C# ExcelWriter class

This sample demonstrates how to create a file using the Microsoft Excel Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF). In other words it shows how to produce Excel files from your application directly without using Excel. It can be useful when you are not sure if your customer has Excel installed.

// C# ExcelWriter class v1.0
// by Serhiy Perevoznyk, 2008

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;

namespace XLSExportDemo
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Produces Excel file without using Excel
    /// </summary>
    public class ExcelWriter
    {
        private Stream stream;
        private BinaryWriter writer;

        private ushort[] clBegin = { 0x0809, 8, 0, 0x10, 0, 0 };
        private ushort[] clEnd = { 0x0A, 00 };


        private void WriteUshortArray(ushort[] value)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < value.Length; i++)
                writer.Write(value[i]);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="ExcelWriter"/> class.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="stream">The stream.</param>
        public ExcelWriter(Stream stream)
        {
            this.stream = stream;
            writer = new BinaryWriter(stream);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Writes the text cell value.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="row">The row.</param>
        /// <param name="col">The col.</param>
        /// <param name="value">The string value.</param>
        public void WriteCell(int row, int col, string value)
        {
            ushort[] clData = { 0x0204, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 };
            int iLen = value.Length;
            byte[] plainText = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(value);
            clData[1] = (ushort)(8 + iLen);
            clData[2] = (ushort)row;
            clData[3] = (ushort)col;
            clData[5] = (ushort)iLen;
            WriteUshortArray(clData);
            writer.Write(plainText);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Writes the integer cell value.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="row">The row number.</param>
        /// <param name="col">The column number.</param>
        /// <param name="value">The value.</param>
        public void WriteCell(int row, int col, int value)
        {
            ushort[] clData = { 0x027E, 10, 0, 0, 0 };
            clData[2] = (ushort)row;
            clData[3] = (ushort)col;
            WriteUshortArray(clData);
            int iValue = (value << 2) | 2;
            writer.Write(iValue);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Writes the double cell value.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="row">The row number.</param>
        /// <param name="col">The column number.</param>
        /// <param name="value">The value.</param>
        public void WriteCell(int row, int col, double value)
        {
            ushort[] clData = { 0x0203, 14, 0, 0, 0 };
            clData[2] = (ushort)row;
            clData[3] = (ushort)col;
            WriteUshortArray(clData);
            writer.Write(value);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Writes the empty cell.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="row">The row number.</param>
        /// <param name="col">The column number.</param>
        public void WriteCell(int row, int col)
        {
            ushort[] clData = { 0x0201, 6, 0, 0, 0x17 };
            clData[2] = (ushort)row;
            clData[3] = (ushort)col;
            WriteUshortArray(clData);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Must be called once for creating XLS file header
        /// </summary>
        public void BeginWrite()
        {
            WriteUshortArray(clBegin);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Ends the writing operation, but do not close the stream
        /// </summary>
        public void EndWrite()
        {
            WriteUshortArray(clEnd);
            writer.Flush();
        }
    }
}

Download XLSExportDemo.zip