I have a GridView that I want to return as an Excel spreadsheet. I am using
vb.net in a web application.

The following code works, with the exception of special characters.

dt = MyDataSet.Tables(0)

GridView1.DataSource = dt
GridView1.DataBind()

'Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel"
'Response.ContentEncoding = Encoding.ASCII
'Response.Charset = "ISO-LATIN-1"
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.xls"

Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", _
"inline;filename=" & strReportName)

If I look in the data in the GridView I see:
Associates, LLC, CPA's
Wilson - CPA

What shows up in the spreadsheet returned is:
Associates, LLC, CPA’s
Wilson – CPA

If I uncomment out the setting of the ContentEndoding and Charset, I get:
Associates, LLC, CPA?s
Wilson ? CPA

How do I get it to render the ' and - properly?

Thanks.

Hello Gerhard,

From your post, my understanding on this issue is: you wonder how to render
the character' when you output the data table to a excel worksheet. If I'm
off base, please feel free to let me know.

Based on my test, I think the character ' that you referred to might be '.
The default charset that Excel build for ' is "windows-1252", so in my
side, the issue is resolved when I change your code to

Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel";
Response.ContentEncoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("windows-1252");
Response.Charset = "windows-1252";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline;filename=test.xls");

Please have a try and let me know if it works in your side.

Sincerely,
Jialiang Ge (jialge (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com, remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Awesome! Worked perfectly. Thanks.

"Jialiang Ge [MSFT]" wrote: