If you want a generic extension that will loop through every item in your list adding it to a new line and loop through every public property with a getter and create a comma separated list of fields per property on the line you can use my extension as per my tip, here or my Gist, here, calling the extension on the List like so:
MyList.ToDelimitedText(",", true);
Full code below
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Text;
namespace Gists.Extensions.ListOfTExtentions
{
public static class ListOfTExtentions
{
/// <summary>
/// Converst this instance to delimited text.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="instance">The instance.</param>
/// <param name="delimiter">The delimiter.</param>
/// <param name="trimTrailingNewLineIfExists">
/// If set to <c>true</c> then trim trailing new line if it exists.
/// </param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string ToDelimitedText<T>(this List<T> instance,
string delimiter,
bool trimTrailingNewLineIfExists = false)
where T : class, new()
{
int itemCount = instance.Count;
if (itemCount == 0) return string.Empty;
var properties = GetPropertiesOfType<T>();
int propertyCount = properties.Length;
var outputBuilder = new StringBuilder();
for (int itemIndex = 0; itemIndex < itemCount; itemIndex++)
{
T listItem = instance[itemIndex];
AppendListItemToOutputBuilder(outputBuilder, listItem, properties, propertyCount, delimiter);
AddNewLineIfRequired(trimTrailingNewLineIfExists, itemIndex, itemCount, outputBuilder);
}
var output = TrimTrailingNewLineIfExistsAndRequired(outputBuilder.ToString(), trimTrailingNewLineIfExists);
return output;
}
private static void AddDelimiterIfRequired(StringBuilder outputBuilder, int propertyCount, string delimiter,
int propertyIndex)
{
bool isLastProperty = (propertyIndex + 1 == propertyCount);
if (!isLastProperty)
{
outputBuilder.Append(delimiter);
}
}
private static void AddNewLineIfRequired(bool trimTrailingNewLineIfExists, int itemIndex, int itemCount,
StringBuilder outputBuilder)
{
bool isLastItem = (itemIndex + 1 == itemCount);
if (!isLastItem || !trimTrailingNewLineIfExists)
{
outputBuilder.Append(Environment.NewLine);
}
}
private static void AppendListItemToOutputBuilder<T>(StringBuilder outputBuilder,
T listItem,
PropertyInfo[] properties,
int propertyCount,
string delimiter)
where T : class, new()
{
for (int propertyIndex = 0; propertyIndex < properties.Length; propertyIndex += 1)
{
var property = properties[propertyIndex];
var propertyValue = property.GetValue(listItem);
outputBuilder.Append(propertyValue);
AddDelimiterIfRequired(outputBuilder, propertyCount, delimiter, propertyIndex);
}
}
private static PropertyInfo[] GetPropertiesOfType<T>() where T : class, new()
{
Type itemType = typeof (T);
var properties = itemType.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.GetProperty | BindingFlags.Public);
return properties;
}
private static string TrimTrailingNewLineIfExistsAndRequired(string output, bool trimTrailingNewLineIfExists)
{
if (!trimTrailingNewLineIfExists || !output.EndsWith(Environment.NewLine)) return output;
int outputLength = output.Length;
int newLineLength = Environment.NewLine.Length;
int startIndex = outputLength - newLineLength;
output = output.Substring(startIndex, newLineLength);
return output;
}
}
}
Examples of calling the code can be found in these tests:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using Gists.Extensions.ListOfTExtentions;
namespace Gists_Tests.ExtensionTests.ListOfTExtentionTests
{
[TestClass]
public class ListOfT_ToDelimitedTextTests
{
#region Mock Data
private class SimpleObject
{
public int Id { get; set; }
}
private class ComplextObject : SimpleObject
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public bool Active { get; set; }
}
#endregion
#region Tests
[TestMethod]
public void ToDelimitedText_ReturnsCorrectNumberOfRows()
{
// ARRANGE
var itemList = new List<ComplextObject>
{
new ComplextObject {Id = 1, Name = "Sid", Active = true},
new ComplextObject {Id = 2, Name = "James", Active = false},
new ComplextObject {Id = 3, Name = "Ted", Active = true},
};
const string delimiter = ",";
const int expectedRowCount = 3;
const bool trimTrailingNewLineIfExists = true;
// ACT
string result = itemList.ToDelimitedText(delimiter, trimTrailingNewLineIfExists);
var lines = result.Split(new[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.None);
var actualRowCount = lines.Length;
// ASSERT
Assert.AreEqual(expectedRowCount, actualRowCount);
}
[TestMethod]
public void ToDelimitedText_ReturnsCorrectNumberOfProperties()
{
// ARRANGE
var itemList = new List<ComplextObject>
{
new ComplextObject {Id = 1, Name = "Sid", Active = true}
};
const string delimiter = ",";
const int expectedPropertyCount = 3;
// ACT
string result = itemList.ToDelimitedText(delimiter);
var lines = result.Split(Environment.NewLine.ToCharArray());
var properties = lines.First().Split(delimiter.ToCharArray());
var actualPropertyCount = properties.Length;
// ASSERT
Assert.AreEqual(expectedPropertyCount, actualPropertyCount);
}
[TestMethod]
public void ToDelimitedText_RemovesTrailingNewLine_WhenSet()
{
// ARRANGE
var itemList = new List<ComplextObject>
{
new ComplextObject {Id = 1, Name = "Sid", Active = true},
new ComplextObject {Id = 2, Name = "James", Active = false},
new ComplextObject {Id = 3, Name = "Ted", Active = true},
};
const string delimiter = ",";
const bool trimTrailingNewLineIfExists = true;
// ACT
string result = itemList.ToDelimitedText(delimiter, trimTrailingNewLineIfExists);
bool endsWithNewLine = result.EndsWith(Environment.NewLine);
// ASSERT
Assert.IsFalse(endsWithNewLine);
}
[TestMethod]
public void ToDelimitedText_IncludesTrailingNewLine_WhenNotSet()
{
// ARRANGE
var itemList = new List<ComplextObject>
{
new ComplextObject {Id = 1, Name = "Sid", Active = true},
new ComplextObject {Id = 2, Name = "James", Active = false},
new ComplextObject {Id = 3, Name = "Ted", Active = true},
};
const string delimiter = ",";
const bool trimTrailingNewLineIfExists = false;
// ACT
string result = itemList.ToDelimitedText(delimiter, trimTrailingNewLineIfExists);
bool endsWithNewLine = result.EndsWith(Environment.NewLine);
// ASSERT
Assert.IsTrue(endsWithNewLine);
}
#endregion
}
}