I've got several text files which should be tab delimited, but actually are delimited by an arbitrary number of spaces. I want to parse the rows from the text file into a DataTable (the first row of the text file has headers for property names). This got me thinking about building an extensible, easy way to parse text files. Here's my current working solution:
string filePath = #"C:\path\lowbirthweight.txt";
//regex to remove multiple spaces
Regex regex = new Regex(#"[ ]{2,}", RegexOptions.Compiled);
DataTable table = new DataTable();
var reader = ReadTextFile(filePath);
//headers in first row
var headers = reader.First();
//skip headers for data
var data = reader.Skip(1).ToArray();
//remove arbitrary spacing between column headers and table data
headers = regex.Replace(headers, #" ");
for (int i = 0; i < data.Length; i++)
{
data[i] = regex.Replace(data[i], #" ");
}
//make ready the DataTable, split resultant space-delimited string into array for column names
foreach (string columnName in headers.Split(' '))
{
table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn() { ColumnName = columnName });
}
foreach (var record in data)
{
//split into array for row values
table.Rows.Add(record.Split(' '));
}
//test prints correctly to the console
Console.WriteLine(table.Rows[0][2]);
}
static IEnumerable<string> ReadTextFile(string fileName)
{
using (var reader = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
yield return reader.ReadLine();
}
}
}
In my project I've already received several large (gig +) text files that are not in the format in which they are purported to be. So can I see having to write methods such as these with some regularity, albeit with a different regular expression. Is there a way to do something like
data =data.SmartRegex(x => x.AllowOneSpace) where I can use a regular expression to iterate over the collection of strings?
Is something like the following on the right track?
public static class SmartRegex
{
public static Expression AllowOneSpace(this List<string> data)
{
//no idea how to return an expression from a method
}
}
I'm not too overly concerned with performance, just would like to see how something like this works
You should consult with your data source and find out why your data is bad.
As for the API design that you are trying to implement:
public class RegexCollection
{
private readonly Regex _allowOneSpace = new Regex(" ");
public Regex AllowOneSpace { get { return _allowOneSpace; } }
}
public static class RegexExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<string[]> SmartRegex(
this IEnumerable<string> collection,
Func<RegexCollection, Regex> selector
)
{
var regexCollection = new RegexCollection();
var regex = selector(regexCollection);
return collection.Select(l => regex.Split(l));
}
}
Usage:
var items = new List<string> { "Hello world", "Goodbye world" };
var results = items.SmartRegex(x => x.AllowOneSpace);
Related
I am writing a code to convert Excel to JSON (so far it works).
But I got a problem, I need to number each line that I am writing after the word Match_ (Aka Match_1, Match_2, Match_3).
If you look towards the end of the code, I tried to maybe put For? but than it gives me all Match_i..
How can I use Replace command so I can actually put corresponding numbers after the word Match_?
IP = another string I am adding to the sentence. Ignore it
row[0] = the text its taking as is from the row from the excel
Match_ is not a var, its literally a text taken, I can also write there Oded_ and then it will write Oded_ = (IP string) + (excel text on row[0])
Match_ is a text I am actually trying to replace from within the text, as I cannot do FOR inside the Link Query.
using (var conn = new OleDbConnection(connectionString))
{
conn.Open();
var cmd = conn.CreateCommand();
cmd.CommandText = $"SELECT * FROM [{sheetName}$]";
using (var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader())
{
if (rdr != null)
{
//LINQ query - when executed will create anonymous objects for each row
var query = rdr.Cast<DbDataRecord>().Select(row => new
{
Match_ = IP + row[0]
});
//Generates JSON from the LINQ query
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(query);
//Write the file to the destination path
for (int i = 1; i<200; i++)
{
json = json.Replace("match_", "match_" + i );
}
File.WriteAllText(destinationPath, json);
}
}
So, after it is assigned query is an IEnumerable<> of your anonymous type that will have 0 to many rows. Those rows are not actually evaluated yet. The important think to remember is that you are making an anonymous type, not an anonymous object, so all enumerations of your result must be of that type, you can't switch one by one.
There are many way to achieve what you want but possibly the most expedient is to include the iterator in your select enumerator, then return a JObject something like this,
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
...
var query = rdr.Cast<DbDataRecord>().Select((row, i) => {
var result = new JObject();
result.Add( $"match_{i}", IP + row[0]);
return result;
});
Then you won't have to do any error prone and costly string manipulation on your JSON, it will already be formatted correctly.
Here is a full working example of this in action,
using System;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
using System.Linq;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
var query = Enumerable
.Range(1,5)
.Select( (n, i) =>
{
var result = new JObject();
result.Add($"match_{i}", n);
return result;
});
Console.WriteLine(
JsonConvert.SerializeObject(
query,
Formatting.Indented));
}
}
It is possible to do this with the more modern System.Text.Json but you'll have to embed the work in a writer.
Try regex.
class Program
{
int i = 0;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string json = "match_ abc match_ def match_ hijmatch_";
string pattern = "match_";
Program p = new Program();
MatchEvaluator myEvaluator = new MatchEvaluator(p.ReplaceCC);
Regex r = new Regex(pattern);
string output = r.Replace(json, myEvaluator);
}
public string ReplaceCC(Match m)
// Replace each Regex cc match with the number of the occurrence.
{
i++;
return m.Value + i.ToString();
}
}
Hi I am fairly new to coding, I have a piece of code that searches for a string and replaces it with another string like so:
var replacements = new[]{
new{Find="123",Replace="Word one"},
new{Find="ABC",Replace="Word two"},
new{Find="999",Replace="Word two"},
};
var myLongString = "123 is a long 999 string yeah";
foreach(var set in replacements)
{
myLongString = myLongString.Replace(set.Find, set.Replace);
}
If I want to use a CSV file that contains a lot of words and their replacements, for example, LOL,Laugh Out Loud, and ROFL, Roll Around Floor Laughing. How would I implement that?
Create a text file that looks like (you could use commas, but I like pipes (|)):
123|Word One
ABC|Word Two
999|Word Three
LOL|Laugh Out Loud
ROFL|Roll Around Floor Laughing
Then create a tiny helper class:
public class WordReplace
{
public string Find { get; set; }
public string Replace { get; set; }
}
And finally, call this code:
private static string DoWordReplace()
{
//first read in the data
var fileData = File.ReadAllLines("WordReplace.txt");
var wordReplacePairs = new List<WordReplace>();
var lineNo = 1;
foreach (var item in fileData)
{
var pair = item.Split(new[] {'|'}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
if (pair.Length != 2)
{
throw new ApplicationException($"Malformed file, line {lineNo}, data = [{item}] ");
}
wordReplacePairs.Add(new WordReplace{Find = pair[0], Replace = pair[1]});
++lineNo;
}
var longString = "LOL, 123 is a long 999 string yeah, ROFL";
//now do the replacements
var buffer = new StringBuilder(longString);
foreach (var pair in wordReplacePairs)
{
buffer.Replace(pair.Find, pair.Replace);
}
return buffer.ToString();
}
The result is:
Laugh Out Loud, Word One is a long Word Three string yeah, Roll Around Floor Laughing
I'm writing a simple import application and need to read a CSV file, show result in a DataGrid and show corrupted lines of the CSV file in another grid. For example, show the lines that are shorter than 5 values in another grid. I'm trying to do that like this:
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(FilePath);
importingData = new Account();
string line;
string[] row = new string [5];
while ((line = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
{
row = line.Split(',');
importingData.Add(new Transaction
{
Date = DateTime.Parse(row[0]),
Reference = row[1],
Description = row[2],
Amount = decimal.Parse(row[3]),
Category = (Category)Enum.Parse(typeof(Category), row[4])
});
}
but it's very difficult to operate on arrays in this case. Is there a better way to split the values?
Don't reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of what's already in .NET BCL.
add a reference to the Microsoft.VisualBasic (yes, it says VisualBasic but it works in C# just as well - remember that at the end it is all just IL)
use the Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser class to parse CSV file
Here is the sample code:
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(#"c:\temp\test.csv"))
{
parser.TextFieldType = FieldType.Delimited;
parser.SetDelimiters(",");
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
//Processing row
string[] fields = parser.ReadFields();
foreach (string field in fields)
{
//TODO: Process field
}
}
}
It works great for me in my C# projects.
Here are some more links/informations:
MSDN: Read From Comma-Delimited Text Files in Visual Basic
MSDN: TextFieldParser Class
I recommend CsvHelper from NuGet.
PS: Regarding other more upvoted answers, I'm sorry but adding a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic is:
Ugly
Not cross-platform, because it's not available in .NETCore/.NET5 (and Mono never had very good support of Visual Basic, so it may be buggy).
My experience is that there are many different csv formats. Specially how they handle escaping of quotes and delimiters within a field.
These are the variants I have ran into:
quotes are quoted and doubled (excel) i.e. 15" -> field1,"15""",field3
quotes are not changed unless the field is quoted for some other reason. i.e. 15" -> field1,15",fields3
quotes are escaped with \. i.e. 15" -> field1,"15\"",field3
quotes are not changed at all (this is not always possible to parse correctly)
delimiter is quoted (excel). i.e. a,b -> field1,"a,b",field3
delimiter is escaped with \. i.e. a,b -> field1,a\,b,field3
I have tried many of the existing csv parsers but there is not a single one that can handle the variants I have ran into. It is also difficult to find out from the documentation which escaping variants the parsers support.
In my projects I now use either the VB TextFieldParser or a custom splitter.
Sometimes using libraries are cool when you do not want to reinvent the wheel, but in this case one can do the same job with fewer lines of code and easier to read compared to using libraries.
Here is a different approach which I find very easy to use.
In this example, I use StreamReader to read the file
Regex to detect the delimiter from each line(s).
An array to collect the columns from index 0 to n
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
string line;
while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
//Define pattern
Regex CSVParser = new Regex(",(?=(?:[^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*(?![^\"]*\"))");
//Separating columns to array
string[] X = CSVParser.Split(line);
/* Do something with X */
}
}
CSV can get complicated real fast.
Use something robust and well-tested:
FileHelpers:
www.filehelpers.net
The FileHelpers are a free and easy to use .NET library to import/export data from fixed length or delimited records in files, strings or streams.
Another one to this list, Cinchoo ETL - an open source library to read and write CSV files
For a sample CSV file below
Id, Name
1, Tom
2, Mark
Quickly you can load them using library as below
using (var reader = new ChoCSVReader("test.csv").WithFirstLineHeader())
{
foreach (dynamic item in reader)
{
Console.WriteLine(item.Id);
Console.WriteLine(item.Name);
}
}
If you have POCO class matching the CSV file
public class Employee
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
You can use it to load the CSV file as below
using (var reader = new ChoCSVReader<Employee>("test.csv").WithFirstLineHeader())
{
foreach (var item in reader)
{
Console.WriteLine(item.Id);
Console.WriteLine(item.Name);
}
}
Please check out articles at CodeProject on how to use it.
Disclaimer: I'm the author of this library
I use this here:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/GenericParser.aspx
Last time I was looking for something like this I found it as an answer to this question.
private static DataTable ConvertCSVtoDataTable(string strFilePath)
{
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(strFilePath))
{
string[] headers = sr.ReadLine().Split(',');
foreach (string header in headers)
{
dt.Columns.Add(header);
}
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{
string[] rows = sr.ReadLine().Split(',');
DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
for (int i = 0; i < headers.Length; i++)
{
dr[i] = rows[i];
}
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
}
}
return dt;
}
private static void WriteToDb(DataTable dt)
{
string connectionString =
"Data Source=localhost;" +
"Initial Catalog=Northwind;" +
"Integrated Security=SSPI;";
using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("spInsertTest", con))
{
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
cmd.Parameters.Add("#policyID", SqlDbType.Int).Value = 12;
cmd.Parameters.Add("#statecode", SqlDbType.VarChar).Value = "blagh2";
cmd.Parameters.Add("#county", SqlDbType.VarChar).Value = "blagh3";
con.Open();
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
}
}
Here's a solution I coded up today for a situation where I needed to parse a CSV without relying on external libraries. I haven't tested performance for large files since it wasn't relevant to my particular use case but I'd expect it to perform reasonably well for most situations.
static List<List<string>> ParseCsv(string csv) {
var parsedCsv = new List<List<string>>();
var row = new List<string>();
string field = "";
bool inQuotedField = false;
for (int i = 0; i < csv.Length; i++) {
char current = csv[i];
char next = i == csv.Length - 1 ? ' ' : csv[i + 1];
// if current character is not a quote or comma or carriage return or newline (or not a quote and currently in an a quoted field), just add the character to the current field text
if ((current != '"' && current != ',' && current != '\r' && current != '\n') || (current != '"' && inQuotedField)) {
field += current;
} else if (current == ' ' || current == '\t') {
continue; // ignore whitespace outside a quoted field
} else if (current == '"') {
if (inQuotedField && next == '"') { // quote is escaping a quote within a quoted field
i++; // skip escaping quote
field += current;
} else if (inQuotedField) { // quote signifies the end of a quoted field
row.Add(field);
if (next == ',') {
i++; // skip the comma separator since we've already found the end of the field
}
field = "";
inQuotedField = false;
} else { // quote signifies the beginning of a quoted field
inQuotedField = true;
}
} else if (current == ',') { //
row.Add(field);
field = "";
} else if (current == '\n') {
row.Add(field);
parsedCsv.Add(new List<string>(row));
field = "";
row.Clear();
}
}
return parsedCsv;
}
First of all need to understand what is CSV and how to write it.
Every next string ( /r/n ) is next "table" row.
"Table" cells is separated by some delimiter symbol. Most often used symbols is \t or ,
Every cell possibly can contain this delimiter symbol (cell must to start with quotes symbol and ends with this symbol in this case)
Every cell possibly can contains /r/n sybols (cell must to start with quotes symbol and ends with this symbol in this case)
The easiest way for C#/Visual Basic to work with CSV files is to use standard Microsoft.VisualBasic library. You just need to add needed reference, and the following string to your class:
using Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO;
Yes, you can use it in C#, don't worry. This library can read relatively big files and supports all of needed rules, so you will be able to work with all of CSV files.
Some time ago I had wrote simple class for CSV read/write based on this library. Using this simple class you will be able to work with CSV like with 2 dimensions array.
You can find my class by the following link:
https://github.com/ukushu/DataExporter
Simple example of using:
Csv csv = new Csv("\t");//delimiter symbol
csv.FileOpen("c:\\file1.csv");
var row1Cell6Value = csv.Rows[0][5];
csv.AddRow("asdf","asdffffff","5")
csv.FileSave("c:\\file2.csv");
To complete the previous answers, one may need a collection of objects from his CSV File, either parsed by the TextFieldParser or the string.Split method, and then each line converted to an object via Reflection. You obviously first need to define a class that matches the lines of the CSV file.
I used the simple CSV Serializer from Michael Kropat found here: Generic class to CSV (all properties)
and reused his methods to get the fields and properties of the wished class.
I deserialize my CSV file with the following method:
public static IEnumerable<T> ReadCsvFileTextFieldParser<T>(string fileFullPath, string delimiter = ";") where T : new()
{
if (!File.Exists(fileFullPath))
{
return null;
}
var list = new List<T>();
var csvFields = GetAllFieldOfClass<T>();
var fieldDict = new Dictionary<int, MemberInfo>();
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(fileFullPath))
{
parser.SetDelimiters(delimiter);
bool headerParsed = false;
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
//Processing row
string[] rowFields = parser.ReadFields();
if (!headerParsed)
{
for (int i = 0; i < rowFields.Length; i++)
{
// First row shall be the header!
var csvField = csvFields.Where(f => f.Name == rowFields[i]).FirstOrDefault();
if (csvField != null)
{
fieldDict.Add(i, csvField);
}
}
headerParsed = true;
}
else
{
T newObj = new T();
for (int i = 0; i < rowFields.Length; i++)
{
var csvFied = fieldDict[i];
var record = rowFields[i];
if (csvFied is FieldInfo)
{
((FieldInfo)csvFied).SetValue(newObj, record);
}
else if (csvFied is PropertyInfo)
{
var pi = (PropertyInfo)csvFied;
pi.SetValue(newObj, Convert.ChangeType(record, pi.PropertyType), null);
}
else
{
throw new Exception("Unhandled case.");
}
}
if (newObj != null)
{
list.Add(newObj);
}
}
}
}
return list;
}
public static IEnumerable<MemberInfo> GetAllFieldOfClass<T>()
{
return
from mi in typeof(T).GetMembers(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Static)
where new[] { MemberTypes.Field, MemberTypes.Property }.Contains(mi.MemberType)
let orderAttr = (ColumnOrderAttribute)Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(mi, typeof(ColumnOrderAttribute))
orderby orderAttr == null ? int.MaxValue : orderAttr.Order, mi.Name
select mi;
}
I'd highly suggest using CsvHelper.
Here's a quick example:
public class csvExampleClass
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string Firstname { get; set; }
public string Lastname { get; set; }
}
var items = DeserializeCsvFile<List<csvExampleClass>>( csvText );
public static List<T> DeserializeCsvFile<T>(string text)
{
CsvReader csv = new CsvReader( new StringReader( text ) );
csv.Configuration.Delimiter = ",";
csv.Configuration.HeaderValidated = null;
csv.Configuration.MissingFieldFound = null;
return (List<T>)csv.GetRecords<T>();
}
Full documentation can be found at: https://joshclose.github.io/CsvHelper
I converted an excel file into a CSV file. The file contains over 100k records. I'm wanting to search and return duplicate rows by searching the full name column. If the full name's match up I want the program to return the entire rows of the duplicates. I started with a code that returns a list of full names but that's about it.
I've listed the code that I have now below:
public static void readCells()
{
var dictionary = new Dictionary<string, int>();
Console.WriteLine("started");
var counter = 1;
var readText = File.ReadAllLines(path);
var duplicatedValues = dictionary.GroupBy(fullName => fullName.Value).Where(fullName => fullName.Count() > 1);
foreach (var s in readText)
{
var values = s.Split(new Char[] { ',' });
var fullName = values[3];
if (!dictionary.ContainsKey(fullName))
{
dictionary.Add(fullName, 1);
}
else
{
dictionary[fullName] += 1;
}
Console.WriteLine("Full Name Is: " + values[3]);
counter++;
}
}
}
I changed dictionary to use fullname as key :
public static void readCells()
{
var dictionary = new Dictionary<string, List<List<string>>>();
Console.WriteLine("started");
var counter = 1;
var readText = File.ReadAllLines(path);
var duplicatedValues = dictionary.GroupBy(fullName => fullName.Value).Where(fullName => fullName.Count() > 1);
foreach (var s in readText)
{
List<string> values = s.Split(new Char[] { ',' }).ToList();
string fullName = values[3];
if (!dictionary.ContainsKey(fullName))
{
List<List<string>> newList = new List<List<string>>();
newList.Add(values);
dictionary.Add(fullName, newList);
}
else
{
dictionary[fullName].Add(values);
}
Console.WriteLine("Full Name Is: " + values[3]);
counter++;
}
}
I've found that using Microsoft's built-in TextFieldParser (which you can use in c# despite being in the Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO namespace) can simplify reading and parsing of CSV files.
Using this type, your method ReadCells() can be modified into the following extension method:
using Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO;
public static class TextFieldParserExtensions
{
public static List<IGrouping<string, string[]>> ReadCellsWithDuplicatedCellValues(string path, int keyCellIndex, int nRowsToSkip /* = 0 */)
{
using (var stream = File.OpenRead(path))
using (var parser = new TextFieldParser(stream))
{
parser.SetDelimiters(new string[] { "," });
var values = parser.ReadAllFields()
// If your CSV file contains header row(s) you can skip them by passing a value for nRowsToSkip
.Skip(nRowsToSkip)
.GroupBy(row => row.ElementAtOrDefault(keyCellIndex))
.Where(g => g.Count() > 1)
.ToList();
return values;
}
}
public static IEnumerable<string[]> ReadAllFields(this TextFieldParser parser)
{
if (parser == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException();
while (!parser.EndOfData)
yield return parser.ReadFields();
}
}
Which you would call like:
var groups = TextFieldParserExtensions.ReadCellsWithDuplicatedCellValues(path, 3);
Notes:
TextFieldParser correctly handles cells with escaped, embedded commas which s.Split(new Char[] { ',' }) will not.
Since your CSV file has over 100k records I adopted a streaming strategy to avoid the intermediate string[] readText memory allocation.
You can try out Cinchoo ETL - an open source library to parse CSV file and identify the duplicates with few lines of code.
Sample CSV file (EmpDuplicates.csv) below
Id,Name
1,Tom
2,Mark
3,Lou
3,Lou
4,Austin
4,Austin
4,Austin
Here is how you can parse and identify the duplicate records
using (var parser = new ChoCSVReader("EmpDuplicates.csv").WithFirstLineHeader())
{
foreach (dynamic c in parser.GroupBy(r => r.Id).Where(g => g.Count() > 1).Select(g => g.FirstOrDefault()))
Console.WriteLine(c.DumpAsJson());
}
Output:
{
"Id": 3,
"Name": "Lou"
}
{
"Id": 4,
"Name": "Austin"
}
Hope this helps.
For more detailed usage of this library, visit CodeProject article at https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1145337/Cinchoo-ETL-CSV-Reader
Answer Summary:
Solved this problem using Jon Skeet's answer below. Here is the finished code
public static CSVData CreateCSVData(List<RegDataDisplay> rList,
string[] selectors)
{
CSVData csv = new CSVData(); // Create the CSVData object
foreach(string selector in selectors)
{
// Get the PropertyInfo for the property whose name
// is the value of selector
var property = typeof(RegDataDisplay).GetProperty(selector);
// Use LINQ to get a list of the values for the specified property
// of each RegDataDisplay object in the supplied list.
var values = rList.Select(row => property.GetValue(row, null)
.ToString());
// Create a new list with the property name to use as a header
List<string> templs = new List<string>(){selector};
// Add the returned values after the header
templs.AddRange(values);
// Add this list as a column for the CSVData object.
csv.Columns.Add(templs);
}
return csv;
}
Question
I am building my SQL query dynamically from user input, and then exporting the results to a CSV file. I have a class called RegDataDisplay which has a property for each of the possible columns returned by my query. I can tell what columns are being selected but in my CSV creator I need to be able to only output those specific columns.
In the example below, all of the data I have retrieved is in rList, and the names of the properties I need are in selectors. So I want to iterate through the list and then add only the properties I need to my CSV data.
public static CSVData CreateCSVData(List<RegDataDisplay> rList, string[] selectors)
{
CSVData csv = new CSVData();
for(int i = 0; i < selectors.Length; i++)
{
csv.Columns.Add(new List<string>(){selectors[i]});
}
// So now I have the headers for the CSV columns,
// I need the specific properties only which is where I'm stuck
for(int i = 0; i < selectors.Length; i++)
{
for(int j = 0; j < rList.Count; j++)
{
// If it was javascript I would do something like this
csv.Columns[i].Add(rList[j][selectors[i]]);
}
}
}
Thanks
EDIT: On the right track now but I'm coming up against an error "Object does not match target type".
public static CSVData CreateCSVData()
{
// I've created a test method with test data
string[] selectors = new string[] { "Firstname", "Lastname" };
List<RegDataDisplay> rList = new List<RegDataDisplay>();
RegDataDisplay rd = new RegDataDisplay();
rd.Firstname = "first";
rd.Lastname = "last";
rList.Add(rd);
CSVData csv = new CSVData();
foreach(string selector in selectors)
{
var property = typeof(RegDataDisplay).GetProperty(selector);
var values = rList.Select(row => property.GetValue(rList, null).ToString())
.ToList(); // Error throws here
csv.Columns.Add(values);
}
return csv;
}
Assuming you're on .NET 3.5 or higher, it sounds like you may want something like:
public static CSVData CreateCSVData(List<RegDataDisplay> rList,
string[] selectors)
{
CSVData csv = new CSVData();
foreach (string selector in selectors)
{
var prop = typeof(RegDataDisplay).GetProperty(selector);
var values = rList.Select(row => (string) prop.GetValue(row, null))
.ToList();
csv.Columns.Add(values);
}
}