ajibarra / cakephp-csvview

A CSV View class for CakePHP 2.x

CsvView Plugin

Quickly enable CSV output of your model data

Background

I needed to quickly export CSVs 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.

Requirements

• CakePHP 2.x (custom view files are only supported in 2.1+)
• PHP5
• Patience

Installation

[Using Composer]

View on Packagist, and copy the json snippet for the latest version into your project's composer.json. Eg, v. 1.0.0 would look like this:

{
	"require": {
		"josegonzalez/cakephp-csvview": "1.0.0"
	}
}

Because this plugin has the type cakephp-plugin set in it's own composer.json, composer knows to install it inside your /Plugins directory, rather than in the usual vendors file. It is recommended that you add /Plugins/CsvView to your .gitignore file. (Why? read this.)

[Manual]

• Download this: http://github.com/josegonzalez/cakephp-csvview/zipball/master
• Unzip that download.
• Copy the resulting folder to app/Plugin
• Rename the folder you just copied to CsvView

[GIT Submodule]

In your app directory type:

git submodule add -b master git://github.com/josegonzalez/cakephp-csvview.git Plugin/CsvView
git submodule init
git submodule update

[GIT Clone]

In your Plugin directory type:

git clone -b master git://github.com/josegonzalez/cakephp-csvview.git CsvView

Enable plugin

In 2.0 you need to enable the plugin your app/Config/bootstrap.php file:

CakePlugin::load('CsvView');

If you are already using CakePlugin::loadAll();, then this is not necessary.

Usage

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

<?php
public function export() {
	$data = array(
		array('a', 'b', 'c'),
		array(1, 2, 3),
		array('you', 'and', 'me'),
	);
	$_serialize = 'data';

	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('data', '_serialize'));
}

All variables that are to be included in the csv must be specified in the $_serialize view variable, exactly how JsonView or XmlView work.

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

<?php
public function export() {
	$data = array(array('a', 'b', 'c'));
	$data_two = array(array(1, 2, 3));
	$data_three = array(array('you', 'and', 'me'));

	$_serialize = array('data', 'data_two', 'data_three');

	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('data', 'data_two', 'data_three', '_serialize'));
}

If you want headers or footers in your CSV output, you can specify either a $_header or $_footer view variable. Both are completely optional:

<?php
public function export() {
	$data = array(
		array('a', 'b', 'c'),
		array(1, 2, 3),
		array('you', 'and', 'me'),
	);

	$_serialize = 'data';
	$_header = array('Column 1', 'Column 2', 'Column 3');
	$_footer = array('Totals', '400', '$3000');

	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('data', '_serialize', '_header', '_footer'));
}

You can also specify the delimiter, end of line, and escape characters using $_delimiter, $_eol, and $_enclosure, respectively:

<?php
public function export() {
	$data = array(
		array('a', 'b', 'c'),
		array(1, 2, 3),
		array('you', 'and', 'me'),
	);

	$_serialize = 'data';
	$_delimiter = chr(9); //tab
	$_enclosure = '"';
	$_eol = '~';

	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('data', '_serialize', '_delimiter', '_enclosure', '_eol'));
}

The defaults for these variables are:

• _delimiter: ,
• _enclosure: "
• _eol: \n

If you have complex model data, you can use the $_extract view variable to specify the individual paths for each record. This is an array of Hash::extract()-compatible syntax:

<?php
public function export() {
	$posts = $this->Post->find('all');
	$_serialize = 'posts';
	$_header = array('Post ID', 'Title', 'Created');
	$_extract = array('Post.id', 'Post.title', 'Post.created');

	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('posts', '_serialize', '_header', '_extract'));
}

If your model data contains some null values or missing keys, you can use the $_null variable, just like you'd use $_delimiter, $_eol, and $_enclosure, to set how null values should be displayed in the CSV.

$_null defaults to 'NULL'.

You can use Router::parseExtensions() and the RequestHandlerComponent to automatically have the CsvView class switched in as follows:

<?php
// In your routes.php file:
Router::parseExtensions('csv');

// In your controller:
public $components = array('RequestHandler');

public function export() {
	$posts = $this->Post->find('all');
	$_serialize = 'posts';
	$_header = array('Post ID', 'Title', 'Created');
	$_extract = array('Post.id', 'Post.title', 'Post.created');

	$this->set(compact('posts', '_serialize', '_header', '_extract'));
}

// Access /posts/export.csv to get the data as csv

For really complex CSVs, you can also simply use your own view files. This is only supported in 2.1+. To do so, either leave $_serialize unspecified or set it to null. The view files will be located in the csv subdirectory of your current controller:

<?php
// View used will be in app/View/Posts/csv/export.ctp
public function export() {
	$posts = $this->Post->find('all');
	$_serialize = null;
	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('posts', '_serialize');
}

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.csv, while example.com/my_controller/my_action/first_param would download first_param.csv.

To set a custom file name, use the CakeResponse::download method. The following snippet can be used to change the downloaded file from export.csv to my_file.csv:

<?php
public function export() {
	$data = array(
		array('a', 'b', 'c'),
		array(1, 2, 3),
		array('you', 'and', 'me'),
	);
	$_serialize = 'data';

	$this->response->download('my_file.csv'); // <= setting the file name
	$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
	$this->set(compact('data', '_serialize'));
}

CsvView Component Usage

The CsvView component provides a few methods to help you quickly export the results of complex Model find('all') calls.

Note: nested belongsTo associations are handled no problem. Others (eg. hasMany) will be ignored (I can't see why you'd want them in a CSV export, or how you'd include them gracefully).

To use the component, include it in your Components array:

<?php
// In your controller:
public $components = array('CsvView.CsvView');

The component has the following methods:

prepareExtractFromFindResults($data, $excludePaths = array())

Recursively searches $data and returns an array of all unique Hash::extract()-compatible paths, suitable for the $_extract variable

• $data: the results of a Model find('all') call.
• $excludePaths (optional): an array of paths to exclude from the returned array, using Hash::extract()-compatible syntax. Eg. array('MyModel.column_name')

prepareHeaderFromExtract($extract, $customHeaders = array())

Returns an array of user-friendly colum titles, suitable for use as the $_header, based on the paths in $extract. Eg, the path 'City.Country.name' becomes 'Country Name'.

• $extract: an array of paths, using Hash::extract()-compatible syntax.
• $customHeaders (optional): an array of 'path' => 'Custom Title' pairs, eg. array('City.population' => 'No. of People'). These custom headers, when specified, override the default generated headers.

quickExport($data, $excludePaths = array(), $customHeaders = array(), $includeHeader = true)

Quickly export an the results of a Model find('all') call in one line of code.

• $data - the results of a Model find('all') call.
• $excludePaths (optional): Same use as in prepareExtractFromFindResults method, above
• $customHeaders (optional): Same use as in prepareHeaderFromExtract method, above
• $includeHeader (optional): if true, a $_header will be included. Defaults to true.

Example 1 - using quickExport, simplest use:

<?php
$results = $this->MyModel->find('all');
$this->CsvView->quickExport($results);

Example 2 - using quickExport, advanced use:

<?php
$results = $this->MyModel->find('all');
$excludePaths = array('City.id', 'State.id', 'State.Country.id'); // Exclude all id fields
$customHeaders = array('City.population' => 'No. of People');

$this->CsvView->quickExport($results, $excludePaths, $customHeaders);

Example 3 - NOT using quickExport:

<?php
$results = $this->MyModel->find('all');

$excludePaths = array('City.id', 'State.id', 'State.Country.id'); // Exclude all id fields
$_extract = $this->CsvView->prepareExtractFromFindResults($results, $excludePaths);

$customHeaders = array('City.population' => 'No. of People');
$_header = $this->CsvView->prepareHeaderFromExtract($_extract, $customHeaders);

$_serialize = 'results';
$this->viewClass = 'CsvView.Csv';
$this->set(compact('results' ,'_serialize', '_header', '_extract'));

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2012 Jose Diaz-Gonzalez

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.