ASP.NET MVC Open a .xls file - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have to create a .xls file from the data displayed in a table in my page. This happens when the user clicks 'export' button. I have the following code for it and it is created okay. Now, I want to open this file in the same click. How should I open it for user to see it?
string filePath = "C:/Upload/Stats_" + viewModel.SelectedTest.ToString() + ".xls";
//write the header
using (var pw = new StreamWriter(filePath, true))
{
pw.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}\t{1}\t{2}\t{3}\t{4}\t{5}\t{6}\t{7}\t{8}\t{9}", "Month", "Total Users", "K",
"T", "G", "Detail", "GS",
"BI", "GHF","A"));
//write to the file
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
{
pw.WriteLine(
String.Format("{0}\t{1}\t{2}\t{3}\t{4}\t{5}\t{6}\t{7}\t{8}\t{9}", viewModel.Months[i],
viewModel.M[i], viewModel.MKau[i],
viewModel.MTech[i], viewModel.MGew[i],
viewModel.MDet[i], viewModel.MGes[i],
viewModel.MBea[i], viewModel.MGesHf[i],viewModel.MAug[i]));
pw.Flush();
}
pw.Close();
}
Here I would like to open it.

Answer 1

I had the same 'requirement' to be able to export to xls, and instead I gave the client an export to csv, which will open in excel if you are on a machine with excel installed but is also available to other systems. I achieved it like this.
Create an extension method that supports .AsCsv, which was taken largely from Mike Hadlow's implementation
public static class EnumerableExtensions
{
public static string AsCsv<T>(this IEnumerable<T> items) where T : class
{
var csvBuilder = new StringBuilder();
var properties = typeof(T).GetProperties();
foreach (T item in items)
{
string line = string.Join(",", properties.Select(p => p.GetValue(item, null).ToCsvValue()).ToArray());
csvBuilder.AppendLine(line);
}
return csvBuilder.ToString();
}
private static string ToCsvValue<T>(this T item)
{
if (item is string)
{
return string.Format("\"{0}\"", item.ToString().Replace("\"", "\\\""));
}
double dummy;
if (double.TryParse(item.ToString(), out dummy))
{
return string.Format("{0}", item.ToString());
}
return string.Format("\"{0}\"", item.ToString());
}
}
Then you would need set your controller method to return a FileContentResult and have some logic like this within the controller method:
var outputModel = viewModel.ToList().Select(model => new
{
Months = model.Months
M = model.M[i],
MKau= model.MKau,
MTech = model.MTech,
MGew = model.MGew,
MDet = model.MDet,
MGes = model.MGes,
MBea= model.MBea,
MGesHf= model.MGesHf
});
string csv = "\"Month\",\"Total Users\",\"K\",\"T\",\"G\",\"Detail\",\"GS\",\"BI\",\"GHF\",\"A\""
+ System.Environment.NewLine
+ outputModel.AsCsv();
string fileName = "Stats_" + viewModel.SelectedTest.ToString() + ".csv"
return this.File(new System.Text.UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(csv), "text/csv", fileName);