If you came here looking for some quick and easy code that you can plug right in and dump data in excel format.. You have come to the wrong spot. 🙂

Depending on the scenario you may need this functionality for, you may want to check out a cool tool backed by Microsoft called “Powerpivot“.

This code is not hard to write, but there are many points of error and re-implementation for multiple users and/or clients is likely a larger project than you (or your boss) might realize if you haven’t dealt with data conversion processes before or have multiple complex data relationships which may or may not change data structure over time (addition/removal of columns, mappings, etc).

(For an example on some sample code to help you with this task, see one of my older entries on converting datatable to csv. https://ronniediaz.com/2010/03/02/csv-to-datatable/)

However, if you decide to go the power pivot route, this is a cool little plugin for use with Microsoft Excel which allows you to directly import data from various streams and feeds including OData and SQL.

This plugin basically eliminates the steps involved for an end user to “export to csv, then import into excel”, as well as cuts back on the time and potentially error prone task of assigning a developer to create a data export for this same process.

Check it out.
http://www.powerpivot.com/