Results to Excel

[dancer]

How can I save the results of a fill-in form to a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet?
I can insert the results into an Access table, but the reports are so
tedious to make from Access.
Reports are very easy to make using Excel as the data source.
Since there will not be multiple tables or queries, I don't really need
Access.

 

[Jeremy Ames]

Use Response.ContentType("application/vnd.ms-excel")

 

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

How can I save the results of a fill-in form to a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet?
I can insert the results into an Access table, but the reports are so
tedious to make from Access.
Reports are very easy to make using Excel as the data source.
Since there will not be multiple tables or queries, I don't really need
Access.

One step back here - what exactly do you mean by "reports"...?

Clearly you can't be talking about the reporting engine in Microsoft Access,
as that you involve server-side automation, which isn't supported...

Adding data to an Excel spreadsheet is simple enough:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sour...rlz=1T4GGIH_en-GBGB220GB220&q=Excel+"ADO.NET"

But then what...? Do you intend to display this spreadsheet in the
browser...?

 

[dancer]

I want the information to come to my computer in table or grid form, so that
I can make reports at will.

 

[dancer]

Would Excel have to be installed on the host server? In some of the links
below it appears that it does not.

 

[Patrice]

My understanding is that you want to use Excel to create reports.

You could render them using Xml :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319180/en-us

The first step is likely to first choose which version you'll support (XML
support started with 2002, but is enhanced with each new version and you
still may have some limitations, for example you likely can't have graphics
in 2002 xml files).

--
Patrice

I want the information to come to my computer in table or grid form, so
that I can make reports at will.

 

[Jeremy Ames]

No, for the page to be displayed correctly, it has to be installed on the
client.

Would Excel have to be installed on the host server? In some of the links
below it appears that it does not.

 

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

I want the information to come to my computer in table or grid form, so
that I can make reports at will.

So, you want your web page to generate a grid of data...

And then what? Are you expecting your web page to create an Excel workbook
(.xls) which the user will download and then open...?

 

[dancer]

No, Excel would not create the reports. I would create the reports using
Merge capabilities in Microsoft Word, with a table in Excel as my data to
merge. I don't know how to get the data from the website to my computer.

My understanding is that you want to use Excel to create reports.

You could render them using Xml :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319180/en-us

The first step is likely to first choose which version you'll support (XML
support started with 2002, but is enhanced with each new version and you
still may have some limitations, for example you likely can't have
graphics in 2002 xml files).

 

[dancer]

" And then what? Are you expecting your web page to create an Excel workbook

(.xls) which the user will download and then open...?"

Which *I* will download and then open and then use the data to merger into a
Word document for a report.

 

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

No, Excel would not create the reports. I would create the reports using
Merge capabilities in Microsoft Word, with a table in Excel as my data to
merge. I don't know how to get the data from the website to my computer.

Presumably, then, this is just for your own use, not for a client...?

If it is for a client, you really would be well advised to forget the Office
suite of products completely - there are dozens of excellent reporting
utilities available for ASP.NET, none of which requires any data to be
downloaded to the client machine at all, e.g.

http://www.gotreportviewer.com/
http://www.siberix.com/

etc

 

[mark4asp]

How can I save the results of a fill-in form to a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet?
I can insert the results into an Access table, but the reports are so
tedious to make from Access.
Reports are very easy to make using Excel as the data source.
Since there will not be multiple tables or queries, I don't really need
Access.

A Google search on "asp.net excel download" gives several pages of
results which are most all variants on these - especially the first.

1) Put the data in a DataGrid or GridView on your server and then
sending the control to the client with the appropriate headers. This
method is quite well detailed and probably most widely used. The data is
sent as HTML but is recognised by Excel, on the client, as a
spreadsheet.

2) Send the data as XML.

3) Sending a native Excel file - has no real advantages unless the
client only has an Excel viewer installed.