Ruby on Rails - Downloading data as xls or excel without using a Gem

    

      

        

  

    
    


        


  


  

        

          

          
# This gist demonstrates - How to download data from database in excel or xls format in Ruby on Rails
        
        

          

          
# Tested with - Ruby 1.9.3, rails 3.2.1, db - postgres
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
class DownloadsController < ApplicationController
        
        

          

          
  before_filter :define_header, :except => :index
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
  def index
        
        

          

          
    ...
        
        

          

          
  end
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
  def download_choclates
        
        

          

          
    @choclates = Choclate.all
        
        

          

          
    
        
        

          

          
    respond_to do |format|
        
        

          

          
      format.html { render :partial => 'download_choclates' }
        
        

          

          
    end
        
        

          

          
  end
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
  private
        
        

          

          
  # sets the header. You can specify the file name
        
        

          

          
  # For my project I am sending the name of the file in params
        
        

          

          
  # so I use 
        
        

          

          
  # headers['Content-Disposition'] = "attachment; filename=#{params[:name]}.xls"
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
  def define_header
        
        

          

          
    headers['Content-Type'] = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
        
        

          

          
    headers['Content-Disposition'] = "attachment; filename=filename.xls"
        
        

          

          
    headers['Cache-Control'] = ''
        
        

          

          
  end
        
        

          

          
end
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
# Partial to be rendered
        
        

          

          
# _download_choclates.html.erb
        
        

          

          
<table border="1">
        
        

          

          
  <tr>
        
        

          

          
    <th>Id</th>
        
        

          

          
    <th>Description</th>
        
        

          

          
    <th>Price</th>
        
        

          

          
    <th>Feedback</th>    
        
        

          

          
    <th>Created At</th>
        
        

          

          
    <th>Updated At</th>
        
        

          

          
  </tr>
        
        

          

          


        
        

          

          
<% @choclates.each do |choclate| %>
        
        

          

          
  <tr>
        
        

          

          
    <td><%= choclate.id %></td>
        
        

          

          
    <td><%= choclate.description %></td>
        
        

          

          
    <td><%= choclate.price %></td>
        
        

          

          
    <td><%= choclate.feedback %></td>
        
        

          

          
    <td><%= choclate.created_at %></td>
        
        

          

          
    <td><%= choclate.updated_at %></td>
        
        

          

          
  </tr>
        
        

          

          
<% end %>
        
        

          

          
</table>
        
  



    

  


      
      

        view raw
        
          download_xls.rb
        
        hosted with ❤ by GitHub