The Problem (Q-score 8, ranked #71st of 303 in the Excel VBA archive)
The scenario as originally posted in 2009
I’m writing an app where I need to retrieve some rows from a DB and dump them into an Excel spreadsheet. I’m using Linq to retrieve these rows.
Is it possible to dump these rows directly into their counterparts in the Excel sheet (where one cell in Excel corresponds to one cell from the DB)?
Why this Range / Worksheet targeting trips people up
The question centers on reaching a specific cell, range, or workbook object. In Excel VBA, this is the #1 source of failures after activation events: every property (.Value, .Formula, .Address) behaves differently depending on whether the parent Workbook is explicit or implicit.
The Verified Solution — strong answer (top 25 %%) (+16)
143-line Excel VBA pattern (copy-ready)
I am personally not a big fan of using libraries to such things as I always find it limiting at some point later…
I used reflection in order to generate the column headers and get the cell values of each row. And if you are using .NET framework 3.5 your can take advantage of extensions methods so that you can export any IEnumerable<object> to an excel XDocument file.
Here is how I did it:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Xml.Linq;
namespace YourNameSpace
{
public static class ExcelExportExtensions
{
public static XDocument ToExcelXml(this IEnumerable<object> rows)
{
return rows.ToExcelXml("Sheet1");
}
public static XDocument ToExcelXml(this IEnumerable<object> rows, string sheetName)
{
sheetName = sheetName.Replace("/", "-");
sheetName = sheetName.Replace("\", "-");
XNamespace mainNamespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet";
XNamespace o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office";
XNamespace x = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel";
XNamespace ss = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet";
XNamespace html = "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40";
XDocument xdoc = new XDocument(new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", "yes"));
var headerRow = from p in rows.First().GetType().GetProperties()
select new XElement(mainNamespace + "Cell",
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Data",
new XAttribute(ss + "Type", "String"), p.Name)); //Generate header using reflection
XElement workbook = new XElement(mainNamespace + "Workbook",
new XAttribute(XNamespace.Xmlns + "html", html),
new XAttribute(XName.Get("ss", "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/"), ss),
new XAttribute(XName.Get("o", "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/"), o),
new XAttribute(XName.Get("x", "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/"), x),
new XAttribute(XName.Get("xmlns", ""), mainNamespace),
new XElement(o + "DocumentProperties",
new XAttribute(XName.Get("xmlns", ""), o),
new XElement(o + "Author", "Smartdesk Systems Ltd"),
new XElement(o + "LastAuthor", "Smartdesk Systems Ltd"),
new XElement(o + "Created", DateTime.Now.ToString())
), //end document properties
new XElement(x + "ExcelWorkbook",
new XAttribute(XName.Get("xmlns", ""), x),
new XElement(x + "WindowHeight", 12750),
new XElement(x + "WindowWidth", 24855),
new XElement(x + "WindowTopX", 240),
new XElement(x + "WindowTopY", 75),
new XElement(x + "ProtectStructure", "False"),
new XElement(x + "ProtectWindows", "False")
), //end ExcelWorkbook
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Styles",
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Style",
new XAttribute(ss + "ID", "Default"),
new XAttribute(ss + "Name", "Normal"),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Alignment",
new XAttribute(ss + "Vertical", "Bottom")
),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Borders"),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Font",
new XAttribute(ss + "FontName", "Calibri"),
new XAttribute(x + "Family", "Swiss"),
new XAttribute(ss + "Size", "11"),
new XAttribute(ss + "Color", "#000000")
),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Interior"),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "NumberFormat"),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Protection")
),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Style",
new XAttribute(ss + "ID", "Header"),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Font",
new XAttribute(ss + "FontName", "Calibri"),
new XAttribute(x + "Family", "Swiss"),
new XAttribute(ss + "Size", "11"),
new XAttribute(ss + "Color", "#000000"),
new XAttribute(ss + "Bold", "1")
)
)
), // close styles
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Worksheet",
new XAttribute(ss + "Name", sheetName /* Sheet name */),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Table",
new XAttribute(ss + "ExpandedColumnCount", headerRow.Count()),
new XAttribute(ss + "ExpandedRowCount", rows.Count() + 1),
new XAttribute(x + "FullColumns", 1),
new XAttribute(x + "FullRows", 1),
new XAttribute(ss + "DefaultRowHeight", 15),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Column",
new XAttribute(ss + "Width", 81)
),
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Row", new XAttribute(ss + "StyleID", "Header"), headerRow),
from contentRow in rows
select new XElement(mainNamespace + "Row",
new XAttribute(ss + "StyleID", "Default"),
from p in contentRow.GetType().GetProperties()
select new XElement(mainNamespace + "Cell",
new XElement(mainNamespace + "Data", new XAttribute(ss + "Type", "String"), p.GetValue(contentRow, null))) /* Build cells using reflection */ )
), //close table
new XElement(x + "WorksheetOptions",
new XAttribute(XName.Get("xmlns", ""), x),
new XElement(x + "PageSetup",
new XElement(x + "Header",
new XAttribute(x + "Margin", "0.3")
),
new XElement(x + "Footer",
new XAttribute(x + "Margin", "0.3")
),
new XElement(x + "PageMargins",
new XAttribute(x + "Bottom", "0.75"),
new XAttribute(x + "Left", "0.7"),
new XAttribute(x + "Right", "0.7"),
new XAttribute(x + "Top", "0.75")
)
),
new XElement(x + "Print",
new XElement(x + "ValidPrinterInfo"),
new XElement(x + "HorizontalResolution", 600),
new XElement(x + "VerticalResolution", 600)
),
new XElement(x + "Selected"),
new XElement(x + "Panes",
new XElement(x + "Pane",
new XElement(x + "Number", 3),
new XElement(x + "ActiveRow", 1),
new XElement(x + "ActiveCol", 0)
)
),
new XElement(x + "ProtectObjects", "False"),
new XElement(x + "ProtectScenarios", "False")
) // close worksheet options
) // close Worksheet
);
xdoc.Add(workbook);
return xdoc;
}
}
}
I have also created another extention method to ease return the XDocument in web scenarios:
public static DownloadableFile ToDownloadableXmlFileForExcel2003(this System.Xml.Linq.XDocument file, string fileName)
{
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
XmlWriterSettings xmlWriterSettings = new XmlWriterSettings() { Encoding = Encoding.UTF8 };
XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(ms, xmlWriterSettings);
file.Save(xmlWriter); //.Save() adds the <xml /> header tag!
xmlWriter.Close(); //Must close the writer to dump it's content its output (the memory stream)
DownloadableFile dbf =
new DownloadableFile
{
FileName = String.Format("{0}.xls", fileName.Replace(" ", "")),
Content = ms.ToArray(),
MimeType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
};
ms.Close();
ms.Dispose();
return dbf;
}
Hope this helps!
When to Use It — vintage (14+ years old, pre-2013)
Ranked #71st in its category — specialized fit
This pattern sits in the 95% tail relative to the top answer. Reach for it when your scenario closely matches the question title; otherwise browse the Excel VBA archive for a higher-consensus alternative.
What changed between 2009 and 2026
The answer is 17 years old. The Excel VBA object model has been stable across Office 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 365, and 2024/2026 LTSC, so the pattern still compiles. Changes that might affect you: 64-bit API declarations (use PtrSafe), blocked macros in downloaded files (Mark-of-the-Web), and the shift toward Office Scripts for web-first workflows.