Excel Spreadsheet to HTML Programmactically - html

Question

I have a question that I hope someone can answer. I am using .Net 3.5 Winforms and the SpreadSheetGear 2010 component and need to know if there is a free or low cost method to convert an Excel Workbook to HTML? Is there a good XSLT transform or some low cost or open source component? I can save the Excel file to OpenXMLWorkbook programmactically but the component does not allow to save to html. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Use ASP.Net and follow the code demonstrated by the Excel to DataGrid Samples. You can always include a reference to System.Web in your project.
But, even without ASP.Net, and sticking with the .Net client profile, generating an HTML table from a DataTable is simple. Use the AntiXss Library (download) to encode the data to html. Then construct your HTML with a StringBuilder. Here's an extension method you can use to convert any DataTable to an html <table>:
using AntiXss = Microsoft.Security.Application;
...
public static String ToHTML(this DataTable dt)
{
StringBuilder html = new StringBuilder("<table><thead><tr>");
foreach (DataColumn col in dt.Columns)
{
html.AppendFormat("<td>{0}</td>",
AntiXss.Encoder.HtmlEncode(col.ColumnName));
}
html.Append("</tr></thead><tbody>");
foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
{
html.Append("<tr>");
foreach (var data in row.ItemArray)
{
html.AppendFormat("<td>{0}</td>",
AntiXss.Encoder.HtmlEncode(data.ToString()));
}
html.Append("</tr>");
}
html.Append("</tbody></table>");
return html.ToString();
}
And to get html for an entire workbook, another extension method:
public static List<String> ToHTML(this IWorkBook wb)
{
List<String> tables = new List<String>();
DataSet ds = wb.GetDataSet(GetDataFlags.FormattedText);
foreach (DataTable dt in ds.Tables)
{
tables.Add(dt.ToHTML());
}
return tables;
}