# Server out to excel **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 18, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896 "2006-05-18T11:13:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/1 "2006-05-18T11:13:40Z")
How would one server out to excel a html table with the mime/content type application/vnd.ms-excel ? In PHP it would be something like ?php header(“Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel”); * * * But how do I do this in rails? Cheers Glenn ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/2 "2006-05-19T01:40:30Z")
Tom W. wrote: > On 5/18/06, Glenn C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > How would one server out to excel a html table with the mime/content > > type > > application/vnd.ms-excel ? > > send\_data(excel\_data, :type =\> “application/vnd.ms-excel”, :filename > =\> filename) > > Where excel\_data is the data you want to send, and filename is the > suggested filename for the data. > > Tom Sorry to ask a real dumb question, but where would I put the send\_data command? I have a mylist.rhtml which presently creates a formated table list as html. I want a button that says “View in Excel”, that more or less renders mylist.rhtml without the standard wrapping layout. When the user clicks “View in Excel” my.rhtml is rendered but this time browser receives http header of “application/vnd.ms-excel” rather than the default of “text/html” ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/3 "2006-05-18T11:31:02Z")
On 5/18/06, Glenn C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > How would one server out to excel a html table with the mime/content > type > application/vnd.ms-excel ? send\_data(excel\_data, :type =\> “application/vnd.ms-excel”, :filename =\> filename) Where excel\_data is the data you want to send, and filename is the suggested filename for the data. Tom ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/4 "2006-05-19T04:22:33Z")
unknown wrote: > you would put send\_data in a seperate controller, then the “View in > Excel” button would link to that controller. > -N Well I am feeling really brain dead now. The following calls up excel nicely and displays a number of fields. * * * class ExcelController \< ApplicationController def doexcel mytext = “ | 13445 | 123 | 456 | 789 | =23+456 | =987-654 | ” send\_data mytext, :type =\> ‘application/vnd.ms-excel’, :disposition =\> ‘inline’ end ## end But how would I get the text string data created from a .rhtml template or partial to the send\_data command. Basically I want a single template that will look more or less the same in the browser as in the excel? I will be creating a long list of outstanding orders in the browser that the user may want to view in Excel ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/5 "2006-05-19T04:49:34Z")
Well… If you want to simply rerender the mylist view and send it you can do this. def doexcel mytext = render :action =\> mylist send\_data mytext, :type =\> ‘application/vnd.ms-excel’, :disposition =\> ‘inline’ end On 5/19/06, Glenn C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > class ExcelController \< ApplicationController > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/6 "2006-05-19T02:22:26Z")
you would put send\_data in a seperate controller, then the “View in Excel” button would link to that controller. -N ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/7 "2006-05-19T14:50:34Z")
Remember. Everything is an object. This was the single thing I had the biggest problems with when I stopped thinking in PHP and started thinking in Ruby. There is no difference between the class render and the class integer or the class string. On 5/19/06, Glenn C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – ---
**Author:** ![glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@glenn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 6:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/server-out-to-excel/60896/8 "2006-05-19T06:45:28Z")
Jón Borgþórsson wrote: > Well… If you want to simply rerender the mylist view and send it you > can do this. > > def doexcel > mytext = render :action =\> mylist > send\_data mytext, :type =\> ‘application/vnd.ms-excel’, :disposition > =\> ‘inline’ > end > > On 5/19/06, Glenn C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > class ExcelController \< ApplicationController > > > > Rails mailing list > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) > > – Genius, Solved!!! …it is working well. My brain just seems to have a big block in “thinking ROR”, I have no idea why it works! I would have guessed that the render action calls the view processes that renders out the text stream to the to webserver after which processing is resumed in the controller. I would have guessed that mytext = render :action =\> mylist would set the value of mylist to the return code (success or failure) of the render action, rather than the text stream of the render action.