fopen ---- a doubt

[murali]

Hi,

based on the results of my sql query I need to write the resultant data into a csv file.. The mysql database is in the server and I need to write the file into my local drive...

I know I can write the file in the server.. is there any way to write to client drive???

[AdamBrill]

No. PHP runs server-side and has no access to the user's computer. The only thing you could do is save the file to the server and then download it to your hard drive...

[murali]

Adam
I am doing that right now.. was just curious whether there are any alternatives

cheers

[AdamBrill]

That's about the only way unless you are running a server on your computer. If you are running a server on your computer, you can connect to the database(on the remote server) from your computer and generate the file. You would then be able to save the file, since the server on your computer would have access to your hard drive. If you don't have a server running on your computer, then your pretty much out of luck. 🙁

[Weedpacket]

Of course, if you're using http to connect to the server (a reasonable assumption), then you don't need to actually create a file on the server just to download it; the browser doesn't care where the contents of any given http response comes from, only what is in the headers (a content-type of text/comma-separated-variables, text/plain or application/octet-stream to stop IE from trying to use Excel to open it, a content-disposition giving a filename, etc.); the script can generate and output that CSV the same way it can generate and output HTML and, given the appropriate headers, the browser will deal with it appropriately.

The upshot is that there probably won't be any filesystem functions used at all. You request the CSV, the server uses the database to generate it and sends it as the response for you to download.

This can be automated (e.g., any suitable client will do, such as wget; it doesn't have to be a browser).

[murali]

hi Got it to work..

if(($_POST['mode']=='export'))
   	{

	header ("Content-type: application/csv text\html");
	header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=download.csv");
	print $_POST['resultData'];

}

I assigned my query result to a variable and when the user presses the export to excel button I call this script..

I am not creating any file on the server. mission accomplished. But wondering if there is a more efficient way......