Paste to Excel From DataGridView

Question

I would like to copy a region of cells from a dataGridView and then paste that data into MS Excel. I am able to copy data and paste into MS Word or Notepad but not excel. There are lots of examples of copying from Excel and Pasting into a DataGridView but not the other way around.

private void frm_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Control && e.KeyCode == Keys.C)
    {
        this.dataGridView1.ClipboardCopyMode = DataGridViewClipboardCopyMode.EnableWithoutHeaderText;

        if (this.dataGridView1.GetCellCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected) > 0)
        {
            try
            {
                DataObject d = dataGridView1.GetClipboardContent();
                Clipboard.SetDataObject(d);
            }

            catch (System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Could Not Copy To Clipboard");
            }
        }
    }
}

Is there some way to paste into excel? I have struggled to find a solution.

Edit

It appears after trying some other programs with dataGridViews that you can by default copy and paste to excel or other programs after selecting a group of cells in dataGridView. I can't figure out right now if it was unsupported data in the DGV or properties of the DGV that I changed in the properties manager or I just needed to close and re-open excel because there was some error.

Answer 1

I can't say how this will line up with your grid, but here's an example of putting formatted text on the clipboard. This was written with the intent of pasting into Excel:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (Int32 r = Selection.r1; r <= Selection.r2; r++)
{
    if (Rows[r].Visible)
    {
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(sb.ToString()))
            sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);
        for (Int32 c = Selection.c1; c <= Selection.c2; c++)
        {
            if (!sb.ToString().EndsWith(Environment.NewLine) &&
                !String.IsNullOrEmpty(sb.ToString()) &&
                !sb.ToString().EndsWith("\t"))
                sb.Append("\t");
            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(this[r, c] as String))
                sb.Append(" ");
            else
                sb.Append(this[r, c].ToString());
        }
    }
}

if (sb.Length > 0)
    ClipboardEx.SetTextThreadSafe(sb.ToString());

Note: Selection is my grid's reference to what is highlighted, and this is a cell reference to get to data in a cell.

Basically, it's trying to construct a text block something like this:

R1C1\tR1C2\tR1C3\tR1C4\n
R2C1\tR2C2\tR2C3\tR2C4\n
R3C1\tR3C2\tR3C3\tR3C4\n

The tabs (\\t) tell it to move right a column, the newlines (\\n) to move down a row. It's a pretty standard format. What Excel would give you if you were copying there and pasting into your grid.

Answer 2

Well I ended up finding the answer as I kept searching.

If I change Clipboard.SetDataObject(d); to Clipboard.SetData(DataFormats.Html, d); this allows me to paste selected cell ranges to excel.

Answer 3

public class MyDataGridView : DataGridView    
{    
    [SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, Flags = SecurityPermissionFlag.UnmanagedCode)]    
    protected override bool ProcessDataGridViewKey(KeyEventArgs e)    
    {    
        switch (e.KeyCode)    
        {    
            case Keys.Insert:    
            case Keys.C:    
                return this.ProcessInsertKey(e.KeyData);    
            default:    
                break;    
        }    
        return base.ProcessDataGridViewKey(e);    
    }    

    [SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, Flags = SecurityPermissionFlag.UnmanagedCode)]    
    protected new bool ProcessInsertKey(Keys keyData)    
    {    
        if ((((keyData & (Keys.Alt | Keys.Control | Keys.Shift)) == Keys.Control) ||    
            (((keyData & (Keys.Alt | Keys.Control | Keys.Shift)) == (Keys.Control | Keys.Shift))    
            && ((keyData & Keys.KeyCode) == Keys.C)))    
            && (this.ClipboardCopyMode != DataGridViewClipboardCopyMode.Disable))    
        {    
            DataObject clipboardContent = this.GetClipboardContent();    
            if (clipboardContent != null)    
            {     
                Clipboard.SetText(clipboardContent.GetData(DataFormats.UnicodeText).ToString());    
                return true;    
            }    
        }    
        return false;    
    }    
}

you can use this Custom Control.

Answer 4

Why not simply do this [ no need to check clipboard since you actually doing the CTRL-C ]

private void frm_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Control && e.KeyCode == Keys.C)
        {
            dataGridView1.ClipboardCopyMode = DataGridViewClipboardCopyMode.EnableWithoutHeaderText;
            dataGridView1.SelectAll();
            Clipboard.SetDataObject(dataGridView1.GetClipboardContent());               
        }
    }