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Word-Html (DOC) Export

RadGrid is able to export your data to Word using HTML/CSS-based format. It is not the native binary format used by Microsoft Office but it is a popular way to export data and it is also officially supported by Microsoft, see Microsoft® Office HTML and XML Reference

Usage

To export the Grid using this format, set the Word-Format property to Html within the ExportSettings element. Html is the default value, you might as well omit this property.

Example

ASP.NET

<ExportSettings>
    <Excel Format="Html" />
</ExportSettings>

Export Events

Server-Side events triggered for the Html format.

OnGridExporting: This event is triggered when the Grid is exporting. It can be used to access the output from the event argument (string)e.ExportOutput when using the Excel-Format Html.
OnHtmlExporting: This event is triggered for the Html format during the export. This event can be used to set the XmlOptions and add additional Styles to the Document. For more details check out the Styling - Using Headers and Footers or Styling - Xml Options sections.

Customizing the Export Output

Due to the fact that this format is based on standard HTML/CSS it is quite straightforward to control the appearance of the output by applying CSS tags/classes to the cells/rows/tables, etc.

ExportCellFormating / ExcelExportCellFormatting events
HTMLExporting event
Line Breaks
Styling rows/cells
Using ItemCreated/ItemDataBound
XML Options
Hiding columns
Hiding items
Default Cell Alignment
Resizing/Aligning Columns
Text Alignment

ExportCellFormating / ExcelExportCellFormatting events

In order to aid the developers, we exposed the ExportCellFormatting event. It fires for each cell in each data item in RadGrid.

Please note that the ExcelExportCellFormatting event (Excel-specific) is marked as obsolete as from UI for ASP.NET AJAX Q1 2011.

There are two important members exposed by the ExportCellFormattingEventArgs:

Cell - this is a reference to the current TableCell. You can use it to apply specific CSS style or to gain access to the GridDataItem object:

C#
GridDataItem item = e.Cell.Parent as GridDataItem;
VB
Dim item As GridDataItem = TryCast(e.Cell.Parent, GridDataItem)

FormattedColumn - this property returns an object of type GridColumn. It helps to distinguish to which column the current cell belongs to.

C#
GridColumn column = e.FormattedColumn as GridColumn;
string columnName = column.UniqueName;
VB
Dim column As GridColumn = TryCast(e.FormattedColumn, GridColumn)
Dim columnName As String = column.UniqueName

HTMLExporting event

The purpose of this event is to allow the developer to insert global styles (CSS) or configuration options (XML) to the exported file. A possible application for this event is to enable the grid lines for the current worksheet:

C#
protected void RadGrid1_HTMLExporting(object sender, GridHTMLExportingEventArgs e)
{
    e.Styles.Append("body { border:solid 0.1pt #CCCCCC; }");
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_HTMLExporting(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As GridHTMLExportingEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.HTMLExporting
    e.Styles.Append("body { border:solid 0.1pt #CCCCCC; }")
End Sub

Line Breaks

In case you need to use a line breaks when exporting to Excel or Word you can add
tags in order to move the text onthe next line. Nevertheless this approach will move the text in a new cell in the next row rather than creating a line break within the current cell. To get around this you can add mso-data-placement style to the
tags.

C#
protected void RadGrid1_HTMLExporting(object sender, GridHTMLExportingEventArgs e)
{
    e.Styles.Append("br { mso-data-placement: same-cell; }");
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_HTMLExporting(sender As Object, e As GridHTMLExportingEventArgs)
    e.Styles.Append("br { mso-data-placement: same-cell; }")
End Sub

Styling rows/cells

Thanks to the ExportCellFormatting event it is really easy to apply custom styles to the rows/cells. The following code-snippet demonstrates how to style the alternating items:

C#
protected void RadGrid1_ExportCellFormatting(object source, ExportCellFormattingEventArgs e)
{
    GridDataItem item = e.Cell.Parent as GridDataItem;
    if (item.ItemType == GridItemType.AlternatingItem)
        item.Style["background-color"] = "#359AFF";
    else
        item.Style["background-color"] = "#2D62FF";
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ExportCellFormatting(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As ExportCellFormattingEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ExportCellFormatting
    Dim item As GridDataItem = TryCast(e.Cell.Parent, GridDataItem)
    If item.ItemType = GridItemType.AlternatingItem Then
        item.Style("background-color") = "#359AFF"
    Else
        item.Style("background-color") = "#2D62FF"
    End If
End Sub

Sometimes the developer needs to highlight the negative values (for example: -1, -5, -10.5) - this could be achieved in the same event handler:

C#
protected void RadGrid1_ExportCellFormatting(object source, ExportCellFormattingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.FormattedColumn.UniqueName == "MyColumn" && double.Parse(e.Cell.Text) < 0)
        e.Cell.Style["background-color"] = "#FA2020";
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ExportCellFormatting(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As ExportCellFormattingEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ExportCellFormatting
    If e.FormattedColumn.UniqueName = "MyColumn" AndAlso Double.Parse(e.Cell.Text) < 0 Then
        e.Cell.Style("background-color") = "#FA2020"
    End If
End Sub

Using ItemCreated/ItemDataBound

These events are usable in different scenarios such as applying styles to items other than GridDataItem

They are not as convenient as the ExportCellFormatting event because the developer should use flag to distinguish whether the current item/cell is being exported or displayed.

Please keep in mind that if you don't use IgnorePaging="true" RadGrid will be exported directly and the ItemCreated/ItemDataBound events won't be fired.

Since UI for ASP.NET AJAX Q3 2015 we have implement a new property named IsExporting which can be used instead of the old approach with a boolean flag. The property is accessible only from the server.

C#
bool isExport = false; //Export flag 
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    isExport = true;
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToExcel();
}
protected void RadGrid1_ItemCreated(object sender, GridItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Item is GridHeaderItem && isExport)
        e.Item.Style["background-color"] = "#EEAAEC";
}
VB
Private isExport As Boolean = False 'Export flagProtected
Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    isExport = True
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToExcel()
End Sub
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCreated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As GridItemEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ItemCreated
    If TypeOf e.Item Is GridHeaderItem AndAlso isExport Then
        e.Item.Style("background-color") = "#EEAAEC"
    End If
End Sub

When IgnorePaging="false" you should rebind RadGrid manually, otherwise this approach won't work. The above code needs only one change - put RadGrid1.Rebind() after the point where you set the flag.

XML Options

XmlOptions property allows you to set different options of the exported file. The XML element contains one or more sub-elements. These include DocumentProperties which is valid for Word and Excel, WordDocument which can be used when exporting to Word, and finally ExcelWorkbook which applies to Microsoft Excel.

Below you could find a list with the supported sub-elements of the DocumentProperties.

DocumentProperties	Represents
<o:Subject> </o:Subject>	Left-aligned data
<o:Author> </o:Author>	String value specifying the author's name.
<o:Keywords> </o:Keywords>	Comma-separated string values listing the document’s keywords.
<o:Description> </o:Description>	Represents the document description.
<o:LastAuthor> </o:LastAuthor>	The account name of the last person who made changes to the file.
<o:Category> </o:Category>	The category of the document.
<o:Manager> </o:Manager>	Manager’s name.
<o:Company> </o:Company>	String value holding the name of the company.

Example:

C#
protected void RadGrid1_HTMLExporting(object sender, GridHTMLExportingEventArgs e)
{
    e.XmlOptions = @"<xml>
                        <o:DocumentProperties>
                          <o:Category>Reports</o:Category>
                          <o:Manager>Kate Dresen</o:Manager>
                          <o:Company>Adventure Works</o:Company>  
                        </o:DocumentProperties>
                     </xml>";
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_HTMLExporting(sender As Object, e As GridHTMLExportingEventArgs)
    e.XmlOptions = "<xml><o:DocumentProperties><o:Category>Reports</o:Category><o:Manager>Kate Dresen</o:Manager><o:Company>Adventure Works</o:Company></o:DocumentProperties></xml>"
End Sub

Hiding columns

You can use the HideStructureColumns property to hide GridRowIndicatorColumn, GridExpandColumn and GridGroupSplitterColumn. For the other columns types, you can use the following approach:

C#
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.GetColumn("C2").Visible = false;
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToWord();
}
VB
Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.GetColumn("C2").Visible = False
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToWord()
End Sub

From Q2 2013 we introduced a new property named Exportable. This property allows you to choose whether a certain column should be included in the exported file or not. By setting this property to false the related column will be excluded from the exported file. Its default value is true.

Hiding items

There are two common ways to hide an item.

Directly - in the button handler when exporting from a button or on ItemCommand when exporting from the built-in buttons

C#
protected void RadGrid1_ItemCommand(object source, GridCommandEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.CommandName == RadGrid.ExportToWordCommandName)
        RadGrid1.MasterTableView.Items[2].Visible = false;
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCommand(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As GridCommandEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ItemCommand
    If e.CommandName = RadGrid.ExportToWordCommandName Then
        RadGrid1.MasterTableView.Items(2).Visible = False
    End If
End Sub

C#
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.Items[2].Visible = false;
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToWord();
}
VB
Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.Items(2).Visible = False
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToWord()
End Sub

On ItemCreated / ItemDataBound - this approach should be used when IgnorePaging="true" or when you call RadGrid.Rebind before exporting.

C#
bool isWordExport = false;
protected void RadGrid1_ItemCommand(object source, GridCommandEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.CommandName == RadGrid.ExportToWordCommandName)
        isWordExport = true;
}
protected void RadGrid1_ItemCreated(object sender, GridItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (isWordExport && e.Item.ItemIndex == 2)
        e.Item.Visible = false;
}
VB
Private isWordExport As Boolean = False
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCommand(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As GridCommandEventArgs)
    If e.CommandName = RadGrid.ExportToWordCommandName Then
        isWordExport = True
    End If
End Sub
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCreated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As GridItemEventArgs)
    If isWordExport AndAlso e.Item.ItemIndex = 2 Then
        e.Item.Visible = False
    End If
End Sub

Default Cell Alignment

You can specify a default alignment to all cells by using DefaultCellAlignment. This property is supported since Q2 2015 and its default value is NotSet. Typical values include Left, Right and Center.

ASP.NET

<ExportSettings>
    <Excel DefaultCellAlignment="Center" />
</ExportSettings>

Additionally you can change the default alignment on HtmlExporting event.

Resizing/Aligning Columns

There are various ways to set the width of a given column.

declarative approach:

ASP.NET

<telerik:GridBoundColumn ... HeaderStyle-Width="20px" />

in code-behind - before export:

C#
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.GetColumn("C1").HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(20);
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToExcel();
}
VB
Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.GetColumn("C1").HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(20)
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.ExportToExcel()
End Sub

in code-behind - on TH elements

C#
protected void RadGrid1_ItemCreated(object sender, GridItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Item is GridHeaderItem && isExport)
    {
        foreach (TableCell cell in e.Item.Cells)
            cell.Style["width"] = "20px";
    }
}
VB
Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCreated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As GridItemEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ItemCreated
    If TypeOf e.Item Is GridHeaderItem AndAlso isExport Then
        For Each cell As TableCell In e.Item.Cells
            cell.Style("width") = "20px"
        Next
    End If
End Sub

Text Alignment

You can specify the horizontal alignment, using the text-align CSS attribute. Please note that it is not possible to apply this attribute to the whole header row - you should set it to each cell (TH) separately. The aforementioned limitation concerns only to the header items.

Limitations

This export format does not support the following features:

Embedded images
Exporting hidden RadGrid (Visible="false")
OpenOffice, AbiWord, and a few more apps do not support this standard so they won't show the files properly

In theory all Microsoft Office versions from 2000 and later might work, although we don't guarantee that any version, prior to 2003 will display the Office HTML formats as expected.