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Export to XLS, XLSX, CSV Formats

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The Grid Control supports two modes (engines) to export data from Grid Views and Banded Grid Views in XLS, XLSX, and CSV formats:

Data-Aware Export

The new export engine features improved performance and memory usage. Choose this mode if you need to process and analyze exported data in Microsoft Excel.

Data shaping options in an exported control (for example, data collapsing/expanding, summary formulas, and format rules) are persisted in the output XLS/XLSX document. The layout of grid elements may not match the original layout in the exported document.

When exporting to CSV format, the grid’s data shaping options are not included in the export document, which simplifies subsequent analysis and processing of text data.

You can export a detail View if you maximize this View.

WYSIWYG Export

This export engine retains the layout of grid elements in the output document. However, the data shaping options are not retained. For instance, the grid control exports summary values as text strings instead of formulas.

In WYSIWYG export mode, the export of detail Views is supported (see GridOptionsPrint.PrintDetails).

The Grid Control’s Card, Layout, Tile, and WinExplorer Views always export their data in WYSIWYG mode.

You can also use the PrintableComponentLink and XtraReports library‘s methods to export a Grid Control to Microsoft Excel format. These techniques always use the WYSIWYG export engine.

API

Use the following methods to export the grid control’s data:

Method Description
GridControl.ExportToXls Exports a View’s data to a file/stream in XLS format.
GridControl.ExportToXlsx Exports a View’s data to a file/stream in XLSX format.
GridControl.ExportToCsv Exports a View’s data to a file/stream in CSV format.
string path = "output.xlsx";
gridControl1.ExportToXlsx(path);
// Open the created XLSX file with the default application.
Process.Start(path);

Choose Export Mode

The static ExportSettings.DefaultExportType property allows you to choose the default export mode when you use the Grid Control’s ExportToXls, ExportToXlsx, and ExportToCsv methods.

You can also specify the required export mode with each ExportToXls (or ExportToXlsx) method call when you use these method overloads with an options parameter. Create an XlsExportOptionsEx object (or XlsxExportOptionsEx object), set its ExportType property to ExportType.DataAware or ExportType.WYSIWYG, and pass this object to the ExportToXls (or ExportToXlsx) method.

Data-aware Export

The data-aware export engine retains the following grid data shaping features in the resulting XLS/XLSX documents:

  • Data grouping (collapse/expand groups within a worksheet).
  • Column sorting and filtering.
  • Total and group summary formulas.
  • Conditional cell formatting (format rules).
  • Lookup values (Lookup and Combo-box columns).
  • Fixed columns.
  • Expressions (expression-based unbound columns).

The following image illustrates an MS Excel worksheet that contains data from a sample Grid control with group and summary features:

Excel-Export-Group-and-Summary

Data-aware Export Specifics and Limitations

Grid Features that are not Exported

  • Charts, gauges, and RTF text in grid cells.

    If a Grid Control contains a column with this type of data, the resulting worksheet contains an empty column with only a header.

  • Preview sections.
  • Detail Views (in master-detail mode) when you export the master View. You can export a detail View when you maximize this View.
  • Appearance settings applied to rows and individual cells.

    The resulting document contains appearance settings applied to column cells (GridColumn.AppearanceCell).

  • Custom painting, alpha blending, and color gradient customizations. Refer to the following KB article for available workarounds: Is custom drawing ignored when printing or exporting?.

Export Specifics

Read the following article for more information about Microsoft Excel limitations (for example, row count and column count): Excel specifications and limits.

Data-aware Export Settings

You can use the following settings to customize the resulting document’s data:

  • Base settings — accessible with the GridView.OptionsPrint and BandedGridView.OptionsPrint properties.

    These properties specify which grid elements should be included in the resulting document.

  • Advanced settings — Call the ExportToXls (or ExportToXlsx) method overloads and pass an options parameter to access these settings.

    Set the options parameter to an XlsExportOptionsEx (when using the ExportToXls method) or XlsxExportOptionsEx object (when using the ExportToXlsx method).

The following table lists these options, grouped by categories:

Worksheet Settings

XlExportOptionsBase.SheetName

Gets or sets a name of the sheet in the created XLS file to which a document is exported.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ShowPageTitle

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ShowPageTitle

Gets or sets whether a title is displayed for each print preview page of the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.DocumentCulture

XlsxExportOptionsEx.DocumentCulture

Gets or sets the export document’s culture, which defines numeric and date-time data format settings.

XlsxExportOptionsEx.SuppressMaxColumnsWarning

Gets or sets whether to suppress the warning that appears if the resulting XLSX file has more than 16,384 columns.

XlsxExportOptionsEx.SuppressMaxRowsWarning

Gets or sets whether to suppress the warning that appears if the resulting XLSX file has more than 1,048,576 rows.

Layout

XlsExportOptionsEx.LayoutMode

XlsxExportOptionsEx.LayoutMode

Gets or sets whether data is exported in regular mode or as a native Excel table.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowBandHeaderCellMerge

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowBandHeaderCellMerge

Gets or sets whether cell merge is enabled for band headers in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowCellMerge

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowCellMerge

Gets or sets whether cell merge is enabled in the exported document.

The cell merge feature is enabled in the resulting worksheet if the Xls(x)ExportOptionsEx.AllowCellMerge property is set to Default, and the Grid View allows cell merge (see GridOptionsView.AllowCellMerge).

If cell merge is disabled in the Grid View, the Xls(x)ExportOptionsEx.AllowCellMerge property is not in effect, and cell merge is disabled in the resulting worksheet.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowFixedColumns

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowFixedColumns

Gets or sets whether columns anchored to the grid control’s left edge are fixed in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowFixedColumnHeaderPanel

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowFixedColumnHeaderPanel

Gets or sets whether the column header panel is anchored to the top of the export document and not scrolled vertically.

XlsExportOptionsEx.BandedLayoutMode

XlsxExportOptionsEx.BandedLayoutMode

Gets or sets how bands and columns are arranged in the output worksheet when data is exported from Banded Views.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ShowBandHeaders

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ShowBandHeaders

Gets or sets whether band headers are visible in the exported document. This option is in effect when data is exported from Banded Grid Views if the XlsExportOptionsEx.BandedLayoutMode option is set to Default.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ShowColumnHeaders

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ShowColumnHeaders

Gets or sets whether column headers are visible in the exported document.

GridOptionsPrint.PrintFooter

Gets or sets whether to display the view footer in the printed/exported output.

GridOptionsPrint.PrintHeader

Gets or sets whether to display column headers in the printed/exported output.

GridOptionsPrint.PrintHorzLines

Gets or sets whether to display horizontal grid lines in the printed/exported output.

GridOptionsPrint.PrintVertLines

Gets or sets whether to display vertical grid lines in the printed/exported output.

Data Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowGrouping

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowGrouping

Gets or sets whether data groups are exported from the source control to the output document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowSortingAndFiltering

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowSortingAndFiltering

Gets or sets whether column sort and filter functionality is enabled in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.GroupState

XlsxExportOptionsEx.GroupState

Gets or sets the expanded state of data groups in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ShowGroupSummaries

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ShowGroupSummaries

Gets or sets whether group summaries are enabled in the exported document.

Summaries

XlsExportOptionsEx.ShowTotalSummaries

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ShowTotalSummaries

Gets or sets whether total summaries are enabled in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ShowGroupSummaries

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ShowGroupSummaries

Gets or sets whether group summaries are enabled in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.SummaryCountBlankCells

XlsxExportOptionsEx.SummaryCountBlankCells

Gets or sets whether the Count summary function takes all cells into account or only non-blank cells when data is exported to Excel format.

Cell Values/Custom Text

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowHyperLinks

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowHyperLinks

Gets or sets whether hyperlinks are exported.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowSparklines

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowSparklines

Gets or sets whether sparklines are exported.

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowCellImages

Gets or sets whether to export cell images.

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowLookupValues

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowLookupValues

Gets or sets whether the lookup values of combo-box and lookup columns are exported.

XlsExportOptionsEx.SuppressEmptyStrings

XlsxExportOptionsEx.SuppressEmptyStrings

Gets or sets whether the source control cells with Empty Strings are exported as Blank cells in Excel format.

XlsExportOptionsEx.UnboundExpressionExportMode

XlsxExportOptionsEx.UnboundExpressionExportMode

Gets or sets whether column values or column expressions are exported for unbound (calculated) columns.

XlExportOptionsBase.TextExportMode

Set this property to Text to export a cell’s display text (not the cell’s values) from all columns. In this mode, the export engine takes into account the custom text you specify for any column using the Data Grid’s ColumnView.CustomColumnDisplayText event.

RepositoryItem.ExportMode

To export a single column‘s display text (not the column’s values), assign an in-place editor to the column and set the editor’s RepositoryItem.ExportMode property to DisplayText. In this mode, the custom text specified in the target column by the ColumnView.CustomColumnDisplayText event is exported.

Appearance and Styles

XlsExportOptionsEx.AllowConditionalFormatting

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AllowConditionalFormatting

Gets or sets whether conditional format rules applied to columns are preserved in the exported document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ApplyFormattingToEntireColumn

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ApplyFormattingToEntireColumn

Gets or sets whether cell formatting (cell appearance and borders) is applied to entire sheet columns or individual sheet cells. Formatting algorithms applied to sheet columns are faster than those applied to individual cells.

GridOptionsPrint.PrintHorzLines

Gets or sets whether horizontal grid lines are printed/exported.

GridOptionsPrint.PrintVertLines

Gets or sets whether vertical grid lines are displayed in the printed/exported output.

string path = "output.xlsx";

//Customize export options
(gridControl1.MainView as GridView).OptionsPrint.PrintHeader = false;
XlsxExportOptionsEx advOptions = new XlsxExportOptionsEx();
advOptions.AllowGrouping = DevExpress.Utils.DefaultBoolean.False;
advOptions.ShowTotalSummaries = DevExpress.Utils.DefaultBoolean.False;
advOptions.SheetName = "Exported from Data Grid";

gridControl1.ExportToXlsx(path, advOptions);
// Open the created XLSX file with the default application.
Process.Start(path);

Data-aware Export Events

You can use the following events to customize the resulting document while it is being generated:

Event

Description

XlsExportOptionsEx.AfterAddRow

XlsxExportOptionsEx.AfterAddRow

Fires immediately after a row is added to the output document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.BeforeExportTable

XlsxExportOptionsEx.BeforeExportTable

Allows you to customize a native Excel table’s settings before export.

XlsExportOptionsEx.CustomizeCell

XlsxExportOptionsEx.CustomizeCell

Allows you to customize a cell in the output document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.CustomizeDocumentColumn

XlsxExportOptionsEx.CustomizeDocumentColumn

Allows you to customize an individual column in the exported document — change its width, formatting, collapse the group containing the column, or hide the column.

XlsExportOptionsEx.CustomizeSheetHeader

XlsxExportOptionsEx.CustomizeSheetHeader

Allows you to customize the header in the output document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.CustomizeSheetFooter

XlsxExportOptionsEx.CustomizeSheetFooter

Allows you to customize the footer in the output document.

XlsExportOptionsEx.CustomizeSheetSettings

XlsxExportOptionsEx.CustomizeSheetSettings

Allows you to customize the output document’s settings.

XlsExportOptionsEx.DocumentColumnFiltering

XlsxExportOptionsEx.DocumentColumnFiltering

Allows you to apply filters to the exported document’s columns.

XlsExportOptionsEx.ExportProgress

XlsxExportOptionsEx.ExportProgress

Fires repeatedly while the data is being exported.

XlsExportOptionsEx.SkipFooterRow

XlsxExportOptionsEx.SkipFooterRow

Allows you to hide certain summary footers (or certain lines of multi-line summary footers) from the exported document.

See Also