Excel export?

[ghost]

I would like to not only have .csv export, but proper MS-Excel export as well, maybe by using the Ruby Spreadsheet gem in connection with Wice Grid? Thank you for the great Wice Grid, it really rocks, btw!

[leikind]

I am glad you've found WiceGrid of use to you.

I haven't been active in developing the plugin lately due to lack of free time,
but as soon as I come back to WiceGrid my priority number 1
will be adding support for jQuery.

But anyway, CSV generation is done via a very simple class
named Wice::Spreadsheet which has just methods for
(1) adding a row
(2) getting the path to the CSV spreadsheet
(3) getting the data (to_csv)

This is a dead simple class.

If you or anybody else could provide me with a class having a
similar simple interface but generating files in any other format,
I'd be glad to add it to WiceGrid.

[tomkurt]

My hack, which is not making a special excel file but just present the csv as an excel file.
Excel will open it like an other excel file but actually it's realy a plain csv file.
Down side is no formatting, the advantage is that users can easily open up csv files without being bothered with import wizards.

  def index
    @grid = initialize_grid(
      Product,
      :enable_export_to_csv => true
    )
    if params[:grid] && params[:grid][:export] == "csv"
      response.headers['Content-Disposition'] = "attachment; filename=\"productss.xls\""
      response.headers['Content-Type'] = "application/vnd.ms-excel; charset=UTF8"
      respond_to{ |format| format.csv }
    else
      respond_to{ |format| format.html }
    end
  end

[leikind]

The change you are proposing is actually replacing 'text/csv' by 'application/vnd.ms-excel' ( https://github.com/leikind/wice_grid/blob/rails3/lib/wice_grid_controller.rb#L120), right?

[tomkurt]

Yes exactly! if this was configurable you could also let one choose.
It's dead easy and doesn't require excel specific code. Isn't that amazing?
The user will open it like it was an excel file. works in all excel versions!

[leikind]

Well, CSV files are always opened by a spreadsheet program, so this is not a revelation to me. I don't use Windows, but I saw WiceGrid used by my colleagues on Windows, and somehow their Excel opens files downloaded with the 'text/csv' MIME type. Anyway, I consider 'text/csv' to be the standard, and 'application/vnd.ms-excel' is Windows specific. I wouldn't mind such an option in export_grid_if_requested (https://github.com/leikind/wice_grid/blob/rails3/lib/wice_grid_controller.rb#L110). Are you interesting in forking the plugin and adding and documenting the feature?

[tomkurt]

Yes, I would like to fork :), If you have users who don't want to now what CSV is. Or users who don't want to be bothered with the standard import wizard that excel displays when opening CSV files over and over again. I know it's just something small but our users need it.

[l3iodeez]

I might add a separate link for the Excel-type CSV just so my users arent confused by the import wizard.