Rails export array of hash to csv

Question

in my show route, there is a my_search route (basically show#my_search) that shows an array of hashes of data in HTML.

What I need to do is just dump @data into my render (or partial) and deal with them in views, making it a HTML table with embedded ruby.

However, is there a easy way to send the same @data to a CSV file? Do I have to get the @data again and make another route specially for it? Is it a way to access the @data (preferably, in a link to download its CSV or json render) when showing the page localhost://show/my_search?

Edit:

The @data looks like:

@data = [ {"name"=>"John", "age"=>"21"}, {"name"=>"Amy", "age"=>"20"} ]

The app/controllers/show_controller.rb looks like:

def my_search
    @data = [ {"name"=>"John", "age"=>"21"}, {"name"=>"Amy", "age"=>"20"} ] # and other rows
    # and do other stuff here

    render "table_template"

in app/views/show/table_template.html looks like:

<table>
  <thead>
  <tr>
    <th>Name</th>
    <th>Age</th>
  </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
  <% @data.each do |row| %>
      <tr>
        <td><%= row['name'] %></td>
        <td><%= row['age'] %></td>
      </tr>
  <% end %>
  </tbody>
</table>

Update 6/20/2016: my current workround:

app/controllers/show_controller.rb:

def my_search
     get_data
    # and do other stuff here

    render "table_template"
end

def my_search_export
    get_data 
    format.each do |format|
    # something that renders the CSV format when visiting localhost://my_search_export.csv
        .....
    end
end




private
def get_data # writes to @data
    @data=[ {"name"=>"John", "age"=>"21"}, {"name"=>"Amy", "age"=>"20"} ]
end

in view: add a url to localhost://my_search_export.csv.

Bad thing is it loads the data again, good thing is the workflow is simple. I am still looking for a better solution.

P.s. this website may have different user running at the same time so keeping a global variable doesn't sound right for me.

Thanks Seth, but how I output the CSV downloadable link when showing a webpage of localhost://show/my_search — Sean L
– Sean L, Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 18:07
stackoverflow.com/questions/94502/… may help -- but this will only allow going to localhosts://some/path/file.csv which means it shows no webpage in localhosts://some/path/file.csv — Sean L
– Sean L, Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 18:09

jmschles · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-15 23:34:30Z

2

You can open up a CSV and write to it before your render if you want:

@data = { first_stuff: ['a', 'b', 'c'], second_stuff: [1, 2, 3] }
CSV.open('some/file.csv', 'w') do |csv|
  @data.each_pair do |key, value|
    csv << value
  end
end
render json: @data

... and so forth. It's hard to get more specific without knowing what your @data looks like, but I hope that helps!

answered Jun 15, 2016 at 23:34

jmschles

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4 Comments

Sean L Over a year ago

Thanks for helping! I add more description to the question. Is it that if this function has render json: @data then it will not render any html page? Is it a way to access the @data when showing the page localhost://show/my_search?

Sean L Over a year ago

Oh, do you mean to write CSV file (and probably add a link to the path of that some/file.csv in the view) to local path (maybe in public folder?) before render the webpage?

jmschles Over a year ago

Oh, if you're you're rendering an HTML page, your controller method's instance variables should simply be available in the view. In other words, just render the page normally and @data should be usable in the template. As for your second comment, you could set the CSV's file path to an instance variable (i.e. @csv_path = 'some/file.csv') and then it, too would be available in your view for linking purposes.

Sean L Over a year ago

Thanks! So I will just write the CSV to a local copy of 'some/file.csv' and then link this to the user? That will be a good workaround, but I wonder if it can gives one-time download link and not storing much thing in the website.. @jmschles

Sean L · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-22 22:25:53Z

Update 6/20/2016: my current workround:

app/controllers/show_controller.rb:

def my_search get_data # and do other stuff here

render "table_template"

end

def my_search_export get_data format.each do |format| # something that renders the CSV format when visiting localhost://my_search_export.csv ..... end end

private def get_data # writes to @data @data=[ {"name"=>"John", "age"=>"21"}, {"name"=>"Amy", "age"=>"20"} ] end in view: add a url to localhost://my_search_export.csv.

Bad thing is it loads the data again, good thing is the workflow is simple. I am still looking for a better solution.

P.s. this website may have different user running at the same time so keeping a global variable doesn't sound right for me.

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