CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.netexcel
Ashish Sah
Ashish Sah

Reputation: 31

Can we create Excel File using File.Create?

I want to create an Excel file, at specific location and specific name in c#. Can we use File.Create("Filename.xlsx") for this?

This creates the file, but when we try to open it; it says problem in extension.

I have tried another way, using excelApp. But that way, it creates Excel file default at "~Documents\Sheet1.xlsx". So i can't specify location and filename in that case.

Excel.Application excelApp = new Excel.Application();
Excel.Workbook excelWorkBook = excelApp.Workbooks.Add(1);

The question is similar to - Specify Path and filename while creating excel

Since i am unable to comment, i have to ask again. I have tried the answer provided in link.

My code:

    Excel.Application excelApp = new Excel.Application();
    object missing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
    Excel.Workbook excelWorkBook = excelApp.Workbooks.Add(missing); 

//....
        Fill excelWorkbook after creating worksheets
....//

       excelWorkBook.Save();

Now, as per suggestion, instead of Save, i have used SaveAs.

 excelWorkBook.SaveAs(@"E:\\MyExcelBook\\abcd.xlsx",
                        Excel.XlFileFormat.xlOpenXMLWorkbook, missing, missing,
                        false, false, Excel.XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlNoChange,
                        missing, missing, missing, missing, missing);

It gives me error: *The file could not be accessed. Try one of the following:\n\n• Make sure the specified folder exists. \n• Make sure the folder that contains the file is not read-only.\n• Make sure the file name does not contain any of the following characters: < > ? [ ] : | or \n• Make sure the file/path name doesn't contain more than 218 characters.

Please tell me where am i doing wrong?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2888

Answers (1)

Kritner
Kritner

Reputation: 13765

Just because you save an "empty" file with an extension of .xlsx doesn't mean excel is able to read such a file. You can use OpenXML, ClosedXML (my preferred), interop (yucky) and I'm sure many other methods of creating an excel document

File.Create(...) is not much different than right clicking in file explorer, choosing new text document, and renaming it from "New Text Document.txt" to "New Text Document.xlsx". Yeah that extension is excel, but excel can't read an empty file that states it's an excel file.

You can use any of the libraries available to you to create excel files:

  1. ClosedXML
  2. OpenXML
  3. Interop

etc. Most "Save" methods or "SaveAs" methods within these libraries would (probably) create the file in the working directory by default, but you can specify a directory to create them in as well.

Just as the answer in the linked question shows:

workbook.SaveAs(@"c:\documents\book1.xlsx",
        Excel.XlFileFormat.xlOpenXMLWorkbook, missing, missing,
        false, false, Excel.XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlNoChange,
        missing, missing, missing, missing, missing);

Upvotes: 1

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