Exporting DBgrid to CSV? - delphi

Question

I have a DB grid which is sorted (the user clicked a few radio buttons and checkboxes to influence the display).
I would like to export all of the data (not just what is visible in the grid), sorted identically, to CSV - how do I do so? The data - not the user settings, just to clarify.
Thanks in advance for any help
[Update] I build sqlQuery bit by bit, depending on the user's settings of checkboxes & radio groups, then, when one of them changes, I
ActivityADQuery.SQL.Clear();
ActivityADQuery.SQL.Add(sqlQuery);
ActivityADQuery.Open(sqlQuery);
That is to say that there isn't a hard coded query, it varies and I want to export the current settings.
I don't know enough if I want to export from the grid or the dataset (I am just not a db guy, this is my first DBgrid), but I suspect that I want the grid, because it has a subset of fields of he dataset.
I guess that TJvDBGridCSVExport is a Jedi component(?) I have tried to avoid them so far, great as they sound, because I prefer discreet, stand-alone, components to installing a huge collection. That may not be the cleverest thing to do, but it's how I feel - ymmv (and prolly does)

Answer 1

Another solution, works also with (multi)selected rows:
procedure TReportsForm.ExportToCSV(const aGrid : TDBGrid; const FileName : String);
Var
I, J : Integer;
SavePlace : TBookmark;
Table : TStrings;
HeadTable : String;
LineTable : String;
First : Boolean;
Begin
HeadTable := '';
LineTable := '';
Table := TStringList.Create;
First := True;
Try
For I := 0 To Pred(aGrid.Columns.Count) Do
If aGrid.Columns[I].Visible Then
If First Then
Begin
// Use the text from the grid, in case it has been set programatically
// E.g., we prefer to show "Date/time" than "from_unixtime(activity.time_stamp, "%D %b %Y %l:%i:%S")"
// HeadTable := HeadTable + aGrid.Columns[I].FieldName;
HeadTable := HeadTable + ActivityReportStringGrid.Columns[i].Title.Caption + ','; // Previous separated wth semi-colon, not comma! (global)
First := False;
End
Else
begin
// HeadTable := HeadTable + ';' + aGrid.Columns[I].FieldName;
HeadTable := HeadTable + ActivityReportStringGrid.Columns[i].Title.Caption + ',';
end;
Delete(HeadTable, Length(HeadTable), 1); // Remove the superfluous trailing comma
Table.Add(HeadTable);
First := True;
// with selection of rows
If aGrid.SelectedRows.Count > 0 Then
Begin
For i := 0 To aGrid.SelectedRows.Count - 1 Do
Begin
aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.GotoBookmark(pointer(aGrid.SelectedRows.Items[i]));
For j := 0 To aGrid.Columns.Count - 1 Do
If aGrid.Columns[J].Visible Then
If First Then
Begin
lineTable := lineTable + aGrid.Fields[J].AsString;
First := False;
End
Else
lineTable := lineTable + ',' + aGrid.Fields[J].AsString;
Delete(LineTable, Length(LineTable), 1); // Remove the superfluous trailing comma
Table.Add(LineTable);
LineTable := '';
First := True;
End;
End
Else
//no selection
Begin
SavePlace := aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.GetBookmark;
aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.First;
Try
While Not aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.Eof Do
Begin
For I := 0 To aGrid.Columns.Count - 1 Do
If aGrid.Columns[I].Visible Then
If First Then
Begin
lineTable := lineTable + aGrid.Fields[I].AsString;
First := False;
End
Else
lineTable := lineTable + ',' + aGrid.Fields[I].AsString;
Delete(LineTable, Length(LineTable), 1); // Remove the superfluous trailing comma
Table.Add(LineTable);
LineTable := '';
aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.Next;
First := True;
End;
aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.GotoBookmark(SavePlace);
Finally
aGrid.DataSource.Dataset.FreeBookmark(SavePlace);
End;
End;
Table.SaveToFile(FileName);
Finally
Table.Free;
End;
End; // ExportToCSV()

Answer 2

You could use a own tiny procedure wich could be adapted to your needs
Procedure Dataset2SeparatedFile(ads: TDataset; const fn: String; const Separator: String = ';');
var
sl: TStringList;
s: String;
i: Integer;
bm: TBookmark;
Procedure ClipIt;
begin
s := Copy(s, 1, Length(s) - Length(Separator));
sl.Add(s);
s := '';
end;
Function FixIt(const s: String): String;
begin
// maybe changed
Result := StringReplace(StringReplace(StringReplace(s, Separator, '', [rfReplaceAll]), #13, '', [rfReplaceAll]), #10, '', [rfReplaceAll]);
// additional changes could be Quoting Strings
end;
begin
sl := TStringList.Create;
try
s := '';
For i := 0 to ads.FieldCount - 1 do
begin
if ads.Fields[i].Visible then
s := s + FixIt(ads.Fields[i].DisplayLabel) + Separator;
end;
ClipIt;
bm := ads.GetBookmark;
ads.DisableControls;
try
ads.First;
while not ads.Eof do
begin
For i := 0 to ads.FieldCount - 1 do
begin
if ads.Fields[i].Visible then
s := s + FixIt(ads.Fields[i].DisplayText) + Separator;
end;
ClipIt;
ads.Next;
end;
ads.GotoBookmark(bm);
finally
ads.EnableControls;
ads.FreeBookmark(bm);
end;
sl.SaveToFile(fn);
finally
sl.Free;
end;
end;