Missing Header Row When Exporting Data to Excel and Program Runs Slow

Question

Hello all,
I am new to programming. I’ve dabbled with VB.NET at times over the years but this is the first time I’m trying C#. Although, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done any type of programming other than writing SQL queries at work. For the sake of trying to
learn I have given myself a project that is something I can actually use at work. Right now I'm doing it at home. I’m querying a database on SQL Server 2008 R2; putting the data from the DB into a DataViewGrid and then exporting the data into Excel and saving
the file on my C:\ drive. On the form I have two buttons; one that queries the DB and the other to do the export. The code below does work but I have two issues that I need assistance with:
All of the SQL table data goes into Excel properly with the exception of it is missing the header row.
After I click the Export button it takes a long time to create the Excel file. It takes between 2.5 and 3 minutes. It is not a big file (only 447 rows and 125 KB in size) so I don’t know why it takes so long. Does it have anything to do with the number
of times Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel is being referenced? I read somewhere online that is an old COM method although I’m not familiar with what a COM method is
and why it would make things run so slow.
When I click the button to run the SQL query and load the DataGridView it runs immediately.
I plan on taking this project further such as adding date parameters including validation on the dates and then maybe adding buttons that can be used to insert, update and delete records. But I don’t want to go any further until the two issues mentioned
above are resolved. Any assistance / guidance will be greatly appreciated. Here’s the code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using Exccel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
using System.IO;
namespace Bills_DB_DataGridView
    public
partial
class
Form1 :
Form
SqlCommand sqlCMD;
SqlDataAdapter sqlDA;
        SqlCommandBuilder sqlCB;
DataSet sqlDS;
DataTable sqlDT;
public Form1()
InitializeComponent();           
private
void btnExit_Click(object sender,
EventArgs e)
this.Close();
private
void btnLoad_Click(object sender,
EventArgs e)
string sqlCon =
"Data Source = localhost\\DAVE_DB; Initial Catalog=Bills;Integrated security = true;";
string sqlQry =
"SELECT * FROM Acct ORDER BY Name, PaymentDate";
SqlConnection connection =
new
SqlConnection(sqlCon);
connection.Open();
sqlCMD = new
SqlCommand(sqlQry, connection);
sqlDA = new
SqlDataAdapter(sqlCMD);
       sqlCB = new
SqlCommandBuilder(sqlDA);
sqlDS = new
DataSet();
sqlDA.Fill(sqlDS, "Acct");
sqlDT = sqlDS.Tables["Acct"];
connection.Close();
dataGridView1.DataSource = sqlDS.Tables["Acct"];
            dataGridView1.SelectionMode =
DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect;
private
void btnExport_Click(object sender,
EventArgs e)
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application xlApp;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbook xlWorkBook;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet xlWorkSheet;
object misValue = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
Int32 i, j;
xlApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();        
xlWorkBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Add(misValue);
xlWorkSheet = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet)xlWorkBook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);          
for (i = 0; i <= dataGridView1.RowCount - 2; i++)
for (j = 0; j <= dataGridView1.ColumnCount - 1; j++)
xlWorkSheet.Cells[i + 1, j + 1] = dataGridView1[j, i].Value.ToString();
xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, 2].EntireColumn.NumberFormat = "@";
//Format column 2 to text
xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, 2].HorizontalAlignment = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlHAlign.xlHAlignRight;
xlWorkBook.SaveAs(@"c:\Bills\Bills.xls", Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFileFormat.xlWorkbookNormal,
misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlExclusive, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue);
xlWorkBook.Close(true, misValue, misValue);
xlApp.Quit();
releaseObject(xlWorkSheet);
releaseObject(xlWorkBook);
releaseObject(xlApp);
private
void releaseObject(object obj)
try
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj);
obj = null;
catch (Exception ex)
obj = null;
MessageBox.Show("Exception Occured while releasing object "
+ ex.ToString());
finally
GC.Collect();
Thank you,
Dave
David Young

Answer 1

Hello again Kristin,
I tried the code snippet to include the headers in the Excel file but it didn't work for me. Maybe I put the code in the wrong place? Again I have put the code below including where I placed the snippet. I get no error message and the application runs. Am
I doing something wrong?
Thank you,
Dave
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using Exccel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
using System.IO;
namespace Bills_DB_DataGridView
    public partial class Form1 : Form
        SqlCommand sqlCMD;
        SqlDataAdapter sqlDA;
        SqlCommandBuilder sqlCB;
        DataSet sqlDS;
        DataTable sqlDT;
        public Form1()
            InitializeComponent();            
        private void btnExit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
            this.Close();
        private void btnLoad_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
            string sqlCon = "Data Source = localhost\\DAVE_DB; Initial Catalog=Bills;Integrated security = true;";
            string sqlQry = "SELECT * FROM Acct ORDER BY Name, PaymentDate";
            SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(sqlCon);
            connection.Open();
            sqlCMD = new SqlCommand(sqlQry, connection);
            sqlDA = new SqlDataAdapter(sqlCMD);
            sqlCB = new SqlCommandBuilder(sqlDA);
            sqlDS = new DataSet();
            sqlDA.Fill(sqlDS, "Acct");
            sqlDT = sqlDS.Tables["Acct"];
            connection.Close();
            dataGridView1.DataSource = sqlDS.Tables["Acct"];
            dataGridView1.SelectionMode = DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect;
        private void btnExport_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
            Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application xlApp;
            Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbook xlWorkBook;
            Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet xlWorkSheet;
            object misValue = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
            Int32 i, j;
            xlApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();         
            xlWorkBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Add(misValue);
            // storing header part in Excel
            xlWorkSheet = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet)xlWorkBook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);  
            for (int h = 1; h < dataGridView1.Columns.Count + 1; h++)
                if (dataGridView1.Columns[h - 1].Visible)
                    xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, h] = dataGridView1.Columns[h - 1].HeaderText;
            xlWorkSheet = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet)xlWorkBook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);           
            for (i = 0; i <= dataGridView1.RowCount - 2; i++)
                for (j = 0; j <= dataGridView1.ColumnCount - 1; j++)
                    xlWorkSheet.Cells[i + 1, j + 1] = dataGridView1[j, i].Value.ToString();
                    xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, 2].EntireColumn.NumberFormat = "@"; //Format column 2 to text
                    xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, 2].HorizontalAlignment = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlHAlign.xlHAlignRight;
            xlWorkBook.SaveAs(@"c:\Bills\Bills.xls", Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFileFormat.xlWorkbookNormal, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlExclusive,
misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue, misValue);
            xlWorkBook.Close(true, misValue, misValue);
            xlApp.Quit();
            releaseObject(xlWorkSheet);
            releaseObject(xlWorkBook);
            releaseObject(xlApp);
        private void releaseObject(object obj)
            try
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj);
                obj = null;
            catch (Exception ex)
                obj = null;
                MessageBox.Show("Exception Occured while releasing object " + ex.ToString());
            finally
                GC.Collect();
David Young