® IBM Software Group © 2006 IBM Corporation Display contents of a Data Table in Excel right from the browser – No POI needed This section describes how to display the contents of a data table in the browser as an Excel spreadsheet programmatically, using EGL server-side logic.

2 Last update: 12/04/2007 Display Data Table as Excel in the Browser  How many times have you heard, “The data on the web page is just what I asked for! But, now what I really want is use the data in an Excel spreadsheet”.  Fortunately, your efforts have not gone to waste. You are just a few simple steps – and literally minutes – away from providing exactly what the user wants.  Here’s how:  Take an ordinary EGL generated web page having a dataTable.  Add a commandButton to the page  Use an Excel image (.gif) for the button instead of text  Add an Excel-specific page with the data table only  Drag-drop the array onto an empty page – that’s all!  Keep the Excel page simple  Simple page and cell formatting will likely be rendered as desired  Complex JSF properties and actions will likely be troublesome  Besides, the excel user will likely re-size, re-sort and re-render the spreadsheet in more ways than you can imagine.  Let’s see how it works 

3 Last update: 12/04/2007  Data Table in Excel Browser Lab 1 of 2 – Create the Page and JSFHandler allcustomersExcel.jsp  Create a new page, named: allcustomersExcel.jsp – no need for a page template  Copy/Paste the EGL code from the Notes section of the slide, and replace the default JSFHandler with this code  From Page Data:  Drag customersArray onto the page  Remove Pager: From properties, select dataTable – uncheck: Show footer  NOTE:  Keep the page simple

4 Last update: 12/04/2007  Data Table in Excel Browser Lab 1 of 2 – Add command button  Set the ContentType on page  Click the Source tab  Add prior to the tag  Open allcustomers2.jsp:  Add Excel image to project  Download an Excel image from the web (or copy from this slide)  Copy Excel image and paste into WebContent\images folder  Drag and drop a Command Button from the Enhanced Faces pallet  From properties view – Display options: –Set the Type property by clicking the Image radio button –insert - images/ExcelButton.gif – into Normal image  Copy/Paste the EGL function – ShowInExcel – from the notes section into the JSPHandler  Bind the function to the command button  From the Page Data view – Actions: drag/drop ShowInExcel() onto the command button  Run the page on the server  Click the Excel button  depending on your security settings, you may get a File Download dialog – click open to continue and see Excel in the browser.