                   

                    <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="#284775" />                   

                    <Columns>

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="EMP_NAME" HeaderText="Emp Name"  />

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="DEPT" HeaderText="Department"  />

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="SALARY" HeaderText="salary"  />

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="EMAIL_ID" HeaderText="Email Id" />

                    </Columns>                  

                    <EditRowStyle BackColor="#999999" />

                    <FooterStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />

                    <HeaderStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />

                    <PagerStyle BackColor="#284775" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />

                    <RowStyle BackColor="#F7F6F3" ForeColor="#333333" />

                    <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#E2DED6" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />

                    <SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#E9E7E2" />

                    <SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#506C8C" />

                    <SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#FFFDF8" />

                    <SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#6F8DAE" />

                </asp:GridView>

                    </td>               

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td>

<asp:Button ID="btnExportToExcel" runat="server" Text="Export To MS Excel File" OnClick="btnExportToExcel_Click" />

                    </td>

                </tr>

            </table>

        </fieldset>

C#.Net Code to Bind and Export GridView data to Ms Excel file

First include the following namespaces

using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Net;

using System.Net.Mail;

using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

Then write the code as:

SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["conStr"].ConnectionString);

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        if (!Page.IsPostBack)

        {

            BindEmpGrid();

        }

    }

    public override void VerifyRenderingInServerForm(Control control)

    {

        //It solves the error "Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server."

    }

    protected void BindEmpGrid()

    {

        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select * from EMPLOYEE", con);

        DataTable dt = new DataTable();

        SqlDataAdapter adp = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);

        adp.Fill(dt);

        grEmp.DataSource = dt;

        grEmp.DataBind();

    }

protected void btnExportToExcel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        try

        {

            Response.ClearContent();

            string attachment = "attachment; filename=MyExelFile.xls";

            Response.ClearContent();

            Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", attachment);

            Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel";

            StringWriter strWrite = new StringWriter();

            HtmlTextWriter htmWrite = new HtmlTextWriter(strWrite);             

            HtmlForm htmfrm = new HtmlForm();

            grEmp.Parent.Controls.Add(htmfrm);

            htmfrm.Attributes["runat"] = "server";

            htmfrm.Controls.Add(grEmp);

            htmfrm.RenderControl(htmWrite);

            Response.Write(strWrite.ToString());

            Response.Flush();

            Response.End();

        }

        catch (Exception ex){}

    }

VB.Net Code to Bind and Export GridView data to Ms Excel file

Design the form as shown above but just replace the line <asp:Button ID="btnExportToExcel" runat="server" Text="Export To MS Excel File" OnClick="btnExportToExcel_Click" /> with the <asp:Button ID="btnExportToExcel" runat="server" Text="Export To MS Excel File" />

Then in the code behind file(.aspx.vb) wrtie the code as: 

First include the following namespaces

Imports System.Data

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Imports System.Configuration

Imports System.Net

Imports System.Net.Mail

Imports System.Web.UI.HtmlControls

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Text

  Dim con As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("conStr").ConnectionString)

    Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        If Not Page.IsPostBack Then

            BindEmpGrid()

        End If

    End Sub

    Public Overrides Sub VerifyRenderingInServerForm(control As Control)

        'It solves the error "Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server."

    End Sub

    Protected Sub BindEmpGrid()

        Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("select * from EMPLOYEE", con)

        Dim dt As New DataTable()

        Dim adp As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)

        adp.Fill(dt)

        grEmp.DataSource = dt

        grEmp.DataBind()

    End Sub

Protected Sub btnExportTExcel_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnExportTExcel.Click

        Try

            Response.ClearContent()

            Dim attachment As String = "attachment; filename=MyExelFile.xls"

            Response.ClearContent()

            Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", attachment)

            Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel"

            Dim strWrite As New StringWriter()

            Dim htmWrite As New HtmlTextWriter(strWrite)

            Dim htmfrm As New HtmlForm()

            grEmp.Parent.Controls.Add(htmfrm)

            htmfrm.Attributes("runat") = "server"

            htmfrm.Controls.Add(grEmp)

            htmfrm.RenderControl(htmWrite)

            Response.Write(strWrite.ToString())

            Response.Flush()

            Response.[End]()

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

• Notice that I have added an overriding function VerifyRenderingInServerForm in the code behind. This is to resolve the error “Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server” that may occur while exporting GridView data to MS Excel file or MS Word file or PDF or CSV (Comma separated value) file.

Note: To view complete article on why this error occur and how to resolve that error, read my article “How to Solve Error Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server”

• After exporting, gridview data to Ms Excel file, will look as shown in figure:

Click on image to enlarge

Now over to you:

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