CSV file not downloading PHP - php

Question

I am trying to export and download a csv file through php. I have done exactly what was suggested in Export to CSV via PHP
I can see my array dump in the response but the csv file is just not downloading. Please Help.
Here is my code:
function download_send_headers($filename) {
// disable caching
$now = gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s");
header("Expires: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 06:00:00 GMT");
header("Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate");
header("Last-Modified: {$now} GMT");
// force download
Header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
// header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
// header("Content-Type: application/download");
// disposition / encoding on response body
header("Content-Disposition: attachment;filename={$filename}");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
}
function array2csv(array &$array)
{
// if (count($array) == 0) {
// return null;
// }
ob_start();
$df = fopen("php://output", 'w');
fputcsv($df, array_keys(reset($array)));
foreach ($array as $row) {
fputcsv($df, $row);
}
fclose($df);
return ob_get_clean();
}
Here is how im using it:
download_send_headers("data_export_" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv");
echo array2csv($modsucc);
die();

Answer 1

This is javascript function:
function exporttocsv(filter){
var fd = new FormData();
fd.append('filter', filter);
fd.append("form", "export_to_csv");
$.ajax({
url: getBaseURL()+'assets/handler/OrderManagementHandler.php',
type: 'POST',
data: fd,
enctype: 'multipart/form-data',
processData: false,
contentType: false,
})
.done(function(res) {
})
.fail(function() {
});
}
Handler:
case 'export_to_csv':
$controller->exportToCSV($_POST);
break;
Controller:
public function exportToCSV($data){
$filter = $data['filter'];
$mod = new OrderManagementModel();
$modsucc = $mod->exportToCSV($filter);
if($modsucc){
// var_dump(ini_get('output_buffering'));
//var_dump($modsucc);
download_send_headers("data_export_" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv");
echo array2csv($modsucc);
die();
}
}

Answer 2

Your code not work because you use ajax and you cant download files with ajax itself, simple way is this:
...
if($modsucc){
$file = /* directory */"data_export_" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv";
$df = fopen(file, 'w');
fputcsv($df, array_keys(reset($array)));
foreach ($array as $row) {
fputcsv($df, $row);
}
fclose($df);
echo $file;
}
...
this will save file, and in your ajax done function:
window.open(res);
this will open new window with address to previously saved file or
window.location.href = res;
this will redirect you to address where the file was saved
to force download you could do it like this:
//force-download.php
if(file_exists($_GET['file'])){
download_send_headers("data_export_" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv");
echo file_get_contents($_GET['file']); // warning: unsafe !! session for example will be better
}
this will send headers for force download and read data from disk where data was previosly saved and echo them
and in your ajax done function:
window.open('force-download.php?file=' + res);
or
window.location.href = 'force-download.php?file=' + res;
this use address where force download headers will be sent
Another possibility is, change $_POST to $_GET and instead of using ajax just redirect to url and it will work with your old code

Answer 3

Your code work, only think what could be wrong is if your server dont have enabled output buffering and you output something before calling function download_send_headers