C# Excel Interop: Opening and Showing CSV file

Question

Hey I'm writing a wrapper for the excel interop, I want to be able to open a csv file in excel and show it to the user. I've got the basics down, but when i set visible to true and excel shows up, all columns are jammed into the first, and the separating commas are showing.

here's my helper.

    public MyExcel(string filePath, bool readOnly)
    {
        _app = new Excel.Application();

        _workbooks = _app.Workbooks;

        _workbook = _workbooks.Open(_filepath, 0, _readOnly, 5, "", "", true, Excel.XlPlatform.xlWindows, "\t", !_readOnly, false, 0, true, true, true);
    }

    public void Show()
    {
        _app.Visible = true;
    }

any suggestions?

When i open the file by double clicking Excel processes everything properly.

Solution 1

You will need to use the OpenText method, instead of Open, if you want Excel to parse for delimiters. Details: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb223513%28v=office.12%29.aspx

An example in C#: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c9838808.aspx

Solution 2

It is MUCH easier than that if all you want to do is open the file...

 Process proc = new Process();
 proc.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("excel.exe", "output.csv");
 proc.Start();