Response Content type as CSV

I need to send a CSV file in HTTP response. How can I set the output response as CSV format?

This is not working:

Response.ContentType = "application/CSV";

From stackoverflow

• text/csv, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values

  Biswanath : Right, you should use text in place of application.

• Try one of these other mime-types (from here: http://filext.com/file-extension/CSV )

  • text/comma-separated-values
  • text/csv
  • application/csv
  • application/excel
  • application/vnd.ms-excel
  • application/vnd.msexcel

  Also, the mime-type might be case sensitive...

• Using text/csv is the most appropriate type.

  You should also consider adding a Content-Disposition header to the response. Often a text/csv will be loaded by a Internet Explorer directly into a hosted instance of Excel. This may or may not be a desirable result.

  Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=myfilename.csv");
  

  The above will cause a file "Save as" dialog to appear which may be what you intend.

  matt b : Firefox 3.0.10 seems to require that the value of the header be in the reverse order: attachment; filename=myfilename.csv

  Krzysztof Sikorski : According to RFC#2183 first is the type (attachment) and after it the parameters (filename etc)

  Matt Sheppard : Corrected ordering in header value.

• MIME type of the CSV is text/csv according to RFC 4180.

• Setting the content type and the content disposition as described above produces wildly varying results with different browsers:

  IE8: SaveAs dialog as desired, and Excel as the default app. 100% good.

  Firefox: SaveAs dialog does show up, but Firefox has no idea it is a spreadsheet. Suggests opening it with Visual Studio! 50% good

  Chrome: the hints are fully ignored. The CSV data is shown in the browser. 0% good.

  Of course in all of these cases I'm referring to the browsers as they come out of they box, with no customization of the mime/application mappings.

  Martin : If Firefox wants you to open with Visual Studio, means you are exporting the HTML and not a CSV.

• Just Use like that

  Response.Clear();
  Response.ContentType = "application/CSV";
  Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + filename + ".csv\"");
  Response.Write(t.ToString());
  Response.End();
  

  Chris : Don't forget response.clear() first.

• Over the years I've been honing a perfect set of headers for this that work brilliantly in all browsers that I know of

  // these headers avoid IE problems when using https:
  // see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812935
  header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate");
  header("Pragma: must-revalidate");
  
  header("Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
  header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename=$filename.csv");