Retaining a Comma when writing to a CSV

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Guest

I am writing a console app in c# wherein am converting a dataset into a CSV
file. It works fine. But I have some values in the dataset which have a comma
within(eg. A,B,C). When I view the CSV file in Excel, the multiple values
which are separated by the 'comma' in the dataset are being displayed in the
next column , which I dont want that way. I want to retain any commas which
are present in my dataset.
How do I handle such a scenario?

Thanks
Deepa
 
You could do a couple things. If you put quotes around your text (called
text qualifier), "A,B,C" then Excel will ignore the commas within the
quotes. Another choice is to use a deliminator other than a comma, such as
a TAB or a pipe.

Kevin
 
Kevin
I tried using the tab and the pipe delimiters but the resulting output file
when viewed in excel isnt the same as i want it.(similar to a csv).
I thought of the double quotes but am not able to figure out how I write the
code to see what values in the dataset have a comma or not.
Would appreciate a response to this.

Thanks
Deepa
 
You don't have to worry about which values have a comma or not. If the
field is a text field (or you want it treated as such by Excel) just enclose
it in quotes. You might have a row that ends up looking like:

"abcdef", "23klk,23,23", "eeeejjj","eee,t,r", 9,5

So you see, you put quotes around all your text fields. If one ends up with
a comma in it, Excel will ignore it because it's in quotes.

Kev
 
Thanks dude. Just curious if you can help me with something else.
I have this dataset am converting into a csv file. Before I write to the
output.csv I want to sort the values of the dataset in ascending order. I
just have one single table in my dataset. I have the dataset ready, i mean to
say am not making any connection to the database to populate the dataset. I
have it as an xml dataset file. And am just saying ds.ReadXml(the xml file
path)
Before I loop thru the dataset, I want to sort it.
Any ideas?

thanks
Deepa
 
I am writing a console app in c# wherein am converting a dataset into a CSV
file. It works fine. But I have some values in the dataset which have a comma
within(eg. A,B,C). When I view the CSV file in Excel, the multiple values
which are separated by the 'comma' in the dataset are being displayed in the
next column , which I dont want that way. I want to retain any commas which
are present in my dataset.
How do I handle such a scenario?

Thanks
Deepa
Click to expand...

For all you ever wanted to know about CSV files, have a look at
http://www.creativyst.com/Doc/Articles/CSV/CSV01.htm

rossum
 
Thanks Kevin,will try doing that

Kevin Thomas said:
Well if your DataTable is in a Dataset with no other tables, then it would
look something like this:

myDataset.tables[0].DefaultView.Sort = "Name Of Column You Want To Sort By"

See if that works for ya.

See this article for more info:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...fsystemdatadatatableclassdefaultviewtopic.asp

Kevin

Deepa said:
Thanks dude. Just curious if you can help me with something else.
I have this dataset am converting into a csv file. Before I write to the
output.csv I want to sort the values of the dataset in ascending order. I
just have one single table in my dataset. I have the dataset ready, i mean
to
say am not making any connection to the database to populate the dataset.
I
have it as an xml dataset file. And am just saying ds.ReadXml(the xml file
path)
Before I loop thru the dataset, I want to sort it.
Any ideas?

thanks
Deepa
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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