# Data into excel **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 19, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364 "2007-03-19T23:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rvent)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364/1 "2007-03-19T23:00:25Z")
hello, I was wondering if there is a way to create an excel file with ROR…? Here is what i have: The app i have has a reports section, that section has many reports that use the find\_by\_sql in order to customize the query. On the main reports page the use is able to click and a report link and it opens up a new window displaying the data i want to be able to have a link that when clicked it creates an excel file that the user can download. Is there any way to accomplish that…? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rvent)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364/2 "2007-03-19T23:14:08Z")
[http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/HowToExportToExcel](http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/HowToExportToExcel) -Shawn ---
**Author:** ![rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rvent)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364/3 "2007-03-19T23:15:08Z")
> I was wondering if there is a way to create an excel file with ROR…? > > Here is what i have: > The app i have has a reports section, that section has many reports that > use the find\_by\_sql in order to customize the query. On the main reports > page the use is able to click and a report link and it opens up a new > window displaying the data i want to be able to have a link that when > clicked it creates an excel file that the user can download. > > Is there any way to accomplish that…? If you’ll settle for a CSV that will open up in Excel, then it’s pretty easy… here’s an example out of our site entry = VideoGalleryEntry.find\_by\_id(params[:id]) Tempfile.open(“video-gallery-report-#{entry.id}”) do |t| CSV::Writer.generate(t, ‘,’) do |csv| csv \<\< [“Date”, “Number of Views”] entry.views.sort {|a,b| a.viewed\_on \<=\> b.viewed\_on }.each do |v| csv \<\< [v.viewed\_on, v.views] end end t.size t.rewind send\_data(t.read, :type =\> ‘application/vnd.ms-excel; charset=iso-8859-1; header=present’, :filename =\> “video-gallery-report-#{entry.id}.csv”) end ---
**Author:** ![rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rvent)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364/4 "2007-03-20T08:18:05Z")
There is also Ruport: [http://stonecode.svnrepository.com/acts\_as\_reportable/trac.cgi](http://stonecode.svnrepository.com/acts_as_reportable/trac.cgi) Wes Ratcliff ---
**Author:** ![rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rvent)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364/5 "2007-03-20T16:37:51Z")
Philip H. wrote: > > I was wondering if there is a way to create an excel file with ROR…? > > > > Here is what i have: > > The app i have has a reports section, that section has many reports that > > use the find\_by\_sql in order to customize the query. On the main reports > > page the use is able to click and a report link and it opens up a new > > window displaying the data i want to be able to have a link that when > > clicked it creates an excel file that the user can download. > > > > Is there any way to accomplish that…? > > If you’ll settle for a CSV that will open up in Excel, then it’s pretty > easy… here’s an example out of our site > > entry = VideoGalleryEntry.find\_by\_id(params[:id]) > Tempfile.open(“video-gallery-report-#{entry.id}”) do |t| > CSV::Writer.generate(t, ‘,’) do |csv| > csv \<\< [“Date”, “Number of Views”] > entry.views.sort {|a,b| a.viewed\_on \<=\> b.viewed\_on }.each do |v| > csv \<\< [v.viewed\_on, v.views] > end > end > t.size > t.rewind > send\_data(t.read, :type =\> ‘application/vnd.ms-excel; > charset=iso-8859-1; header=present’, > :filename =\> > “video-gallery-report-#{entry.id}.csv”) > end I am having problems adapting my query for use with your code… @days\_done = Boards.find\_by\_sql “select id, work\_order, TO\_DAYS(updated\_at) - TO\_DAYS(created\_at) as Age, created\_at, updated\_at, notes from boards where done = 1 order by TO\_DAYS(updated\_at) - TO\_DAYS(created\_at) DESC” Any ideas…? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@rvent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rvent)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/data-into-excel/89364/6 "2007-03-20T18:30:14Z")
Don’t forget that there’s always the option of just rendering an HTML table but reporting the content-type as application/vnd.ms-excel . Then when someone wants a .xls document you just render an html table without a layout and Excel (as well as OpenOffice) will open the file up as a single-sheet excel document. I’ve yet to get this method to work with Google Spreadsheets or Gnumeric though. First register the MIME type in environment.rb: Mime::Type.register “application/vnd.ms-excel”, :xls, [ “application/excel”, “application/x-excel” ] Then you can just have a respond\_to block with wants.xls? rendering with no layout. Provided you are setup in such a way that the convention of this works for you. It might take a little more work in your own application. Taylor S. Reality Technician [http://www.realitytechnicians.com](http://www.realitytechnicians.com)