Write CSV files

Write record lines — and an optional header line — to a CSV file with a CsvFileWriter<TRecordLine>.

Writing CSV files is similar to reading files. The CSV writer can write directly to a file or make use of a stream or text writer. Records are then written to the file according to the configuration in effect.

Write records

If your file does not have a header line, you can just output your record lines directly to the file.

var lines = new List<ICsvFileLine>();
// load lines

using (var csvWriter = new CsvFileWriter<CsvFileRecordLine>("file_name.csv"))
{
    foreach (var line in lines)
    {
        csvWriter.WriteLine(line);
    }
}

Write a header

The header line is just a different type of line to write to the CSV file. It is up to your application to make sure the header line is written first, before the record lines.

var headerLine = new CsvFileHeaderLine
{
    { "person_id", "person_id" },
    { "person_name", "person_name" },
    { "person_description", "person_description" }
};
var lines = new List<ICsvFileLine>();
// load lines

using (var csvWriter = new CsvFileWriter<CsvFileRecordLine>("file_name.csv"))
{
    csvWriter.WriteLine(headerLine);    // write the header line first

    foreach (var line in lines)
    {
        csvWriter.WriteLine(line);
    }
}

When a header line has been written, the writer uses its field names to order the fields of the record lines that follow.