creating multiple csv files from php loop - php

Question

Im trying to create a loop that when executed it created multiple csv files and downloads them. This is my code:
session_start();
require '../connect.php'; //connect.php has connection info for my database
// and uses the variable $connect
$sqldept = "SELECT department_name from department;";
$departments = mysqli_query($connect, $sqldept);
while ($department = mysqli_fetch_array($departments)) {
$department = $department[0];
header('Content-Type: text/csv; charset=utf-8');
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: UTF-8");
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=summary-' . $department . '.csv');
header("Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate"); // HTTP 1.1
header("Pragma: no-cache"); // HTTP 1.0
header("Expires: 0"); // Proxies
$date = date("Y-m-d", strtotime("-28 days" . date("Y-m-d")));
$edate = date("Y-m-d");
$startdate = "(time.dateadded BETWEEN '$date' AND '$edate') AND";
$department = " and department_name = '$department'";
// create a file pointer connected to the output stream
$output = fopen('php://output', 'w');
// output the column headings
$sql2 = "SELECT time.id as timeid, time.staff_id, SUM(time.timein), COUNT(NULLIF(time.reasonforabsence,'')) AS count_reasonforabsence, GROUP_CONCAT(CONCAT(NULLIF(time.reasonforabsence,''),' ', date_format(time.dateadded, '%d-%m-%Y'),' ')) AS reasonforabsence, time.dateadded, staff.id AS staffid, department.id AS departmentid, department.department_name, staff.staff_name, staff.department_id, SUM(staff.workhoursperday), staff.payrollnum FROM time, staff, department WHERE $startdate staff.id = time.staff_id AND staff.department_id = department.id $department $staffsearch GROUP BY staff.id ORDER BY `time`.`dateadded` ASC;";
// output headers so that the file is downloaded rather than displayed
fputcsv($output, array(
'Payroll Number',
'Name',
'Department',
'Hours Worked',
'Days Absent',
'Overtime',
'Reasons for Absence'
));
$rows = mysqli_query($connect, $sql2);
while ($rowcsv = mysqli_fetch_assoc($rows)) {
$reasonforabsence = $rowcsv['reasonforabsence'];
//$reasonforabsence = explode( ',', $rowcsv['reasonforabsence'] );
$overtime = 0;
if (empty($rowcsv['SUM(time.timein)']) == true) {
$rowcsv['SUM(time.timein)'] = 0;
}
;
if ($rowcsv['SUM(time.timein)'] > $rowcsv['SUM(staff.workhoursperday)']) {
$overtime = $rowcsv['SUM(time.timein)'] - $rowcsv['SUM(staff.workhoursperday)'];
}
;
fputcsv($output, array(
$rowcsv['payrollnum'],
$rowcsv['staff_name'],
$rowcsv['department_name'],
$rowcsv['SUM(time.timein)'],
$rowcsv['count_reasonforabsence'],
$overtime,
$reasonforabsence
));
};
readfile("php://output");
fclose($output);
};
Currently the loop created 1 CSV with a new header and the department details below it like this
I want the loop to create a new CSV for each department but its just not working for me. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

Unfortunately you can't, 1 PHP Request results in one file, and there isn't really a way around this. You can, however, try to download them all as a ZIP file. Take a look at this question f.e.

Answer 2

The below are some workaround ideas, which might be useful in certain scenarios (and might be dangerous in other scenarios). Use under your own risk!
Workaround A: Loop by redirect
Output a single file normally
Do a redirect to same url that's creating the CSV file in step#1, but append a GET flag to that, like http://www.example.net/output_csv?i=1
Make sure to add a loop-breaker in step#1, like if($i==10) { exit; }
Workaround B: Loop by cronjob
Output a single file normally
Make 2nd file output be handled by a separate cronjob call.
Make sure to add a loop-breaker in step#1, like if($mycron==10) { exit; }

Answer 3

You can not do this by for loop.
However, You can make a php file which can do your purpose.
<a onclick="getcsv()" href="php_file_location.php?table_name=test"> Download </a>
<script>
function getcsv() {
window.open(php_file_location);
}
</script>

Answer 4

I was in the same problem as mentioned. But in my case I was not trying to download multiple CSVs but I was uploading it to sFTP server. While creating the file instead of using
$output = fopen('php://output', 'w');
I used
$output = fopen($path_and_name, 'w');
where $path_and_name = $path_to_sftp_folder.'/'.$file_name;
after the execution the correct file was uploaded to there respective folders correctly the way I wanted it to be. But yes the wrong file was also downloaded with same issue as sent above.
So if you are looking for uploading files on a server it can be done(even if they all have same name).