Hello Brian, Thanks very much for sharing your script. It works a treat and saved me a lot of time and confusion.
Andrew On Wednesday, May 2, 2012 11:18:25 PM UTC+12, RAHUL PRIYADARSI wrote: > > Dear Mr.Brian, > Thank you very much for you reply. > " If you're worried about text alignment and other layout stuff, why not > just use HTML templates" > > Well because I wish to get prints from them using dot matrix printer, > which prints only txt files! > But any way your response did help me very much. > > With Regards, > rahulserver. > > On 1 May 2012 02:30, Brian M <bmer...@gmail.com <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Yep, it is the web, you can't automatically write a file directly to the >> user's computer (Holy security issues Batman!) but you can provide them the >> prepared file as a download that they can then save to wherever they want. >> Doesn't matter if it is CSV or TXT or HTML or PDF or RTF whatever. >> Definitely note that reponse.header content-type and content-disposition >> portion of my sample code above, that is what will help you cause the >> user's browser to download the file with the correct name. There is some >> StringIO stuff in there too which Khalil mentioned and you'd definitely >> want for generating the files. >> >> As far as the formatting of strings you bet python & web2py can do it. If >> you're worried about text alignment and other layout stuff, why not just >> use HTML templates, that's what web2py is for. If you look around on this >> list there is also some stuff on generating PDF reports - I think there is >> a markmin to PDF converter available too. I believe that pyrtf is also in >> web2py's contrib so you could use that to do Rich Text Format files. >> Plenty of options out there for you. >> >> >> On Monday, April 30, 2012 2:54:28 AM UTC-5, Khalil KHAMLICHI wrote: >> >>> Raul, when working with the web you always (most of the times) create >>> the files server side and invite user to download it and save it to his >>> file system, this sais you don't need to access the file system yourself, >>> just invite the user to download your file and you are done. >>> for csv versus txt files, they are both the same thing IF the user is >>> not going to import them into some other software that needs only csv >>> content, >>> python has a module called StringIO, you can use it as a file and write >>> to it mixed content : simple text and csv data. >>> >>> On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 6:03 AM, RAHUL PRIYADARSI <> wrote: >>> >>>> Dear All, >>>> Thanks for your answers.But what I was looking for was,putting into >>>> simple words,implementing a use case similar to the following "The system >>>> maintains the data related to each transaction.Each transaction includes >>>> the list of items demanded per transaction with each item belonging to a >>>> category.The system also generates an aggregated report per transaction as >>>> well as an overall report of the total items belonging to each category >>>> demanded.".Now "the report" here need not be in csv only.It may be txt >>>> file.Since I am not sure as to whether is it possible to print formatted >>>> strings(e.g. the string "report" printed right aligned in a total field of >>>> 15 characters,something likd printf(%15s)) in web2py,my question is that >>>> how we do file IO in web2py. Can we generate a txt file in web2py. And can >>>> we print formatted strings to it? >>>> Since the controller runs on server and my application would be >>>> deployed in an intranet lan and it needs to generate files to be used in >>>> local file system of the system on which the user will access the app , >>>> where must this file IO code be written, in controller or view. >>>> >>>> >>>> On 30 April 2012 07:35, Brian M <> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Yep, I've got a processing app that spits out all sorts of csv files >>>>> based on data gathered from multiple sources. >>>>> >>>>> Here's a little helper function I use >>>>> >>>>> def csv_export(records, column_names, fields, mode = 'dal'): >>>>> """Export DAL result set, list of dicts or list of lists to CSV >>>>> stream for returning to user >>>>> Arguments: >>>>> records = the data to be returned >>>>> column_names (list)= the column names/headings for the first row >>>>> in the CSV file >>>>> Example ['First Name', 'Last Name', 'Email'] >>>>> fields (list) = the names of the fields (as they appear in >>>>> records) in the order they >>>>> should be in the CSV. Example ['f_name', 'l_name', >>>>> 'email'] >>>>> or ['table_a.f_name', 'table_a.l_name', >>>>> 'table_b.email'] >>>>> If mode = 'list' and your records are in the >>>>> correct order then fields may be None >>>>> otherwise use [1,3,0] if you list is in a >>>>> different order >>>>> mode (string) = what type of data is in records? 'dal' (Default), >>>>> 'dict' or 'list' >>>>> 'dal' if records came from a regular dal query >>>>> (Default) >>>>> 'dict' if records are a list of dicts (for example >>>>> using db.executesql() with as_dict = True) >>>>> 'list' if records are a list of lists/tuples (for >>>>> example using db.executesql() with as_dict = False) >>>>> >>>>> """ >>>>> >>>>> #create fake file object >>>>> import cStringIO >>>>> file = cStringIO.StringIO() >>>>> #setup csv writer >>>>> import csv >>>>> csv_file = csv.writer(file) >>>>> #write first row withspecified column headings/names >>>>> csv_file.writerow(column_**names) >>>>> #which mode - dal or dict? >>>>> if mode.lower() == 'dal' or mode.lower() == 'dict': >>>>> for record in records: >>>>> csv_file.writerow([record[**field] for field in fields]) >>>>> elif mode.lower() == 'list': >>>>> if fields == None: >>>>> csv_file.writerows(records) >>>>> else: >>>>> for record in records: >>>>> csv_file.writerow([record[**field] for field in >>>>> fields]) >>>>> return file >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Then in a controller you can have something like >>>>> >>>>> csv_stream = csv_export(processed_dataset, column_names, fields, >>>>> mode = 'dict') >>>>> response.headers['Content-**Type']='application/vnd.ms-**excel' >>>>> response.headers['Content-**Disposition']='attachment; >>>>> filename=data_for_%s.csv' % date.today() >>>>> return csv_stream.getvalue() >>>>> >>>>> which will cause browser to download the csv file with your chosen >>>>> filename >>>>> >>>>> you could also turn around and save the datafile to the filesystem if >>>>> you wanted. >>>>> >>>>> Hope this helps! >>>>> Brian >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Saturday, April 28, 2012 5:20:15 AM UTC-5, rahulserver wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> I wish to generate a few reports in csv or txt or other file formats >>>>>> based on some database data maintained through a crud application. >>>>>> Previously, it was done through an asp.net application with vb as >>>>>> scripting language.But as I explored the wonderful capabilities of >>>>>> web2py, >>>>>> I have become a fan of this terrific framework. >>>>>> Is it possible to do it in web2py. And if it is, then how and where >>>>>> should the code be placed.In the view or model or controller? >>>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> > --
