Abdul Qabiz's Blog – India

This can be quite handy .. one use I can think of off the top of my head is export as excel … if you save csv content as a file with .xls extension and then open the file in excel .. excel will read it properly.
Thanks!

Instead of storing into textarea i want to store into csv file .
can you tel me how to do this ?
Thanks,
Megharaja S.H.

@Megharaja: If you are using AIR, you can save data in a file using File API. If your application runs in browser, you need to use FileReference API to send data to server-side-script, which would return (or just echo) the data back to client and client would be prompted to save the file…
Following is simple Flex code, you can write php or any other server-side support your own. I am posting here a Java-Servlet code, which i wrote to help someone else. Basically, server-side script takes data over HTTP/POST and returns the data with right MIME-TYPE…

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import com.abdulqabiz.utils.DataGridDataExporter;
import flash.net.FileReference;
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.net.URLVariables;
import flash.net.URLRequestMethod;
private static const CSV_DOWNLOAD_END_POINT:String = "http://localhost/getcsv";
private var downloadFileRef:FileReference = null;
private function exportCSV ():void
{
var csvData:String = DataGridDataExporter.exportCSV (dg);
console.text = csvData;
if (csvData.length > 0)
{
downloadCSV (csvData);
}
}
private function downloadCSV (csvData:String):void
{
if (!downloadFileRef)
{
downloadFileRef = new FileReference ();
}
var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest ();
request.url = CSV_DOWNLOAD_END_POINT;
request.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
request.data = new URLVariables ("csvdata=" + csvData);
downloadFileRef.download (request, "file.csv");
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:XMLList id="employees">
<employee>
<name>Christina Coenraets</name>
<phone>555-219-2270</phone>
<email>ccoenraets@fictitious.com</email>
<active>true</active>
</employee>
<employee>
<name>Joanne Wall</name>
<phone>555-219-2012</phone>
<email>jwall@fictitious.com</email>
<active>true</active>
</employee>
<employee>
<name>Maurice Smith</name>
<phone>555-219-2012</phone>            <email>maurice@fictitious.com</email>
<active>false</active>
</employee>
<employee>
<name>Mary Jones</name>
<phone>555-219-2000</phone>            <email>mjones@fictitious.com</email>
<active>true</active>
</employee>
</mx:XMLList>
<mx:Panel title="DataGrid Control Example" height="100%" width="100%"
paddingTop="10" paddingLeft="10" paddingRight="10">
<mx:Label width="100%" color="blue"
text="Select a row in the DataGrid control."/>
<mx:DataGrid id="dg" width="100%" height="100%" rowCount="5" dataProvider="{employees}">
<mx:columns>
<mx:DataGridColumn dataField="name" headerText="Name"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn dataField="phone" headerText="Phone"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn dataField="email" headerText="Email"/>
</mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>
<mx:Button label="Export CSV" click="exportCSV ()"/>
<mx:TextArea id="console" width="100%" height="100%" />
</mx:Panel>
</mx:Application>

/**
*
*/
package com.abdulqabiz.util
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
/**
* This servlet echos the data as CSV
*


* 


*
* @author Abdul Qabiz
*/
public class GetCSV extends HttpServlet
{
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
doGet(req, res);
}
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/csv");
if (req.getParameter("csvdata") != null)
{
res.getOutputStream().print(req.getParameter("csvdata"));
}
}
}

Thank you so much for the code. I looked all over the place on the Internet and finally found this blog entry. It helped me tremendously. Thanks again.

Thank you very much.But I also have some problems.What can I do then?
First,copy the data to clipboard. Then copy the data to EXCEL again.
This problems is Complex ,I think.
So I wish somebody can help me.

if we will try to write this csv string in excel file and if any of the data fields contains “?” character..the approach fails…the data after the character ? is not written to the excel file.

Thanks for the code .But to run the servlet you need to run LDS .Is there a way to acheive save operation without LDS

@Prasanth: That servlet is just for example, you can surely do the same using PHP/ASP or any server-side script…
It’s probably lot simple in PHP, you have to just echo the content, received with GET/POST, to client and also set the HTTP headers in response…
This should work (just wrote not tested):-
savecsv.php:-

<?php
header('Content-type: text/csv');
$csvData = ($_POST['csvdata']) ? $_POST['csvdata'] : $_GET['csvdata'];
echo  $csvData;
?>

You can send the data either via query-string (GET) or POST. I suggest, you use HTTP Post to send csvdata. I have not put the checks in there, you can always modify it to handle errors etc..
In above Flex code, change the value of constant “CSV_DOWNLOAD_END_POINT” to the URL of this php..
Hope that helps..
-abdul

its a good article. it helps me a lot.
i have some little problem while running this code.
iam using lcd services with java backend.
when i open the downloaded csv file, content of the single row comes in single cell(excel sheet box), its not differentiate the cell wise like in my file
‘”Uyda “”assets/icons/phone_sound.png”" “” 4985623658″” “”Tue Jan 8 19:44:00 GMT 0530 2008″” “”0″” “”98.48898″” “”13.28463″” “”0″” “”123″”"
‘
but it must be differentiate by single cell, Could u please help me out in this

Hey
Instead of copying data from the datagrid is it possible to convert the XML which is the input to CSV and download it …

Hello,
How i can implement the same trick to send a dataProvider ( all datagrid information) to php? To use this information as $message to send email?
Can you help me?
Thks

Hi Abdul,
Thanks a lot, it is what I was looking for export my reports to excel.
I have a lot of reports, In my reports I have labels showing the totals for the columns, and I needed to export the totals too.
Based in your code I created the function exportArrayCSV to send the totals as array, export to CSV and join to the datagrid exportCSV.
Could help somebody that have reports with totals.

public function exportArrayCSV (array:Array, csvSeparator:String="\t", lineSeparator:String="\n"):String
{
var data:String = "";
//loop through all columns for the row
for(var i:int = 0; i
{
data += "\""+ array[i] + "\"";
if(i 

public function exportArrayCSV (array:Array, csvSeparator:String="\t", lineSeparator:String="\n"):String
{
var data:String = "";
//loop through all columns for the row
for(var i:int = 0; i
{
data += "\""+ array[i] + "\"";
if(i < (array.length -1))
{
data += csvSeparator;
}
}
return ("\r\n" + data);
}
//Sample how to join the datagrid exportCSV with the Totals exportCSV and assign to Clipboard.
private function exportCSV (dg:DataGrid):void
{
var strCSV : String;
var array : Array = new Array("Total","test");
strCSV = DataGridDataExporter.exportCSV(dg);
strCSV += exportArrayCSV(array);
System.setClipboard( strCSV )
}

Why the client side csv data sending to server and then storing on client side. is there any direct approach without using server side script

Hi!
I wanna know the Flex code to open a FILE OPEN dialog box when i click the Browse buttton designed in my Fornt end..

Hai Abdul,
How can i export images (jpg,png) using Flex with java servlet?
Thanks.

Hi
I have a xml file where im storing the book details like title,author etc.
In my application I have a option to add book details which should update the xml file.How can i get this done?
Thanx
Sheetal

Hey
I’m using Flex 3 and Developing a web application. and this application deals with oracle database. I want to generate report from the databse, is there anyway to expert a pdf through flex.
Thanks in advance

Can anyone give me the ASP.Net code for export csv data to excel?

Can Any one help me to export csv data to excel using asp.net?
Regards,
Praji

This code errors out on 1120: Access of undefined property DataGridDataExporter. How is every onelse getting it to work?

How about server side code for ASP.NET? I’ve looked everywhere. I tried to write my own but the data comes back all messed up filled with Percent signs for every space and tab in my datagrid.
%22 for
%20 for
C for ,
For example this is what my ASP.NET C# code spits back:
Roof%22%09%2270%2C688%22%09%22SQ%20FT
It should read:
“Roof” “70,688″ “SQ FT”
Here’s my code maybe someone can tell me where I’m wrong?
using System;
using System.Web;
public class Handler : IHttpHandler
{
public void ProcessRequest (HttpContext context) {
context.Response.ContentType = “text/plain”;
long streamLength = context.Request.InputStream.Length;
int myStreamLength = (int)streamLength;
byte[] bytes = new byte[myStreamLength];
context.Request.ContentType = “text/plain”;
context.Request.InputStream.Read(bytes,0,myStreamLength);
context.Response.OutputStream.Write(bytes,0,myStreamLength);
}
public bool IsReusable {
get {
return false;
}
}
}

Could you provide the jsp file in place of the php file, if one wants to use java?
Thanks in advance.

here is the ASP.NET/c# code to add the appropriate MIME type
public partial class Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string csvData = Request.Params["csvdata"];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(csvData))
{
Response.Clear();
Response.Charset = “”;
Response.ContentType = “text/csv”;
Response.Write(csvData);
Response.End();
}
}
}

Thanks Manu,
Your code was much more concise but it still posted with the url %20 and stuff and I finally found the key ingredient “urlDecode()”
See code below: (this works perfectly)
using System;
using System.Web;
public class Handler : IHttpHandler
{
public void ProcessRequest (HttpContext context) {
string csvData = context.Request.Params["csvdata"];
string csvDataDecoded = context.Server.UrlDecode(csvData);
context.Response.ContentType = “text/csv”;
context.Response.Write(csvDataDecoded);
context.Response.End();
}
public bool IsReusable {
get {
return false;
}
}
}

do you know how to implement this in Flash, AS3? I cant seem to get it to work.

Is there a way to port this to AdvancedDataGrid?

For portg to AdvancedDataGrid, just replace datagrid with advancedDataGrid and use appropriate AdvDatagrid elements.

Is there any possible to do in reverse way. i.e., From csv/Excel to Flex using java/jsp.

Thanks in advance

Thanks a lot, i was searching for a way to preserve the data formating when exporting.

nice app,
i get aan error on line 11 somthing like 1061: not defined methode exportCSV of type ’static’ Class.
i use flex builder3 what shuld i do?
Thanks in advance, Dimitri

@Abdul Qabiz
do you have an example for us?
please.

Your DataGridDataExporter is an excellent application.
I am trying to build you example with flex builder3. I have tried many things, but I get every time an other error. I am not that experienced with AS3 so I was wondering is you could update your blog.
Any way thanks for your contribution to the community.
Best regards Dimitris Orlandos
P.S My error comes up in this line.
console.text = DataGridDataExporter.exportCSV (dg);