How to convert a DataTable to a string in C

Question

I m using Visual Studio 2005 and have a DataTable with two columns and some rows that I want to output to the console  I hoped there would be something like   DataTable results   MyMethod GetResults    Console WriteLine  results ToString       What s the best way  i e  least amount of coding from me  to convert a simple DataTable to a string

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I would install PowerShell  It understands  NET objects and has an Format-Table and Export-Csv that would do exactly what you are looking for  If you do any sort of console work it is a great complement replacement to C  console apps    When I started using it  I rewrote my console apps as libraries and import the libraries into Powershell  The built-in commandlets make console work so nice

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If you have a single column in datatable than it s simple to change datatable to string   DataTable results   MyMethod GetResults    if results    null  amp  amp  results Rows Count  gt  0      Check datatable is null or not     List lt string gt  lstring   new List lt string gt       foreach DataRow dataRow in dt Rows           lstring Add Convert ToString dataRow  ColumnName            string mainresult   string Join      lstring ToArray        You can Use comma    or anything which you want  who connect the two string  You may leave space also    Console WriteLine  mainresult

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two for loops  one for rows  another for columns  output dataRow i  Value   Watch out for nulls and DbNulls

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lt summary gt          Dumps the passed DataSet obj for debugging as list of html tables          lt  summary gt           lt param name  msg  gt  the msg attached  lt  param gt           lt param name  ds  gt  the DataSet object passed for Dumping  lt  param gt           lt returns gt  the nice looking dump of the DataSet obj in html format lt  returns gt      public static string DumpHtmlDs string msg  ref System Data DataSet ds                StringBuilder objStringBuilder   new StringBuilder            objStringBuilder AppendLine   lt html gt  lt body gt              if  ds    null                        objStringBuilder AppendLine  Null dataset passed                 objStringBuilder AppendLine   lt  html gt  lt  body gt                 WriteIf objStringBuilder ToString                 return objStringBuilder ToString                       objStringBuilder AppendLine   lt p gt     msg     START  lt  p gt             if  ds    null                        if  ds Tables    null                                objStringBuilder AppendLine  ds Tables    null                     return objStringBuilder ToString                                foreach  System Data DataTable dt in ds Tables                                 if  dt    null                                        objStringBuilder AppendLine  ds Tables    null                         continue                                    objStringBuilder AppendLine   lt table gt                        objStringBuilder AppendLine                    My TableName is                        dt TableName                               START                    int colNumberInRow   0                  objStringBuilder Append   lt tr gt  lt th gt row number lt  th gt                     foreach  System Data DataColumn dc in dt Columns                                        if  dc    null                                                objStringBuilder AppendLine  DataColumn is null                             continue                                              objStringBuilder Append    lt th gt       colNumberInRow ToString                                 objStringBuilder Append   dc ColumnName ToString        lt  th gt                          colNumberInRow                        eof foreach  DataColumn dc in dt Columns                  objStringBuilder Append   lt  tr gt                      int rowNum   0                  foreach  System Data DataRow dr in dt Rows                                        objStringBuilder Append   lt tr gt  lt td gt  row -       rowNum ToString          lt  td gt                         int colNumber   0                      foreach  System Data DataColumn dc in dt Columns                                                objStringBuilder Append    lt td gt       colNumber                                  objStringBuilder Append dr dc  ToString         lt  td gt                             colNumber                            eof foreach  DataColumn dc in dt Columns                      rowNum                        objStringBuilder AppendLine    lt  tr gt                           eof foreach  DataRow dr in dt Rows                   objStringBuilder AppendLine   lt  table gt                     objStringBuilder AppendLine   lt p gt     msg     END  lt  p gt                       eof foreach  DataTable dt in ds Tables               eof if ds   null          else                        objStringBuilder AppendLine  NULL DataSet object passed for debugging                          return objStringBuilder ToString

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I created my variant of class for your needs  I believe it is a bit more configurable than already provided variants  You can use it with all default settings just create an instance of a class and call StringifyDataTable method  or you can set additional options if needed   public class DataTableStringifier       public bool IsOuterBordersPresent   get  set      Whether outer borders of table needed     public bool IsHeaderHorizontalSeparatorPresent   get  set       Whether horizontal line separator between table title and data is needed  Useful to set  false  if you expect only 1 or 2 rows of data - no need for additional lines then     public char ValueSeparator   get  set      Vertical line character     public char HorizontalLinePadChar   get  set       Horizontal line character     public char HorizontalLineSeparator   get  set       Horizontal border  between header and data  column separator  crossing of horizontal and vertical borders      public int ValueMargin   get  set       Horizontal margin from table borders  inner and outer  to cell values     public int MaxColumnWidth   get  set       To avoid too wide columns with thousands of characters  Longer values will be cropped in the center     public string LongValuesEllipses   get  set       Cropped values wil be inserted this string in the middle to mark the point of cropping      public DataTableStringifier                 MaxColumnWidth   int MaxValue          IsHeaderHorizontalSeparatorPresent   true          ValueSeparator                ValueMargin   1          HorizontalLinePadChar    -           HorizontalLineSeparator                LongValuesEllipses                  IsOuterBordersPresent   false             public string StringifyDataTable DataTable table                int colCount   table Columns Count          int rowCount   table Rows Count          string   colHeaders   new string colCount           string    cells   new string rowCount  colCount           int   colWidth   new int colCount            for  int i   0  i  lt  colCount  i                          var column   table Columns i               var colName   ValueToLimitedLengthString column ColumnName               colHeaders i    colName              if  colWidth i   lt  colName Length                                colWidth i    colName Length                                   for  int i   0  i  lt  rowCount  i                          DataRow row   table Rows i               for  int j   0  j  lt  colCount  j                                  var valStr   ValueToLimitedLengthString row j                    cells i  j    valStr                  if  colWidth j   lt  valStr Length                                        colWidth j    valStr Length                                                     string valueSeparatorWithMargin   string Concat new string      ValueMargin   ValueSeparator  new string      ValueMargin            string leftBorder   IsOuterBordersPresent   string Concat ValueSeparator  new string      ValueMargin                 string rightBorder   IsOuterBordersPresent   string Concat new string      ValueMargin   ValueSeparator                string horizLine   new string HorizontalLinePadChar  colWidth Sum      colCount - 1   ValueMargin 2   1     IsOuterBordersPresent    ValueMargin   1  2   0             StringBuilder tableBuilder   new StringBuilder             if  IsOuterBordersPresent                        tableBuilder AppendLine horizLine                      tableBuilder Append leftBorder           for  int i   0  i  lt  colCount  i                          tableBuilder Append colHeaders i  PadRight colWidth i                 if  i  lt  colCount - 1                                tableBuilder Append valueSeparatorWithMargin                                   tableBuilder AppendLine rightBorder            if  IsHeaderHorizontalSeparatorPresent                        if  IsOuterBordersPresent                                tableBuilder Append ValueSeparator                   tableBuilder Append HorizontalLinePadChar  ValueMargin                             for  int i   0  i  lt  colCount  i                                  tableBuilder Append new string HorizontalLinePadChar  colWidth i                     if  i  lt  colCount - 1                                        tableBuilder Append HorizontalLinePadChar  ValueMargin                       tableBuilder Append HorizontalLineSeparator                       tableBuilder Append HorizontalLinePadChar  ValueMargin                                               if  IsOuterBordersPresent                                tableBuilder Append HorizontalLinePadChar  ValueMargin                   tableBuilder Append ValueSeparator                             tableBuilder AppendLine                       for  int i   0  i  lt  rowCount  i                          tableBuilder Append leftBorder               for int j 0  j lt colCount  j                                  tableBuilder Append cells i  j  PadRight colWidth j                     if j lt colCount-1                                        tableBuilder Append valueSeparatorWithMargin                                               tableBuilder AppendLine rightBorder                      if  IsOuterBordersPresent                        tableBuilder AppendLine horizLine                      return tableBuilder ToString 0  tableBuilder Length - 1     Trim last enter char            private string ValueToLimitedLengthString object value                string strValue   value ToString            if  strValue Length  gt  MaxColumnWidth                        int beginningLength    MaxColumnWidth    2              int endingLength    MaxColumnWidth   1    2 - LongValuesEllipses Length              return string Concat strValue Substring 0  beginningLength   LongValuesEllipses  strValue Substring strValue Length - endingLength  endingLength                      else                       return strValue

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using var writer   new StringWriter          results WriteXml writer       Console WriteLine writer ToString         Of course the usefulness of this depends on how important the formatting is  If it s just a debug dump  I find XML outputs like this very readable  However  if the formatting is important to you  then you have no choice but to write your own method to do it

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You could use something like this   Private Sub PrintTableOrView ByVal table As DataTable  ByVal label As String      Dim sw As System IO StringWriter     Dim output As String      Console WriteLine label         Loop through each row in the table        For Each row As DataRow In table Rows         sw   New System IO StringWriter           Loop through each column            For Each col As DataColumn In table Columns               Output the value of each column s data              sw Write row col  ToString    amp                Next         output   sw ToString           Trim off the trailing       so the output looks correct            If output Length  gt  2 Then             output   output Substring 0  output Length - 2          End If           Display the row in the console window            Console WriteLine output      Next     Console WriteLine   End Sub

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i know i m years late xD but Here s how i did it      public static string convertDataTableToString DataTable dataTable                string data   string Empty          for  int i   0  i  lt  dataTable Rows Count  i                          DataRow row   dataTable Rows i               for  int j   0  j  lt  dataTable Columns Count  j                                  data    dataTable Columns j  ColumnName         row j                   if  j    dataTable Columns Count - 1                                        if  i     dataTable Rows Count - 1                           data                                           else                     data                                         return data          If someone ever optimizes this please let me know  i tried this        public static string convertDataTableToString DataTable dataTable                string data   string Empty          int rowsCount   dataTable Rows Count          for  int i   0  i  lt  rowsCount  i                          DataRow row   dataTable Rows i               int columnsCount   dataTable Columns Count              for  int j   0  j  lt  columnsCount  j                                  data    dataTable Columns j  ColumnName         row j                   if  j    columnsCount - 1                                        if  i     rowsCount - 1                           data                                           else                     data                                         return data          but this answer says it s worse

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Late but this is what I use   public static string ConvertDataTableToString DataTable dataTable                var output   new StringBuilder             var columnsWidths   new int dataTable Columns Count               Get column widths         foreach  DataRow row in dataTable Rows                       for int i   0  i  lt  dataTable Columns Count  i                                var length   row i  ToString   Length                 if  columnsWidths i   lt  length                     columnsWidths i    length                                          Get Column Titles         for  int i   0  i  lt  dataTable Columns Count  i                          var length   dataTable Columns i  ColumnName Length                 if  columnsWidths i   lt  length                     columnsWidths i    length                        Write Column titles         for  int i   0  i  lt  dataTable Columns Count  i                          var text   dataTable Columns i  ColumnName              output Append       PadCenter text  columnsWidths i    2                      output Append    n    new string      output Length      n                Write Rows         foreach  DataRow row in dataTable Rows                        for  int i   0  i  lt  dataTable Columns Count  i                                  var text   row i  ToString                    output Append       PadCenter text columnsWidths i    2                              output Append    n                      return output ToString               private static string PadCenter string text  int maxLength                int diff   maxLength - text Length          return new string      diff 2    text   new string       int   diff   2 0   0 5

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Or  change the app to WinForms  use grid and bind DataTable to grid  If it is a demo sample app

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Prerequisite using System Linq   then     string res   string Join Environment NewLine       results Rows OfType lt DataRow gt    Select x   gt  string Join  quot     quot   x ItemArray

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very vague       id bung it into a dataset simply so that i can output it easily  as xml       failing that why not iterate through its row and column collections and output them

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public static string DataTable2String DataTable dataTable        StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder        if  dataTable    null                string seperator                    region get min length for columns         Hashtable hash   new Hashtable            foreach  DataColumn col in dataTable Columns              hash col ColumnName    col ColumnName Length          foreach  DataRow row in dataTable Rows              for  int i   0  i  lt  row ItemArray Length  i                    if  row i     null                      if    string row i   Length  gt   int hash dataTable Columns i  ColumnName                           hash dataTable Columns i  ColumnName      string row i   Length          int rowLength    hash Values Count   1    seperator Length          foreach  object o in hash Values              rowLength     int o           endregion get min length for columns          sb Append new string       rowLength -   DataTable   Length    2            sb Append   DataTable             sb AppendLine new string       rowLength -   DataTable   Length    2            if   string IsNullOrEmpty dataTable TableName               sb AppendLine String Format   0 -    rowLength        String Format   0       rowLength   dataTable TableName Length    2  ToString          dataTable TableName               region write values         foreach  DataColumn col in dataTable Columns              sb Append seperator   String Format   0 -    hash col ColumnName         col ColumnName            sb AppendLine seperator           sb AppendLine new string  -   rowLength            foreach  DataRow row in dataTable Rows                        for  int i   0  i  lt  row ItemArray Length  i                                  sb Append seperator   String Format   0     hash dataTable Columns i  ColumnName         row i                     if  i    row ItemArray Length - 1                      sb AppendLine seperator                                    endregion write values          sb AppendLine new string      rowLength              else         sb AppendLine                   DataTable is NULL                          return sb ToString        output                           DataTable                                                  MyTable                              COL1   COL2                      COL3 1000000ng name    ----------------------------------------------------------       1                         2                     3        abc   Dienstag  12  M  rz 2013                   xyz       Have                    a nice                  day

[c#] How to convert a DataTable to a string in C#?

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