PHP Excel and Codeigniter - php

Question

I would like to ask for your help.
I'm doing a project using CodeIgniter and I need to generate Excel files besides the charts that I'm making. I am using PHPExcel to generate the Excel files.
I added the Classes folder in the third_party folder of the project.
I created a file called Excel.php in the libraries folder of the project with the codes:
<?php
if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');
require_once APPPATH."/third_party/Classes/PHPExcel.php";
class Excel extends PHPExcel {
public function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
}
}
In my view file, I used ajax to send the data and process it in the controller which is where I placed the codes for the PHPExcel. Here is my code in the view:
$("#excel").click(function(){
var fromDate = $("#fromDate").val();
var toDate = $("#toDate").val();
var dataString = "fromDate="+fromDate+"&toDate="+toDate;
$.ajax({
//url of the function
url: '<?php echo base_url(); ?>index.php/charts/excel',
//set type post
type: 'POST',
//get the data from the input field
data: dataString,
success:function(data)
{
alert(data);
}
});
});
Here is my code in the controller:
public function excel()
{
$this->load->library('Excel');
//activate worksheet number 1
$this->excel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
//name the worksheet
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->setTitle('Users list');
$sDate = $this->input->post('fromDate');//date_create_from_format('Y-m-d', $_POST['fromDate']);
$eDate = $this->input->post('toDate');//date_create_from_format('Y-m-d', $_POST['toDate']);
$data = $this->Charts_model->hello($sDate,$eDate);
// read data to active sheet
//print_r($data);
$row = 1;
foreach($data as $r){
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray(array($r->emp_id, $r->emp_stat, $r->isActive, $r->dateStarted), null, 'A'.$row);
$row++;
}
$filename='just_some_random_name.xls'; //save our workbook as this file name
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel'); //mime type
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="'.$filename.'"'); //tell browser what's the file name
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0'); //no cache
//save it to Excel5 format (excel 2003 .XLS file), change this to 'Excel2007' (and adjust the filename extension, also the header mime type)
//if you want to save it as .XLSX Excel 2007 format
$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($this->excel, 'Excel5');
//force user to download the Excel file without writing it to server's HD
$objWriter->save('php://output');
}
The controller seems to be working but, it doesnt download any excel file.
So I tried alerting the data returned by the controller and this is how it looks when alerted.
I hope you could help me out with this one. Thanks
UPDATE
The problem is solved. It turns out that it already is downloading the file. As I checked the directory, the file exists.
What I did is I added an anchor tag which is triggered if the export is successful so that it can prompt me that the file is actually downloaded and to be seen below the page.
$("#someid").trigger("click").attr("target", "_blank");
The anchor tag looks like this:
<a href="<?php echo base_url(); ?>/directoryofthefile/somename.xls" style="display: none;">
<input type="button" id="someid" value="Test" class="btn btn-success">
</a>

Answer 1

Extracted from php.net:
If you want the user to be prompted to save the data you are sending, such as a generated PDF file, you can use the » Content-Disposition header to supply a recommended filename and force the browser to display the save dialog.
<?php
// We'll be outputting a PDF
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
// It will be called downloaded.pdf
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="downloaded.pdf"');
// The PDF source is in original.pdf
readfile('original.pdf');
?>
Extrapolating that to your code, I think you're just missing the readfile()
calling. Try to add it once the file has been created.
Good Luck