👀 Views: 25 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-08-23

C# DataTable Dictionaries Reflection

I just started working with Hey everyone, I'm running into an issue that's driving me crazy. I'm trying to convert a nested dictionary structure into a DataTable for easier export to Excel. However, I'm encountering a `StackOverflowException` when the dictionary contains nested collections. Here’s the dictionary structure I'm working with: ```csharp var data = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "Name", "John Doe" }, { "Age", 30 }, { "Orders", new List<Dictionary<string, object>> { new Dictionary<string, object> { { "OrderId", 1 }, { "Total", 100.0 } }, new Dictionary<string, object> { { "OrderId", 2 }, { "Total", 150.0 } } } } }; ``` When I attempt to convert this to a DataTable, I'm using reflection to iterate over the dictionary and its nested collections. Here's a simplified version of my conversion method: ```csharp public DataTable ConvertToDataTable(Dictionary<string, object> dictionary) { DataTable dataTable = new DataTable(); foreach (var kvp in dictionary) { if (kvp.Value is IEnumerable<object> enumerable) { foreach (var item in enumerable) { // Assuming item is another dictionary ConvertToDataTable((Dictionary<string, object>)item); } } else { dataTable.Columns.Add(kvp.Key); dataTable.Rows.Add(kvp.Value); } } return dataTable; } ``` Unfortunately, this leads to a `System.StackOverflowException` when I have deep nesting. I suspect it might be due to not handling the different types appropriately or not breaking the recursion correctly. I've tried adding checks to limit the depth of recursion but none seem to work effectively. Does anyone have suggestions on how to handle this situation, perhaps with a more iterative approach or a different strategy to flatten the structure? Also, if you see any issues in my current implementation that could cause the overflow, I would appreciate your feedback. What am I doing wrong? Any examples would be super helpful. I'm working with C# in a Docker container on Windows 11.