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 <[email protected]> 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? >>>>> >>>> >>> >>
