Convert generic List/Enumerable to DataTable?

Question

I have few methods that returns different Generic Lists.

Exists in .net any class static method or whatever to convert any list into a datatable? The only thing tha

Answer 1

If you want to use reflection and set columns order/ include only some columns/ Exclude some columns try this:

        private static DataTable ConvertToDataTable<T>(IList<T> data, string[] fieldsToInclude = null,
string[] fieldsToExclude = null)
    {
        PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
        DataTable table = new DataTable();
        foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
        {
            if ((fieldsToInclude != null && !fieldsToInclude.Contains(prop.Name)) ||
                (fieldsToExclude != null && fieldsToExclude.Contains(prop.Name)))
                continue;
            table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);
        }

        foreach (T item in data)
        {
            var atLeastOnePropertyExists = false;
            DataRow row = table.NewRow();
            foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
            {

                if ((fieldsToInclude != null && !fieldsToInclude.Contains(prop.Name)) ||
(fieldsToExclude != null && fieldsToExclude.Contains(prop.Name)))
                    continue;

                row[prop.Name] = prop.GetValue(item) ?? DBNull.Value;
                atLeastOnePropertyExists = true;
            }

            if(atLeastOnePropertyExists) table.Rows.Add(row);
        }


        if (fieldsToInclude != null)
            SetColumnsOrder(table, fieldsToInclude);

        return table;

    }

    private static void SetColumnsOrder(DataTable table, params String[] columnNames)
    {
        int columnIndex = 0;
        foreach (var columnName in columnNames)
        {
            table.Columns[columnName].SetOrdinal(columnIndex);
            columnIndex++;
        }
    }

Answer 2

I had to modify Marc Gravell's sample code to handle nullable types and null values. I have included a working version below. Thanks Marc.

public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(this IList<T> data)
{
    PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = 
        TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
    DataTable table = new DataTable();
    foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
        table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);
    foreach (T item in data)
    {
        DataRow row = table.NewRow();
        foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
             row[prop.Name] = prop.GetValue(item) ?? DBNull.Value;
        table.Rows.Add(row);
    }
    return table;
}

Answer 3

I realize that this has been closed for a while; however, I had a solution to this specific problem but needed a slight twist: the columns and data table needed to be predefined / already instantiated. Then I needed to simply insert the types into the data table.

So here's an example of what I did:

public static class Test
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        var dataTable = new System.Data.DataTable(Guid.NewGuid().ToString());

        var columnCode = new DataColumn("Code");
        var columnLength = new DataColumn("Length");
        var columnProduct = new DataColumn("Product");

        dataTable.Columns.AddRange(new DataColumn[]
            {
                columnCode,
                columnLength,
                columnProduct
            });

        var item = new List<SomeClass>();

        item.Select(data => new
        {
            data.Id,
            data.Name,
            data.SomeValue
        }).AddToDataTable(dataTable);
    }
}

static class Extensions
{
    public static void AddToDataTable<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, System.Data.DataTable table)
    {
        if (enumerable.FirstOrDefault() == null)
        {
            table.Rows.Add(new[] {string.Empty});
            return;
        }

        var properties = enumerable.FirstOrDefault().GetType().GetProperties();

        foreach (var item in enumerable)
        {
            var row = table.NewRow();
            foreach (var property in properties)
            {
                row[property.Name] = item.GetType().InvokeMember(property.Name, BindingFlags.GetProperty, null, item, null);
            }
            table.Rows.Add(row);
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

It's also possible through XmlSerialization.
The idea is - serialize to `XML` and then `readXml` method of `DataSet`.

I use this code (from an answer in SO, forgot where)

        public static string SerializeXml<T>(T value) where T : class
    {
        if (value == null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));

        XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();

        settings.Encoding = new UnicodeEncoding(false, false);
        settings.Indent = false;
        settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = false;
        // no BOM in a .NET string

        using (StringWriter textWriter = new StringWriter())
        {
            using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(textWriter, settings))
            {
               serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, value);
            }
            return textWriter.ToString();
        }
    }

so then it's as simple as:

            string xmlString = Utility.SerializeXml(trans.InnerList);

        DataSet ds = new DataSet("New_DataSet");
        using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xmlString)))
        { 
            ds.Locale = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;
            ds.ReadXml(reader); 
        }

Not sure how it stands against all the other answers to this post, but it's also a possibility.

Answer 5

A small change to Marc's answer to make it work with value types like List<string> to data table:

public static DataTable ListToDataTable<T>(IList<T> data)
{
    DataTable table = new DataTable();

    //special handling for value types and string
    if (typeof(T).IsValueType || typeof(T).Equals(typeof(string)))
    {

        DataColumn dc = new DataColumn("Value", typeof(T));
        table.Columns.Add(dc);
        foreach (T item in data)
        {
            DataRow dr = table.NewRow();
            dr[0] = item;
            table.Rows.Add(dr);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
        foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
        {
            table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);
        }
        foreach (T item in data)
        {
            DataRow row = table.NewRow();
            foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
            {
                try
                {
                    row[prop.Name] = prop.GetValue(item) ?? DBNull.Value;
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    row[prop.Name] = DBNull.Value;
                }
            }
            table.Rows.Add(row);
        }
    }
    return table;
}

Answer 6

This link on MSDN is worth a visit: How to: Implement CopyToDataTable<T> Where the Generic Type T Is Not a DataRow

This adds an extension method that lets you do this:

// Create a sequence. 
Item[] items = new Item[] 
{ new Book{Id = 1, Price = 13.50, Genre = "Comedy", Author = "Gustavo Achong"}, 
  new Book{Id = 2, Price = 8.50, Genre = "Drama", Author = "Jessie Zeng"},
  new Movie{Id = 1, Price = 22.99, Genre = "Comedy", Director = "Marissa Barnes"},
  new Movie{Id = 1, Price = 13.40, Genre = "Action", Director = "Emmanuel Fernandez"}};

// Query for items with price greater than 9.99.
var query = from i in items
             where i.Price > 9.99
             orderby i.Price
             select i;

// Load the query results into new DataTable.
DataTable table = query.CopyToDataTable();