Convert generic List/Enumerable to DataTable?

Question

I have few methods that returns different Generic Lists.

Exists in .net any class static method or whatever to convert any list into a datatable? The only thing that i can imagine is use Reflection to do this.

IF i have this:

List<Whatever> whatever = new List<Whatever>();

(This next code doesn't work of course, but i would like to have the possibility of:

DataTable dt = (DataTable) whatever;

Answer 1

This is the simple Console Application to convert List to Datatable.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Data;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace ConvertListToDataTable
{
    public static class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            List<MyObject> list = new List<MyObject>();
            for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
            {
                list.Add(new MyObject { Sno = i, Name = i.ToString() + "-KarthiK", Dat = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(i) });
            }

            DataTable dt = ConvertListToDataTable(list);
            foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
            {
                Console.WriteLine();
                for (int x = 0; x < dt.Columns.Count; x++)
                {
                    Console.Write(row[x].ToString() + " ");
                }
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        public class MyObject
        {
            public int Sno { get; set; }
            public string Name { get; set; }
            public DateTime Dat { get; set; }
        }

        public static DataTable ConvertListToDataTable<T>(this List<T> iList)
        {
            DataTable dataTable = new DataTable();
            PropertyDescriptorCollection props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
            for (int i = 0; i < props.Count; i++)
            {
                PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor = props[i];
                Type type = propertyDescriptor.PropertyType;

                if (type.IsGenericType && type.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>))
                    type = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(type);

                dataTable.Columns.Add(propertyDescriptor.Name, type);
            }
            object[] values = new object[props.Count];
            foreach (T iListItem in iList)
            {
                for (int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++)
                {
                    values[i] = props[i].GetValue(iListItem);
                }
                dataTable.Rows.Add(values);
            }
            return dataTable;
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Se probó el método para que acepte campos con null.

// remove "this" if not on C# 3.0 / .NET 3.5
    public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(IList<T> data)
    {
        PropertyDescriptorCollection props =
            TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
        DataTable table = new DataTable();
        Type Propiedad = null;
        for (int i = 0; i < props.Count; i++)
        {
            PropertyDescriptor prop = props[i];
            Propiedad = prop.PropertyType;
            if (Propiedad.IsGenericType && Propiedad.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>)) 
            {
                Propiedad = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(Propiedad);
            }
            table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Propiedad);
        }
        object[] values = new object[props.Count];
        foreach (T item in data)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++)
            {
                values[i] = props[i].GetValue(item);
            }
            table.Rows.Add(values);
        }
        return table;
    }

Answer 3

This is a simple mix of the solutions. It work with Nullable types.

public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(this IList<T> list)
{
  PropertyDescriptorCollection props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
  DataTable table = new DataTable();
  for (int i = 0; i < props.Count; i++)
  {
    PropertyDescriptor prop = props[i];
    table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);
  }
  object[] values = new object[props.Count];
  foreach (T item in list)
  {
    for (int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++)
      values[i] = props[i].GetValue(item) ?? DBNull.Value;
    table.Rows.Add(values);
  }
  return table;
}

Answer 4

It's also possible through XmlSerialization. The idea is - serialize to XML and then readXml method of DataSet.

I use this code (from an answer in SO, forgot where)

    public static string SerializeXml<T>(T value) where T : class
{
    if (value == null)
    {
        return null;
    }

    XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));

    XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();

    settings.Encoding = new UnicodeEncoding(false, false);
    settings.Indent = false;
    settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = false;
    // no BOM in a .NET string

    using (StringWriter textWriter = new StringWriter())
    {
        using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(textWriter, settings))
        {
            serializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, value);
        }
        return textWriter.ToString();
    }
}

so then it's as simple as:

        string xmlString = Utility.SerializeXml(trans.InnerList);

    DataSet ds = new DataSet("New_DataSet");
    using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xmlString)))
    { 
        ds.Locale = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;
        ds.ReadXml(reader); 
    }

Not sure how it stands against all the other answers of this post, but it's also a possibility.

Answer 5

Marc Gravell's answer but in VB.NET

Public Shared Function ToDataTable(Of T)(data As IList(Of T)) As DataTable
    Dim props As PropertyDescriptorCollection = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(GetType(T))
    Dim table As New DataTable()
    For i As Integer = 0 To props.Count - 1
            Dim prop As PropertyDescriptor = props(i)
            table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, prop.PropertyType)
    Next
    Dim values As Object() = New Object(props.Count - 1) {}
    For Each item As T In data
            For i As Integer = 0 To values.Length - 1
                    values(i) = props(i).GetValue(item)
            Next
            table.Rows.Add(values)
    Next
    Return table
End Function

Answer 6

This link on MSDN is worth a visit: How to: Implement CopyToDataTable<T> Where the Generic Type T Is Not a DataRow

This adds an extension method that lets you do this:

// Create a sequence. 
Item[] items = new Item[] 
{ new Book{Id = 1, Price = 13.50, Genre = "Comedy", Author = "Gustavo Achong"}, 
  new Book{Id = 2, Price = 8.50, Genre = "Drama", Author = "Jessie Zeng"},
  new Movie{Id = 1, Price = 22.99, Genre = "Comedy", Director = "Marissa Barnes"},
  new Movie{Id = 1, Price = 13.40, Genre = "Action", Director = "Emmanuel Fernandez"}};

// Query for items with price greater than 9.99.
var query = from i in items
             where i.Price > 9.99
             orderby i.Price
             select i;

// Load the query results into new DataTable.
DataTable table = query.CopyToDataTable();