Create Excel spreadsheet from Javascript

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  • Jim, N2VX
    #1

    Create Excel spreadsheet from Javascript

    I'd like to create/display an Excel spreadsheet from javascript. We
    have an HTML page with results of a search and it can be reasonably
    large.

    The first attempt was to format the data into an HTML table and send
    it to an ASP page. The ASP page has:
    Response.AddHea der ("Content-Disposition", "inline");
    Response.Conten tType = "applicatio n/vnd.ms-excel");
    Response.Write( formatted_html_ data);

    Works fine until there's more than 100K bytes of data. It then hits
    an ASP limit and blows chunks.

    Second attempt: Do it all on the client side in Javascript. A
    variable has the HTML:

    <html>
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" CONTENT="applic ation/vnd.ms-excel">
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Disposition" CONTENT="inline ">
    </head>
    <body>
    <table>
    ....html-formatted data...
    </table></body></html>

    We send the data to a new window:
    var newWin = window.open('', '','width=300,h eight=300');
    newWin.document .write(variable _with_html);
    newWin.document .close()

    The window pops up, html-formatted data displays in it, but Excel
    doesn't run.

    What's the difference between the first method and the second? Both
    send 'stuff' to the browser that it will interpret.

    Are the <meta> tags wrong? It's the only thing I can think of, since
    one is generated by ASP (and it works) and the other by me (doesn't
    work).

    Thanks,
    Jim
    Tags: None
    • ExGuardianReader
      #2
      Re: Create Excel spreadsheet from Javascript

      Jim, N2VX wrote:
      [color=blue]
      > I'd like to create/display an Excel spreadsheet from javascript. We
      > have an HTML page with results of a search and it can be reasonably
      > large.
      >
      > The first attempt was to format the data into an HTML table and send
      > it to an ASP page. The ASP page has:
      > Response.AddHea der ("Content-Disposition", "inline");
      > Response.Conten tType = "applicatio n/vnd.ms-excel");
      > Response.Write( formatted_html_ data);
      >
      > Works fine until there's more than 100K bytes of data. It then hits
      > an ASP limit and blows chunks.[/color]

      Try NOT building up a HUGE string before you write to the Response
      object. Have a function which outputs the Excel data to the Response
      rather than one which creates a huge string.

      HINT: You can create proper, functional Excel Spreadsheets by sending a
      correctly formatted XML spreadsheet with that ContentType. See

      http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnexcl2k2/html/odc_xmlss.asp


      It's finicky about the XML formatting, but once you get it right, you
      can get some really nice spreadsheets out. Persevere with this approach.

      This is the way to go, you cannot generate a spreadsheet in javascript.
      [color=blue]
      > Second attempt: Do it all on the client side in Javascript. A
      > variable has the HTML:
      >
      > <html>
      > <head>
      > <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" CONTENT="applic ation/vnd.ms-excel">
      > <meta http-equiv="Content-Disposition" CONTENT="inline ">
      > </head>
      > <body>
      > <table>
      > ...html-formatted data...
      > </table></body></html>
      >
      > We send the data to a new window:
      > var newWin = window.open('', '','width=300,h eight=300');
      > newWin.document .write(variable _with_html);
      > newWin.document .close()
      >
      > The window pops up, html-formatted data displays in it, but Excel
      > doesn't run.[/color]

      No, it won't suddenly fire up Excel. You are writing data into an HTML
      document in the browser. That's what document.write( ) does. Once you are
      IN a document, it makes no difference what data you write into it - it's
      an HTML DOCUMENT!

      The previous method used the HTTP standard (Do a google on it) to inform
      the browser what kind of data was coming back from the server. You
      correctly informed the browser that Excel data was coming back
      (ContentType = "applicatio n/vnd.ms-excel"), so the browser offers to run
      the application (or save the output).

      Hope this helps.

      Nige

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