47

I am dynamically generating a div which is like :

<div id='PrintDiv'>
        <table id="mainTable">
            <tr>
                <td>
                    Col1
                </td>
                <td>
                    Col2
                </td>
                <td>
                    Col3
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    Val1
                </td>
                <td>
                    Val2
                </td>
                <td>
                    Val3
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    Val11
                </td>
                <td>
                    Val22
                </td>
                <td>
                    Val33
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    Val111
                </td>
                <td>
                    Val222
                </td>
                <td>
                    Val333
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </div>

And there are lot more elements on the page as well. Now, how can i get a csv file like this :

Col1,Col2,Col3
Val1,Val2,Val3
Val11,Val22,Val33
Val111,Val222,Val333

using jQuery ?

need a file save dailog box too,like this :

alt text

Thanks.

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5
  • 1
    Looking for client side solution & need to avoid a server call Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 13:37
  • 1
    excel can actually import html formatted like you have it Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 16:14
  • Several JavaScript libraries will do this including DataTable Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 14:21
  • Would "copy table to clipboard as CSV" be an option? If yes, then you can use some javascript/jQuery to collect the data from your table & format it (CSV in your case), then use ZeroClipboard js libary to copy this formatted data to the clipboard (this plugin is used by github & other reknown websites). Commented Jun 18, 2014 at 13:03
  • Example for a "copy table to clipboard as CSV" jsfiddle.net/h2Kq6/ Commented Jun 18, 2014 at 13:52

8 Answers 8

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100

You can do that in the client side only, in browser that accept Data URIs:

data:application/csv;charset=utf-8,content_encoded_as_url

In your example the Data URI must be:

data:application/csv;charset=utf-8,Col1%2CCol2%2CCol3%0AVal1%2CVal2%2CVal3%0AVal11%2CVal22%2CVal33%0AVal111%2CVal222%2CVal333

You can call this URI by:

  • using window.open
  • or setting the window.location
  • or by the href of an anchor
  • by adding the download attribute it will work in chrome, still have to test in IE.

To test, simply copy the URIs above and paste in your browser address bar. Or test the anchor below in a HTML page:

<a download="somedata.csv" href="data:application/csv;charset=utf-8,Col1%2CCol2%2CCol3%0AVal1%2CVal2%2CVal3%0AVal11%2CVal22%2CVal33%0AVal111%2CVal222%2CVal333">Example</a>

To create the content, getting the values from the table, you can use table2CSV and do:

var data = $table.table2CSV({delivery:'value'});

$('<a></a>')
    .attr('id','downloadFile')
    .attr('href','data:text/csv;charset=utf8,' + encodeURIComponent(data))
    .attr('download','filename.csv')
    .appendTo('body');

$('#downloadFile').ready(function() {
    $('#downloadFile').get(0).click();
});

Most, if not all, versions of IE don't support navigation to a data link, so a hack must be implemented, often with an iframe. Using an iFrame combined with document.execCommand('SaveAs'..), you can get similar behavior on most currently used versions of IE.

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15 Comments

Which browsers does this work / not work for? It doesn't seem to work in Chrome.
Data URIs are supported by Chrome. Take a look at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_URI#Web_browser_support
So it says, but I tested your answer and it didn't work on either IE9 or Chrome for me.
@italo when I do this via window.location or window.open it saves it as "x4ef3.part", not as "somename.csv". How do I make it save as a ".csv" file?
Tested this on Firefox 23 and Chrome 28 and it works. Couldn't test on IE11.
|
25

This is my implementation (based in: https://gist.github.com/3782074):

Usage: HTML:

<table class="download">...</table>
<a href="" download="name.csv">DOWNLOAD CSV</a>

JS:

$("a[download]").click(function(){
    $("table.download").toCSV(this);    
});

Code:

jQuery.fn.toCSV = function(link) {
  var $link = $(link);
  var data = $(this).first(); //Only one table
  var csvData = [];
  var tmpArr = [];
  var tmpStr = '';
  data.find("tr").each(function() {
      if($(this).find("th").length) {
          $(this).find("th").each(function() {
            tmpStr = $(this).text().replace(/"/g, '""');
            tmpArr.push('"' + tmpStr + '"');
          });
          csvData.push(tmpArr);
      } else {
          tmpArr = [];
             $(this).find("td").each(function() {
                  if($(this).text().match(/^-{0,1}\d*\.{0,1}\d+$/)) {
                      tmpArr.push(parseFloat($(this).text()));
                  } else {
                      tmpStr = $(this).text().replace(/"/g, '""');
                      tmpArr.push('"' + tmpStr + '"');
                  }
             });
          csvData.push(tmpArr.join(','));
      }
  });
  var output = csvData.join('\n');
  var uri = 'data:application/csv;charset=UTF-8,' + encodeURIComponent(output);
  $link.attr("href", uri);
}

Notes:

  • It uses "th" tags for headings. If they are not present, they are not added.
  • This code detects numbers in the format: -####.## (You will need modify the code in order to accept other formats, e.g. using commas).

UPDATE:

My previous implementation worked fine but it didn't set the csv filename. The code was modified to use a filename but it requires an < a > element. It seems that you can't dynamically generate the < a > element and fire the "click" event (perhaps security reasons?).

DEMO

http://jsfiddle.net/nLj74t0f/

(Unfortunately jsfiddle fails to generate the file and instead it throws an error: 'please use POST request', don't let that error stop you from testing this code in your application).

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2 Comments

I think there is an extra if $(this).find("td").each(function() { statement in the else after checking for th.
Thanks, used also above one stackoverflow.com/a/7588465/805366 jsfiddle.net/santeriv/qtQPf
6

I recently posted a free software library for this: "html5csv.js" -- GitHub

It is intended to help streamline the creation of small simulator apps in Javascript that might need to import or export csv files, manipulate, display, edit the data, perform various mathematical procedures like fitting, etc.

After loading "html5csv.js" the problem of scanning a table and creating a CSV is a one-liner:

CSV.begin('#PrintDiv').download('MyData.csv').go();

Here is a JSFiddle demo of your example with this code.

Internally, for Firefox/Chrome this is a data URL oriented solution, similar to that proposed by @italo, @lepe, and @adeneo (on another question). For IE

The CSV.begin() call sets up the system to read the data into an internal array. That fetch then occurs. Then the .download() generates a data URL link internally and clicks it with a link-clicker. This pushes a file to the end user.

According to caniuse IE10 doesn't support <a download=...>. So for IE my library calls navigator.msSaveBlob() internally, as suggested by @Manu Sharma

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1 Comment

@IanLim I incorporated the technique in the SO link above and can confirm the html5csv library now generates csv files in IE11.
5

Here are two WORKAROUNDS to the problem of triggering downloads from the client only. In later browsers you should look at "blob"

1. Drag and drop the table

Did you know you can simply DRAG your table into excel?

Here is how to select the table to either cut and past or drag

Select a complete table with Javascript (to be copied to clipboard)

2. create a popup page from your div

Although it will not produce a save dialog, if the resulting popup is saved with extension .csv, it will be treated correctly by Excel.

The string could be
w.document.write("row1.1\trow1.2\trow1.3\nrow2.1\trow2.2\trow2.3");
e.g. tab-delimited with a linefeed for the lines.

There are plugins that will create the string for you - such as http://plugins.jquery.com/project/table2csv

var w = window.open('','csvWindow'); // popup, may be blocked though
// the following line does not actually do anything interesting with the 
// parameter given in current browsers, but really should have. 
// Maybe in some browser it will. It does not hurt anyway to give the mime type
w.document.open("text/csv");
w.document.write(csvstring); // the csv string from for example a jquery plugin
w.document.close();

DISCLAIMER: These are workarounds, and does not fully answer the question which currently has the answer for most browser: not possible on the client only

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3 Comments

And again a non commented down vote. Worthless gesture unless you comment!
once you've got your CSV data you can create a with download="myfile.csv" and type="text/csv" attributes, encode the CSV data to base64 using btoa and set the src attribute to "data:text/csv;base64,P2ZyB4bW.....xucz0===", append the a element to the DOM (hide it) and click it, it will download the file.
Yes, I know, answered in another answer on this page.
4

By using just jQuery, you cannot avoid a server call.

However, to achieve this result, I'm using Downloadify, which lets me save files without having to make another server call. Doing this reduces server load and makes a good user experience.

To get a proper CSV you just have to take out all the unnecessary tags and put a ',' between the data.

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4 Comments

this thing will need Flash, so it won't be portable to all browsers out there, check the answer below with data:application powered HREFs. Simple, clean.
Besides requiring Flash, this solution doesn't follow the question requirements: use jQuery and avoiding server call.
Well, Pratik said client side and avoid server call. Portability does not always matter. If it fits to his needs why not.
Flash is client taxing and with reducing support for flash across devices it is seriously not recommended.
1

Hope the following demo can help you out.

$(function() {
  $("button").on('click', function() {
    var data = "";
    var tableData = [];
    var rows = $("table tr");
    rows.each(function(index, row) {
      var rowData = [];
      $(row).find("th, td").each(function(index, column) {
        rowData.push(column.innerText);
      });
      tableData.push(rowData.join(","));
    });
    data += tableData.join("\n");
    $(document.body).append('<a id="download-link" download="data.csv" href=' + URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([data], {
      type: "text/csv"
    })) + '/>');


    $('#download-link')[0].click();
    $('#download-link').remove();
  });
});
table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

td,
th {
  border: 1px solid #aaa;
  padding: 0.5rem;
  text-align: left;
}

td {
  font-size: 0.875rem;
}

.btn-group {
  padding: 1rem 0;
}

button {
  background-color: #fff;
  border: 1px solid #000;
  margin-top: 0.5rem;
  border-radius: 3px;
  padding: 0.5rem 1rem;
  font-size: 1rem;
}

button:hover {
  cursor: pointer;
  background-color: #000;
  color: #fff;
}
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<div id='PrintDiv'>
  <table id="mainTable">
    <tr>
      <td>Col1</td>
      <td>Col2</td>
      <td>Col3</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Val1</td>
      <td>Val2</td>
      <td>Val3</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Val11</td>
      <td>Val22</td>
      <td>Val33</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Val111</td>
      <td>Val222</td>
      <td>Val333</td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</div>

<div class="btn-group">
  <button>csv</button>
</div>

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Comments

0

You can't avoid a server call here, JavaScript simply cannot (for security reasons) save a file to the user's file system. You'll have to submit your data to the server and have it send the .csv as a link or an attachment directly.

HTML5 has some ability to do this (though saving really isn't specified - just a use case, you can read the file if you want), but there's no cross-browser solution in place now.

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1 Comment

you can avoid a server call. hence the upvotes for italo's answer.
0

Just try the following coding...very simple to generate CSV with the values of HTML Tables. No browser issues will come

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.3/jquery.min.js"></script>        
        <script src="http://www.csvscript.com/dev/html5csv.js"></script>
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {

 $('table').each(function() {
    var $table = $(this);

    var $button = $("<button type='button'>");
    $button.text("Export to CSV");
    $button.insertAfter($table);

    $button.click(function() {     
         CSV.begin('table').download('Export.csv').go();
    });
  });  
})

</script>
    </head>
<body>
<div id='PrintDiv'>
<table style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <td>Jill</td>
    <td>Smith</td>      
    <td>50</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td>        
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>John</td>
    <td>Doe</td>        
    <td>80</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>
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