Instead of saving CSV file how to Download the file - php

Question

I am exporting data from a database using CSV extension and I want to download the results as a CSV file. How can I do that?
This is my code:
public function actionExportexcel() {
$con = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "") or die();
mysql_select_db("fiducial", $con);
$filename = 'uploads/'.strtotime("now").".csv";
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM
(
SELECT employeecode,name,dob,age,sex,employee_relation,company_id
FROM employeedetails
UNION
SELECT employeecode,father_name,father_dob,father_age,father_gender,father_relation,company_id
FROM employeedetails
WHERE father_name IS NOT NULL AND company_id IS NOT NULL
UNION
SELECT employeecode,mother_name,mother_dob,mother_age,mother_gender,mother_relation,company_id
FROM employeedetails
WHERE mother_name IS NOT NULL AND mother_dob IS NOT NULL
)t WHERE t.company_id = '56' ORDER by t.employeecode ") or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($query);
if($num_rows >= 1)
{
$rows = mysql_fetch_assoc($query);
$seperator = "";
$comma = "";
foreach ($rows as $name => $value)
{
$seperator .= $comma . '' .str_replace('', '""', $name);
$comma = ",";
}
$seperator .= "\n";
$fp = fopen($filename, "w");
fputs($fp, $seperator);
mysql_data_seek($query, 0);
while($rows = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))
{
$seperator = "";
$comma = "";
foreach ($rows as $name => $value)
{
$seperator .= $comma . '' .str_replace('', '""', $value);
$comma = ",";
}
$seperator .= "\n";
fputs($fp, $seperator);
}
echo "Data successfully exported";
fclose($fp);
} else {
echo "No data is Available";
}
}
How can I download it as a CSV file?

Answer 1

You need to set the HTTP headers correctly for a CSV file download and then instead of writing your query results to a CSV file on the local server, you need to write it to the PHP output buffer (php://output):
Full working example:
public function actionExportexcel() {
$con = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "") or die();
mysql_select_db("fiducial", $con);
$filename = 'uploads/'.strtotime("now").".csv";
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM
(
SELECT employeecode,name,dob,age,sex,employee_relation,company_id
FROM employeedetails
UNION
SELECT employeecode,father_name,father_dob,father_age,father_gender,father_relation,company_id
FROM employeedetails
WHERE father_name IS NOT NULL AND company_id IS NOT NULL
UNION
SELECT employeecode,mother_name,mother_dob,mother_age,mother_gender,mother_relation,company_id
FROM employeedetails
WHERE mother_name IS NOT NULL AND mother_dob IS NOT NULL
)t WHERE t.company_id = '56' ORDER by t.employeecode ") or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($query);
if($num_rows >= 1) {
header('Content-Description: Your Download Name ');
header('Content-Type: application/csv');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=yourfilename.csv');
$rows = mysql_fetch_assoc($query);
$seperator = "";
$comma = "";
foreach ($rows as $name => $value)
{
$seperator .= $comma . '' .str_replace('', '""', $name);
$comma = ",";
}
$seperator .= "\n";
$fp = fopen('php://output', 'w');
fputs($fp, $seperator);
mysql_data_seek($query, 0);
while($rows = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))
{
$seperator = "";
$comma = "";
foreach ($rows as $name => $value)
{
$seperator .= $comma . '' .str_replace('', '""', $value);
$comma = ",";
}
$seperator .= "\n";
fputs($fp, $seperator);
}
fclose($fp);
} else {
echo "No data is Available";
}
}

Answer 2

Use
header('Content-Type: application/excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=<filename>.csv');