XlsView Plugin

Quickly enable XLS output of your model data.

This branch is for CakePHP 5.x.

Background

I needed to quickly export XLS of stuff in the database. Using a view class to iterate manually would be a chore to replicate for each export method, so I figured it would be much easier to do this with a custom view class, like JsonView or XmlView. This Repo is Based on the work of https://github.com/FriendsOfCake/cakephp-csvview/

Installation

composer require impronta48/cakephp-xlsview

Enable plugin

Load the plugin by running command

bin/cake plugin load XlsView

Usage

To export a flat array as a Xls, one could write the following code:

public function export()
{
    $data = [
        ['a', 'b', 'c'],
        [1, 2, 3],
        ['you', 'and', 'me'],
    ];

    $this->set(compact('data'));
    $this->viewBuilder()
        ->setClassName('XlsView.xls')
        ->setOption('serialize', 'data');
}

All variables that are to be included in the Xls must be specified in the serialize view option, exactly how JsonView or XmlView work.

It is possible to have multiple variables in the Xls output:

public function export()
{
    $data = [['a', 'b', 'c']];
    $data_two = [[1, 2, 3]];
    $data_three = [['you', 'and', 'me']];

    $serialize = ['data', 'data_two', 'data_three'];

    $this->set(compact('data', 'data_two', 'data_three'));
    $this->viewBuilder()
        ->setClassName('XlsView.Xls')
        ->setOption('serialize', $serialize);
}

If you want headers or footers in your Xls output, you can specify either a header or footer view option. Both are completely optional:

public function export()
{
    $data = [
        ['a', 'b', 'c'],
        [1, 2, 3],
        ['you', 'and', 'me'],
    ];

    $header = ['Column 1', 'Column 2', 'Column 3'];
    $footer = ['Totals', '400', '$3000'];

    $this->set(compact('data'));
    $this->viewBuilder()
        ->setClassName('XlsView.Xls')
        ->setOptions([
            'serialize' => 'data',
            'header' => $header,
            'footer' => $footer,
        ]);
}

If you have complex model data, you can use the extract view option to specify the individual Hash::extract()-compatible paths or a callable for each record:

public function export()
{
    $posts = $this->Posts->find();
    $header = ['Post ID', 'Title', 'Created'];
    $extract = [
        'id',
        function (array $row) {
            return $row['title'];
        },
        'created'
    ];

    $this->set(compact('posts'));
    $this->viewBuilder()
        ->setClassName('XlsView.Xls')
        ->setOptions([
            'serialize' => 'posts',
            'header' => $header,
            'extract' => $extract,
        ]);
}

Automatic view class switching

You can use the controller's content negotiation feature to automatically have the XlsView class switched in as follows.

Enable Xls extension parsing using $routes->addExtensions(['xls']) within required scope in your app's routes.php.

// PostsController.php

// Add the XlsView class for content type negotiation
public function initialize(): void
{
    parent::initialize();

    $this->addViewClasses(['xls' => 'XlsView.Xls']);
}

// Controller action
public function index()
{
    $posts = $this->Posts->find();
    $this->set(compact('posts'));

    if ($this->request->is('xls')) {
        $serialize = 'posts';
        $header = array('Post ID', 'Title', 'Created');
        $extract = array('id', 'title', 'created');

        $this->viewBuilder()->setOptions(compact('serialize', 'header', 'extract'));
    }
}

With the above controller you can now access /posts.xls or use Accept header text/xls to get the data as xls and use /posts to get normal HTML page.

For really complex Xlss, you can also use your own view files. To do so, either leave serialize unspecified or set it to null. The view files will be located in the xls subdirectory of your current controller:

// View used will be in templates/Posts/xls/export.php
public function export()
{
    $posts = $this->Posts->find();
    $this->set(compact('posts'));
    $this->viewBuilder()
        ->setClassName('XlsView.xls')
        ->setOption('serialize', null);
}

Setting the downloaded file name

By default, the downloaded file will be named after the last segment of the URL used to generate it. Eg: example.com/my-controller/my-action would download my-action.xls, while example.com/my-controller/my-action/first-param would download first-param.xls.

In IE you are required to set the filename, otherwise it will download as a text file.

To set a custom file name, use the Response::withDownload() method. The following snippet can be used to change the downloaded file from export.xls to my-file.xls:

public function export()
{
    $data = [
        ['a', 'b', 'c'],
        [1, 2, 3],
        ['you', 'and', 'me'],
    ];

    $this->setResponse($this->getResponse()->withDownload('my-file.xls'));
    $this->set(compact('data'));
    $this->viewBuilder()
        ->setClassName('XlsView.xls')
        ->setOption('serialize', 'data');
}

Using a specific View Builder

In some cases, it is better not to use the current controller's View Builder $this->viewBuilder() as any call to $this->render() will compromise any subsequent rendering.

For example, in the course of your current controller's action, if you need to render some data as Xls in order to simply save it into a file on the server.

Do not forget to add to your controller:

use Cake\View\ViewBuilder;

So you can create a specific View Builder:

// Your data array
$data = [];

// Create the builder
$builder = new ViewBuilder();
$builder
    ->setLayout(false)
    ->setClassName('XlsView.Xls')
    ->setOptions(compact('serialize'));

// Then the view
$view = $builder->build($data);
$view->set(compact('data'));

// And Save the file
file_put_contents('/full/path/to/file.xls', $view->render());