jQuery Table to CSV export

Question

I\'m using the jQuery Table to CSV Plugin. I\'ve altered the popup so that it tells the browser to download a CSV file.

It was:

function popup(data)         


        

Answer 1

thanks for your question and answer, worked well for me. Here is the (almost identical) ASP.Net version of your solution that I'm using:

Change table2CSV.js popup function to:

function popup(data) {
       $("body").append('<form id="exportform" action="CsvExport.ashx" method="post" target="_blank"><input type="hidden" id="exportdata" name="exportdata" /></form>');
       $("#exportdata").val(data);
       $("#exportform").submit().remove();
       return true;
} 

Noting the change from export.php to a .ashx generic handler.

The generic handler code:

 public void ProcessRequest (HttpContext context) {
    context.Response.ContentType = "application/force-download";
    context.Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "filename=filename.csv");

    context.Response.Write(context.Request.Form["exportdata"]);
}

Answer 2

I don't recommend to "download" CSV data this way. IE7 only allows up to 2000 characters in the address bar, so chances are high that your file gets truncated.

Answer 3

I highly recommend using http://datatables.net/extras/tabletools/, it makes is very easy to play around with tables

Answer 4

Found a solution that works (with help from http://www.topsemtips.com/2008/11/save-html-table-to-excel-using-jquery/):

I changed the function to:

function popup(data) {
    $("#main div.inner").append('<form id="exportform" action="export.php" method="post" target="_blank"><input type="hidden" id="exportdata" name="exportdata" /></form>');
    $("#exportdata").val(data);
    $("#exportform").submit().remove();
    return true; 
}

And created the file export.php:

<?php

    header("Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel; name='excel'");
    header("Content-Disposition: filename=export.csv");
    header("Pragma: no-cache");
    header("Expires: 0");

    print $_REQUEST['exportdata'];

?>

Update: A more IE7 friendly version:

<?php

    header('Content-Type: application/force-download');
    header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename=filename.csv');

    print $_POST['exportdata'];

?>

Answer 5

Not compatible with all browsers, but no server side needed! Try the code below using JSFiddle and tell us if it is running in your browser.

$('<a></a>')
    .attr('id','downloadFile')
    .attr('href','data:text/csv;charset=utf8,' + encodeURIComponent(data))
    .attr('download','filename.csv')
    .appendTo('body');

$('#downloadFile').ready(function() {
    $('#downloadFile').get(0).click();
});