.NET - Convert Generic Collection to DataTable

Question

I am trying to convert a generic collection (List) to a DataTable. I found the following code to help me do this:

// Sorry about indentation
public class CollectionHelper
{
private CollectionHelper()
{
}

// this is the method I have been using
public static DataTable ConvertTo<T>(IList<T> list)
{
    DataTable table = CreateTable<T>();
    Type entityType = typeof(T);
    PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(entityType);

    foreach (T item in list)
    {
        DataRow row = table.NewRow();

        foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
        {
            row[prop.Name] = prop.GetValue(item);
        }

        table.Rows.Add(row);
    }

    return table;
}    

public static DataTable CreateTable<T>()
{
    Type entityType = typeof(T);
    DataTable table = new DataTable(entityType.Name);
    PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(entityType);

    foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
    {
        // HERE IS WHERE THE ERROR IS THROWN FOR NULLABLE TYPES
        table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, prop.PropertyType);
    }

    return table;
}
}

My problem is that when I change one of the properties of MySimpleClass to a nullable type, I get the following error:

DataSet does not support System.Nullable<>.

How can I do this with Nullable properties/fields in my class?

Answer 1

Then presumably you'll need to lift them to the non-nullable form, using Nullable.GetUnderlyingType , and perhaps change a few null values to DbNull.Value ...

Change the assignment to be:

row[prop.Name] = prop.GetValue(item) ?? DBNull.Value;

and when adding the columns to be:

table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(
            prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);

And it works. ( ?? is the null-coalescing operator; it uses the first operand if it is non-null, else the second operand is evaluated and used)

Answer 2

Well. Since DataSet does not support nullable types, you'd have to check if the property is a generic type, get the generic definition of that type and then get the argument (which is the actual type) using, perhaps, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType . If the value is null, just use DBNull.Value in the DataSet.

Answer 3

If Nullable.GetUnderlyingType() given your prop.PropertyType returns a not-null value, use that as the type of a column. Otherwise, use prop.PropertyType itself.

Answer 4

I know this question is old, but I had the same issue for an extension method I made. Using the response from Marc Gravell, I was able to modify my code. This extension method will handle lists of primitive types, strings, enumerations and objects with primitive properties.

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

/// <summary>
/// Converts a List&lt;T&gt; to a DataTable.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the list collection.</typeparam>
/// <param name="list">List instance reference.</param>
/// <returns>A DataTable of the converted list collection.</returns>
public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(this List<T> list)
{
    var entityType = typeof (T);

    // Lists of type System.String and System.Enum (which includes enumerations and structs) must be handled differently 
    // than primitives and custom objects (e.g. an object that is not type System.Object).
    if (entityType == typeof (String))
    {
        var dataTable = new DataTable(entityType.Name);
        dataTable.Columns.Add(entityType.Name);

        // Iterate through each item in the list. There is only one cell, so use index 0 to set the value.
        foreach (T item in list)
        {
            var row = dataTable.NewRow();
            row[0] = item;
            dataTable.Rows.Add(row);
        }

        return dataTable;
    }
    else if (entityType.BaseType == typeof (Enum))
    {
        var dataTable = new DataTable(entityType.Name);
        dataTable.Columns.Add(entityType.Name);

        // Iterate through each item in the list. There is only one cell, so use index 0 to set the value.
        foreach (string namedConstant in Enum.GetNames(entityType))
        {
            var row = dataTable.NewRow();
            row[0] = namedConstant;
            dataTable.Rows.Add(row);
        }

        return dataTable;
    }

    // Check if the type of the list is a primitive type or not. Note that if the type of the list is a custom 
    // object (e.g. an object that is not type System.Object), the underlying type will be null.
    var underlyingType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(entityType);
    var primitiveTypes = new List<Type>
    {
        typeof (Byte),
        typeof (Char),
        typeof (Decimal),
        typeof (Double),
        typeof (Int16),
        typeof (Int32),
        typeof (Int64),
        typeof (SByte),
        typeof (Single),
        typeof (UInt16),
        typeof (UInt32),
        typeof (UInt64),
    };

    var typeIsPrimitive = primitiveTypes.Contains(underlyingType);

    // If the type of the list is a primitive, perform a simple conversion.
    // Otherwise, map the object's properties to columns and fill the cells with the properties' values.
    if (typeIsPrimitive)
    {
        var dataTable = new DataTable(underlyingType.Name);
        dataTable.Columns.Add(underlyingType.Name);

        // Iterate through each item in the list. There is only one cell, so use index 0 to set the value.
        foreach (T item in list)
        {
            var row = dataTable.NewRow();
            row[0] = item;
            dataTable.Rows.Add(row);
        }

        return dataTable;
    }
    else
    {
        // TODO:
        // 1. Convert lists of type System.Object to a data table.
        // 2. Handle objects with nested objects (make the column name the name of the object and print "system.object" as the value).

        var dataTable = new DataTable(entityType.Name);
        var propertyDescriptorCollection = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(entityType);

        // Iterate through each property in the object and add that property name as a new column in the data table.
        foreach (PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor in propertyDescriptorCollection)
        {
            // Data tables cannot have nullable columns. The cells can have null values, but the actual columns themselves cannot be nullable.
            // Therefore, if the current property type is nullable, use the underlying type (e.g. if the type is a nullable int, use int).
            var propertyType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(propertyDescriptor.PropertyType) ?? propertyDescriptor.PropertyType;
            dataTable.Columns.Add(propertyDescriptor.Name, propertyType);
        }

        // Iterate through each object in the list adn add a new row in the data table.
        // Then iterate through each property in the object and add the property's value to the current cell.
        // Once all properties in the current object have been used, add the row to the data table.
        foreach (T item in list)
        {
            var row = dataTable.NewRow();

            foreach (PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor in propertyDescriptorCollection)
            {
                var value = propertyDescriptor.GetValue(item);
                row[propertyDescriptor.Name] = value ?? DBNull.Value;
            }

            dataTable.Rows.Add(row);
        }

        return dataTable;
    }
}

Answer 5

Here's a version with some modifications to allow for nulls and '\0' characters without blowing up the DataTable.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Data;

namespace SomeNamespace
{
    public static class Extenders
    {
        public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(this IEnumerable<T> collection, string tableName)
        {
            DataTable tbl = ToDataTable(collection);
            tbl.TableName = tableName;
            return tbl;
        }

        public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(this IEnumerable<T> collection)
        {
            DataTable dt = new DataTable();
            Type t = typeof(T);
            PropertyInfo[] pia = t.GetProperties();
            object temp;
            DataRow dr;

            for (int i = 0; i < pia.Length; i++ )
            {
                dt.Columns.Add(pia[i].Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(pia[i].PropertyType) ?? pia[i].PropertyType);
                dt.Columns[i].AllowDBNull = true;
            }

            //Populate the table
            foreach (T item in collection)
            {
                dr = dt.NewRow();
                dr.BeginEdit();

                for (int i = 0; i < pia.Length; i++)
                {
                    temp = pia[i].GetValue(item, null);
                    if (temp == null || (temp.GetType().Name == "Char" && ((char)temp).Equals('\0')))
                    {
                        dr[pia[i].Name] = (object)DBNull.Value;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        dr[pia[i].Name] = temp;
                    }
                }

                dr.EndEdit();
                dt.Rows.Add(dr);
            }
            return dt;
        }

    }
}