Hi Dragen,
We serve POI written XLS all the time through TOmcat 4.1.31 - we
learned the hard way the following:
Do not serve through a JSP - write a Servlet:
(1) JSP is supposed to be TEXT only.
(2) In JSP it is easy to insert a space in your output before setting
the header and that makes the output have mimetype=text/plain.
public class ExportXlsServlet extends HttpServlet {
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
response.setHeader("Expires","Thu, 01 Dec 1994 16:00:00 GMT");
response.setDateHeader("Last-Modified",
System.currentTimeMillis() );
response.setHeader("Pragma","no-cache");
response.setHeader("Content-disposition",
"attachment;filename=served.xls");
response.setContentType("application/vnd.ms-excel");
write the XLS to response.getOutputStream());
}
}
This works well with IE 6 / IE 7 / Firefox 1.5 & 2.0 / Safari etc.
<servlet>
<servlet-name>exportxls</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.mysevlets.ExportXlsServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
Then your url is /exportxls?parms=whatever
When you open your Excel file from the Web in IE - DO NOT let it open
it in the Browser - Save it and Open. If anyones knows an easy
ubiquitous way to unset that, I'd love to know.
If you use application/octet-stream and allow IE to open in the
browser then you will start to have trouble with binary files that
are served that way ...
Regards,
Dave Fisher
On Mar 16, 2007, at 2:48 AM, Tahir Akhtar wrote:
Hi Dragan,
Although I don’t exactly remember what I said in the thread you
mentioned,
here are few questions for you to answer
* As the file opens correctly when opened directly or through other
tomcat server, the problem is not likely in the file.
Do you save these files on server hard disk first or stream
directly from
server?
* The problem could be in the headers being sent by server to browser
When you open the attached excel file through the Linux SuSE +
tomcat, does
the garbage shows up in MS Excel or directly in the browser window?
I tried your file through following combinations
Windows XP + Tomcat 4.1
Internet Explorer: Garbage in IE6 Window (excel does not launch)
Firefox 2 Opens correctly
Windows XP + Tomcat 5.5
Internet Explorer: Garbage in IE6 Window (excel does not launch)
Firefox 2 Opens correctly
I inspected HTTP headers returned by tomcat and found that tomcat
does not
return any MIME type header by default. I am using Tomcat directly
(i-e not
behind Apache Webserver or IIS). My assessment after this test is
that the
bug lies in Internet Explorer (as usual :-). It appears to me that
IE fails
to detect the file type correctly in some cases in absence of
proper MIME
headers.
You can try following approaches:
1. Add a mime-mapping in tomcat/conf/web.xml. I tried this and
excel file
started opening correctly in IE6 (Restart tomcat and delete temporary
internet files from IE).
<mime-mapping>
<extension>xls</extension>
<mime-type>application/octet-stream</mime-type>
</mime-mapping>
2. Instead of letting Tomcat serve the file create a custom servlet
and set
HTTP headers manually like
response.setContentType("application/octet-stream");
response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;
filename=report.xls" );
Wassalam
Tahir Akhtar
_____
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 3:02 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Excel Export
Hello, Tahir,
I've seen your name in an Apache/Tomcat thread regarding a problem
which I also have from time to time. Some very simple Excel sheets
show as garbage through a Tomcat 5.0.28 and 4.1.27 running under
Linux SuSE 10.1 but the same file display just fine when opened
directly or through a Tomcat 4.1 running under Windows XP.
In one case I was able to restore proper Excel view by saving the
same file from Excel 2002 but in other cases that didn't help either.
I am enclosing one such file in the hope that you might find out
what is wrong. Is it OK with you?
I've even saved the file under a different name but it behaves just
like this one - it displays as garbage in the IE6 browser. The new
file is slightly bigger (exactly 512 bytes) than the original file
here.
Do you see anything wrong with this file?
Why does it not display properly?
I have thousands of such Excel sheets which do display OK,
but from time to time there is such a file which just won't
display properly through a Linux Tomcat server but displays
perfectly thgough a Windows XP Tomcat.
It drives me nuts.
Dragan Krnic
DB Fernverkehr AG
P.TVN5
Stephensonstraße 1/I-01/27, 60326 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 (0)69/265-59612, Fax (0)69/265-7550
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