There are a lot of examples online of how to fill a DataSet from a text file but I want to do the reverse. The only thing I've been able to find is this but it seems... incomplete?
I want it to be in a readable format, not just comma delimited, so non-equal spacing between columns on each row if that makes sense. Here is an example of what I mean:
Column1 Column2 Column3
Some info Some more info Even more info
Some stuff here Some more stuff Even more stuff
Bits and bobs
Note: I only have one DataTable within my DataSet so no need to worry about multiple DataTables.
EDIT: When I said "readable" I meant human-readable.
Thanks in advance.
This should space out fixed length font text nicely, but it does mean it will process the full DataTable twice (pass 1: find longest text per column, pass 2: output text):
static void Write(DataTable dt, string outputFilePath)
{
int[] maxLengths = new int[dt.Columns.Count];
for (int i = 0; i < dt.Columns.Count; i++)
{
maxLengths[i] = dt.Columns[i].ColumnName.Length;
foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
{
if (!row.IsNull(i))
{
int length = row[i].ToString().Length;
if (length > maxLengths[i])
{
maxLengths[i] = length;
}
}
}
}
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(outputFilePath, false))
{
for (int i = 0; i < dt.Columns.Count; i++)
{
sw.Write(dt.Columns[i].ColumnName.PadRight(maxLengths[i] + 2));
}
sw.WriteLine();
foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
{
for (int i = 0; i < dt.Columns.Count; i++)
{
if (!row.IsNull(i))
{
sw.Write(row[i].ToString().PadRight(maxLengths[i] + 2));
}
else
{
sw.Write(new string(' ', maxLengths[i] + 2));
}
}
sw.WriteLine();
}
sw.Close();
}
}