Telerik RadGrid can export your data to the following formats:

Note
We strongly recommend that you use Advanced Data Binding when exporting the RadGrid.

In addition to the export format's specific properties, the ExportSettings group exposes several common properties:

• ExportOnlyData

As the name says, this property is helpful when you want to export only the data - e.g. to exclude the controls from the exported file.

• IgnorePaging

When you enable IgnorePaging, RadGrid will rebind before export in order to fetch all the data from your datasource.

• OpenInNewWindow

By default, the exported file will be handled by the program associated with the appropriate file type. If you prefer to give the user the option to choose whether to save, open (inline) or cancel you should enable this property.

Note
Even if you set OpenInNewWindow="false", that doesn't guarantee that the file will be opened inside the browser window. The way the exported file will be displayed inline depends on the OS/browser settings. The end-user could manage the file extensions with programs like NirSoft's FileTypesMan. For browsers, other than Internet Explorer, you should use the built-in settings.

• FileName

This is helpful when you want to give a predefined name for your file. Please note that the file name can't be longer than 256 symbols.

Unicode names are not supported out-of-the-box for Internet Explorer6 and 7. Of course you can manually encode the file name and it will be shown properly in the "Save" dialog (OpenInNewWindow="true").

HttpUtility.UrlEncode("unicode string", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);

Note
Internet Explorer ignores the FileName property when OpenInNewWindow is set to false.

• HideStructureColumns

Removes the structure columns - GridRowIndicatorColumn, GridExpandColumn as well as the first GridGroupSplitterColumn. Note that this property will affect only the first level in hierarchical RadGrids.

CopyASPX

<ExportSettings
   HideStructureColumns="true"
   ExportOnlyData="true"
   IgnorePaging="true"
   OpenInNewWindow="true">
</ExportSettings>

Note
You can receive this error if the file name is longer than 256 symbols: '<filename>.<extension>' could not be found. Check the spelling of the file name, and verify that the file location is correct.

• SuppressColumnDataFormatStrings

This property will help avoid exporting already formatted values which would cause Microsoft Excel to treat them as string values.Enabling this functionality will result in rebinding the control before exporting. Note that even if both IgnorePaging and SuppressColumnDataFormatStrings are enabled, RadGrid will rebind only once.

• UseItemStyles

As the name says, this property gives you the ability to apply the item styles to the exported file.

This event is useable in many scenarios when you want to modify the output file - for example you may want to add some custom information above RadGrid or when you want to remove/add/replace parts of the content. The only limitation applies to the PDF export because by the time the OnGridExporting event is raised, the PDF is already generated. For more information, please visit the dedicated PDF format topic which introduces the OnPdfExporting event that is designed specifically for this format.

Below is the barebone logic for OnGridExporting event:

• C#
• VB.NET

CopyC#

protected void RadGrid1_GridExporting(object source, GridExportingArgs e)
{
    switch (e.ExportType)
    {
        case ExportType.Excel:
            //do something with the e.ExportOutput value      
            break;
        case ExportType.ExcelML:
            //do something with the e.ExportOutput value     
            break;
        case ExportType.Word:
            //do something with the e.ExportOutput value       
            break;
        case ExportType.Csv:
            //do something with the e.ExportOutput value    
            break;
        case ExportType.Pdf:
            //you can't change the output here - use the PdfExporting event instead   
            break;
    }
}

CopyVB.NET

Protected Sub RadGrid1_GridExporting(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As GridExportingArgs)
    Select Case e.ExportType
        Case ExportType.Excel
            'do something with the e.ExportOutput value   
            Exit Select
        Case ExportType.ExcelML
            'do something with the e.ExportOutput value
            Exit Select
        Case ExportType.Word
            'do something with the e.ExportOutput value  
            Exit Select
        Case ExportType.Csv
            'do something with the e.ExportOutput value 
            Exit Select
        Case ExportType.Pdf
            'you can't change the output here - use the PdfExporting event instead   
    End Select
End Sub

We strongly recommend not to export large amounts of data since there is a chance to encounter an exception (Timeout or OutOfMemory) if more than one user tries to export the same data simultaneously. RadGrid is not suitable for such scenarios and therefore we suggest that you limit the number of columns and rows. Also it is important to note that the hierarchy and the nested controls have a considerable effect on the performance in this scenario.

When you have custom paging enabled for your grid, you need to set the PageSize property of the grid to be equal to the VirtualItemCount in order to export all records successfully with IgnorePaging set to true. Here is an example:

• C#
• VB.NET

CopyC#

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    RadGrid1.PageSize = RadGrid1.MasterTableView.VirtualItemCount;
    RadGrid1.ExportSettings.IgnorePaging = true;
    RadGrid1.ExportSettings.OpenInNewWindow = true;
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToExcel();
}

CopyVB.NET

Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    RadGrid1.PageSize = RadGrid1.MasterTableView.VirtualItemCount
    RadGrid1.ExportSettings.IgnorePaging = True
    RadGrid1.ExportSettings.OpenInNewWindow = True
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToExcel()
End Sub

The exporting feature works only with regular postbacks. This means, that the asynchronous postback should be canceled when performing an export.

More information on this topic is available below:

Export from ajaxified grid

Exclude controls from ajaxifying

Export RadGrid content to Excel/Word/CSV/PDF with Ajax enabled

The following code-library project demonstrates how to export nested RadGrids to PDF/Excel (HTML)

Export multiple RadGrids in single PDF/Excel file

RadGrid doesn't support exporting with client-side binding. To be able to export in such scenario, you should bind RadGrid on the server.

There is a special flag (_spFormOnSubmitCalled) in SharePoint that prevents the form to be submitted twice. The flag is set when the form is submitted and then cleared when the response is received. When using the exporting functionality, this flag won't be cleared because the response is redirected and therefore all further postbacks will be blocked. Controls not functional after Export to Excel or Export to PDF of Telerik in Sharepoint Application page

If you receive "Invalid ViewState" or similar exception in web farm scenario, you can try to copy the machinekey from your web.config to the machine.config of the web server.

You might receive the following error message when using the export feature over SSL and Internet Explorer:

In order to prevent this error add the following lines just before the exporting:

• C#
• VB.NET

CopyC#

RadGrid1.Page.Response.ClearHeaders();
RadGrid1.Page.Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.Private);

CopyVB.NET

RadGrid1.Page.Response.ClearHeaders()
RadGrid1.Page.Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.[Private])

The following methods are marked as obsolete as of RadGrid v4.6 (part of RadControls for ASP.NET)

• server-side:

  • ExportToWord(fileName, dataOnly, ignorePaging)

  • ExportToExcel(fileName, dataOnly, ignorePaging)

  • ExportToWord2007(fileName, dataOnly, ignorePaging)

  • ExportToExcel2007(fileName, dataOnly, ignorePaging)

• client-side:

  • ExportToWord(fileName)

  • ExportToExcel(fileName)

For real-life example, review our online demo.