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Why do I get an Excel warning about file format and extension mismatch when I try to download an excel file? [duplicate]

I have this application I'm developing in JSP and I wish to export some data from the database in XLS (MS Excel format).
Is it possible under tomcat to just write a file as if it was a normal Java application, and then generate a link to this file? Or do I need to use a specific API for it?
Will I have permission problems when doing this?

While you can use a full fledged library like JExcelAPI, Excel will also read CSV and plain HTML tables provided you set the response MIME Type to something like "application/vnd.ms-excel".
Depending on how complex the spreadsheet needs to be, CSV or HTML can do the job for you without a 3rd party library.

Don't use plain HTML tables with an application/vnd.ms-excel content type. You're then basically fooling Excel with a wrong content type which would cause failure and/or warnings in the latest Excel versions. It will also messup the original HTML source when you edit and save it in Excel. Just don't do that.
CSV in turn is a standard format which enjoys default support from Excel without any problems and is in fact easy and memory-efficient to generate. Although there are libraries out, you can in fact also easily write one in less than 20 lines (funny for ones who can't resist). You just have to adhere the RFC 4180 spec which basically contains only 3 rules:
Fields are separated by a comma.
If a comma occurs within a field, then the field has to be surrounded by double quotes.
If a double quote occurs within a field, then the field has to be surrounded by double quotes and the double quote within the field has to be escaped by another double quote.
Here's a kickoff example:
public static <T> void writeCsv (List<List<T>> csv, char separator, OutputStream output) throws IOException {
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(output, "UTF-8"));
for (List<T> row : csv) {
for (Iterator<T> iter = row.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
String field = String.valueOf(iter.next()).replace("\"", "\"\"");
if (field.indexOf(separator) > -1 || field.indexOf('"') > -1) {
field = '"' + field + '"';
}
writer.append(field);
if (iter.hasNext()) {
writer.append(separator);
}
}
writer.newLine();
}
writer.flush();
}
Here's an example how you could use it:
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
List<List<String>> csv = new ArrayList<List<String>>();
csv.add(Arrays.asList("field1", "field2", "field3"));
csv.add(Arrays.asList("field1,", "field2", "fie\"ld3"));
csv.add(Arrays.asList("\"field1\"", ",field2,", ",\",\",\""));
writeCsv(csv, ',', System.out);
}
And inside a Servlet (yes, Servlet, don't use JSP for this!) you can basically do:
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
String filename = request.getPathInfo().substring(1);
List<List<Object>> csv = someDAO().findCsvContentFor(filename);
response.setHeader("content-type", "text/csv");
response.setHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
writeCsv(csv, ';', response.getOutputStream());
}
Map this servlet on something like /csv/* and invoke it as something like http://example.com/context/csv/filename.csv. That's all.
Note that I added the possiblity to specify the separator character separately, because it may depend on the locale used whether Excel would accept a comma , or semicolon ; as CSV field separator. Note that I also added the filename to the URL pathinfo, because a certain webbrowser developed by a team in Redmond otherwise wouldn't save the download with the proper filename.

You will probably need a library to manipulate Excel files, like JExcelAPI ("jxl") or POI. I'm more familiar with jxl and it can certainly write files. You can generate them and store them by serving a URL to them but I wouldn't. Generated files are a pain. They add complication in the form on concurrency, clean-up processes, etc.
If you can generate the file on the fly and stream it to the client through the standard servlet mechanisms.
If it's generated many, may times or the generation is expensive then you can cache the result somehow but I'd be more inclined to keep it in memory than as a file. I'd certainly avoid, if you can, linking directly to the generated file by URL. If you go via a servlet it'll allow you to change your impleemntation later. It's the same encapsualtion concept as in OO dsign.

POI or JExcel are good APIs. I personally like better POI, plus POI is constantly updated. Furthermore, there are more resources online about POI than JExcel in case you have any questions. However, either of the two does a great job.

maybe you should consider using some reporting tool with an option of exporting files into XLS format. my suggestion is JasperReports

try {
String absoluteDiskPath = test.xls";
File f = new File(absoluteDiskPath);
response.setContentType("application/xlsx");
response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + absoluteDiskPath);
String name = f.getName().substring(f.getName().lastIndexOf("/") + 1, f.getName().length());
InputStream in = new FileInputStream(f);
out.clear(); //clear outputStream prevent illegalStateException write binary data to outputStream
ServletOutputStream outs = response.getOutputStream();
int bit = 256;
int i = 0;
try {
while ((bit) >= 0) {
bit = in.read();
outs.write(bit);
}
outs.flush();
outs.close();
in.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
ioe.printStackTrace();
} finally {
try {
if(outs != null)
outs.close();
if(in != null)
in.close();
}catch (Exception ioe2) {
ioe2.printStackTrace();
}
}
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}

I tried like as below in JSP, it is working fine.
<% String filename = "xyz.xls";
response.setContentType("application/octet-stream");
response.setHeader("Content-Disposition","attachment; filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
java.io.File excelFile=new java.io.File("C:\\Users\\hello\\Desktop\\xyz.xls");
java.io.FileInputStream fileInputStream=new java.io.FileInputStream(excelFile);
byte[] bytes = new byte[(int) excelFile.length()];
int offset = 0;
while (offset < bytes.length)
{
int result = fileInputStream.read(bytes, offset, bytes.length - offset);
if (result == -1) {
break;
}
offset += result;
}
javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream outs = response.getOutputStream();
outs.write(bytes);
outs.flush();
outs.close();
fileInputStream.close();
%>

generating csv file java download on the fly [duplicate]

I am facing a problem in exporting my data to excel sheet, this is because of some code which other developers in my team made. So the main problem is to export the data to Excel or .cvs using JSP page but without using any HTML code.
Any suggestion would also help me to explore in my developing arena. Thanks for your efforts.

Better use a Servlet for this. Raw Java code doesn't belong in a JSP file, that's simply recipe for maintenance trouble.
To start, create a simple Java utility class which takes for example a List<List<T>> or a List<Data> (wherein Data represents one row) representing the CSV contents and an OutputStream as method arguments and write logic which does the data copying task.
Once you get that to work, create a Servlet class which takes some CSV file identifier as request parameter or pathinfo (I recommend using pathinfo as a certain webbrowser developed by a team in Redmond would fail on detection of filename/mimetype otherwise), uses the identifier to get the List<List<T>> or List<Data> from somewhere and writes it to the OutputStream of the HttpServletResponse along a set of correct response headers.
Here's a basic kickoff example:
public static <T> void writeCsv (List<List<T>> csv, char separator, OutputStream output) throws IOException {
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(output, "UTF-8"));
for (List<T> row : csv) {
for (Iterator<T> iter = row.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
String field = String.valueOf(iter.next()).replace("\"", "\"\"");
if (field.indexOf(separator) > -1 || field.indexOf('"') > -1) {
field = '"' + field + '"';
}
writer.append(field);
if (iter.hasNext()) {
writer.append(separator);
}
}
writer.newLine();
}
writer.flush();
}
Here's an example how you could use it:
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
List<List<String>> csv = new ArrayList<List<String>>();
csv.add(Arrays.asList("field1", "field2", "field3"));
csv.add(Arrays.asList("field1,", "field2", "fie\"ld3"));
csv.add(Arrays.asList("\"field1\"", ",field2,", ",\",\",\""));
writeCsv(csv, ';', System.out);
}
And inside a Servlet you can basically do:
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
String filename = request.getPathInfo();
List<List<Object>> csv = someDAO().list();
response.setHeader("content-type", "text/csv");
response.setHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
writeCsv(csv, ',', response.getOutputStream());
}
Map this servlet on something like /csv/* and invoke it as something like http://example.com/context/csv/filename.csv. That's basically all. The filename in the pathinfo is important because a certain webbrowser developed by a team in Redmond ignores the filename part of the Content-Disposition header and uses the last path part of the URL instead.

Downloading a CSV file using JSF

I don't know how to download a CSV file. The CSV will be generated at runtime. Do I need to save the file in the tomcat WEB-INF directory first? I'm using JSF 1.2.
By the way, what's the favored JSF component for this kind of task?
Edit (05.05.2012 - 15:53)
I tried the solution BalusC stated in his first link, but if I click on my commandButton the content of the file is displayed on the webpage. Maybe there's a problem with the mimetype?
xhtml-file:
<a4j:form>
<a4j:commandButton action="#{surveyEvaluationBean.doDataExport}" value="#{msg.srvExportButton}" />
</a4j:form>
main bean:
public String doDataExport() {
try {
export.downloadFile();
} catch (SurveyException e) {
hasErrors = true;
}
return "";
}
export-bean:
public void downloadFile() throws SurveyException {
try {
String filename = "analysis.csv";
FacesContext fc = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) fc.getExternalContext().getResponse();
response.reset();
response.setContentType("text/comma-separated-values");
response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
OutputStream output = response.getOutputStream();
// writing just sample data
List<String> strings = new ArrayList<String>();
strings.add("filename" + ";" + "description" + "\n");
strings.add(filename + ";" + "this is just a test" + "\n");
for (String s : strings) {
output.write(s.getBytes());
}
output.flush();
output.close();
fc.responseComplete();
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new SurveyException("an error occurred");
}
}
Edit (05.05.2012 - 16:27)
I solved my problem. I have to use <h:commandButton> instead of <a4j:commandButton> and now it works!

Do I need to save the file in the tomcat WEB-INF directory first?
No, just write it straight to the HTTP response body as you obtain by ExternalContext#getResponseOutputStream() after having set the proper response headers which tells the browser what it's going to retrieve.
Do the math based on the concrete examples found in the following answers:
How to provide a file download from a JSF backing bean?
JSP generating Excel spreadsheet (XLS) to download
Basically:
List<List<Object>> csv = createItSomehow();
writeCsv(csv, ';', ec.getResponseOutputStream());
By the way, what's the favorite jsf-component for this kind of task?
This is subjective. But anyway, we're using <p:dataExporter> to full satisfaction.

If you are using JSF 2 you can use primefaces.
You can take a look at that link.
If not you can do it like that:
List<Object> report = new ArrayList<Object>(); // fill your arraylist with relevant data
String filename = "report.csv";
File file = new File(filename);
Writer output = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file));
output.append("Column1");
output.append(",");
output.append("Column2");
output.append("\n");
//your data goes here, Replcae Object with your bean
for (Object row:report){
output.append(row.field1);
output.append(",");
output.append(row.field2);
output.append("\n");
}
output.flush();
output.close();

Convert byte[] to Base64 string for data URI

I know this has probably been asked 10000 times, however, I can't seem to find a straight answer to the question.
I have a LOB stored in my db that represents an image; I am getting that image from the DB and I would like to show it on a web page via the HTML IMG tag. This isn't my preferred solution, but it's a stop-gap implementation until I can find a better solution.
I'm trying to convert the byte[] to Base64 using the Apache Commons Codec in the following way:
String base64String = Base64.encodeBase64String({my byte[]});
Then, I am trying to show my image on my page like this:
<img src="data:image/jpg;base64,{base64String from above}"/>
It's displaying the browser's default "I cannot find this image", image.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

I used this and it worked fine (contrary to the accepted answer, which uses a format not recommended for this scenario):
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.append("data:image/png;base64,");
sb.append(StringUtils.newStringUtf8(Base64.encodeBase64(imageByteArray, false)));
contourChart = sb.toString();

According to the official documentation Base64.encodeBase64URLSafeString(byte[] binaryData) should be what you're looking for.
Also mime type for JPG is image/jpeg.

That's the correct syntax. It might be that your web browser does not support the data URI scheme. See Which browsers support data URIs and since which version?
Also, the JPEG MIME type is image/jpeg.

You may also want to consider streaming the images out to the browser rather than encoding them on the page itself.
Here's an example of streaming an image contained in a file out to the browser via a servlet, which could easily be adopted to stream the contents of your BLOB, rather than a file:
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
ServletOutputStream sos = resp.getOutputStream();
try {
final String someImageName = req.getParameter(someKey);
// encode the image path and write the resulting path to the response
File imgFile = new File(someImageName);
writeResponse(resp, sos, imgFile);
}
catch (URISyntaxException e) {
throw new ServletException(e);
}
finally {
sos.close();
}
}
private void writeResponse(HttpServletResponse resp, OutputStream out, File file)
throws URISyntaxException, FileNotFoundException, IOException
{
// Get the MIME type of the file
String mimeType = getServletContext().getMimeType(file.getAbsolutePath());
if (mimeType == null) {
log.warn("Could not get MIME type of file: " + file.getAbsolutePath());
resp.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
return;
}
resp.setContentType(mimeType);
resp.setContentLength((int)file.length());
writeToFile(out, file);
}
private void writeToFile(OutputStream out, File file)
throws FileNotFoundException, IOException
{
final int BUF_SIZE = 8192;
// write the contents of the file to the output stream
FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(file);
try {
byte[] buf = new byte[BUF_SIZE];
for (int count = 0; (count = in.read(buf)) >= 0;) {
out.write(buf, 0, count);
}
}
finally {
in.close();
}
}

If you don't want to stream from a servlet, then save the file to a directory in the webroot and then create the src pointing to that location. That way the web server does the work of serving the file. If you are feeling particularly clever, you can check for an existing file by timestamp/inode/crc32 and only write it out if it has changed in the DB which can give you a performance boost. This file method also will automatically support ETag and if-modified-since headers so that the browser can cache the file properly.

JSP page without HTML code for exporting data to Excel Sheet

I am facing a problem in exporting my data to excel sheet, this is because of some code which other developers in my team made. So the main problem is to export the data to Excel or .cvs using JSP page but without using any HTML code.
Any suggestion would also help me to explore in my developing arena. Thanks for your efforts.

Better use a Servlet for this. Raw Java code doesn't belong in a JSP file, that's simply recipe for maintenance trouble.
To start, create a simple Java utility class which takes for example a List<List<T>> or a List<Data> (wherein Data represents one row) representing the CSV contents and an OutputStream as method arguments and write logic which does the data copying task.
Once you get that to work, create a Servlet class which takes some CSV file identifier as request parameter or pathinfo (I recommend using pathinfo as a certain webbrowser developed by a team in Redmond would fail on detection of filename/mimetype otherwise), uses the identifier to get the List<List<T>> or List<Data> from somewhere and writes it to the OutputStream of the HttpServletResponse along a set of correct response headers.
Here's a basic kickoff example:
public static <T> void writeCsv (List<List<T>> csv, char separator, OutputStream output) throws IOException {
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(output, "UTF-8"));
for (List<T> row : csv) {
for (Iterator<T> iter = row.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
String field = String.valueOf(iter.next()).replace("\"", "\"\"");
if (field.indexOf(separator) > -1 || field.indexOf('"') > -1) {
field = '"' + field + '"';
}
writer.append(field);
if (iter.hasNext()) {
writer.append(separator);
}
}
writer.newLine();
}
writer.flush();
}
Here's an example how you could use it:
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
List<List<String>> csv = new ArrayList<List<String>>();
csv.add(Arrays.asList("field1", "field2", "field3"));
csv.add(Arrays.asList("field1,", "field2", "fie\"ld3"));
csv.add(Arrays.asList("\"field1\"", ",field2,", ",\",\",\""));
writeCsv(csv, ';', System.out);
}
And inside a Servlet you can basically do:
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
String filename = request.getPathInfo();
List<List<Object>> csv = someDAO().list();
response.setHeader("content-type", "text/csv");
response.setHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
writeCsv(csv, ',', response.getOutputStream());
}
Map this servlet on something like /csv/* and invoke it as something like http://example.com/context/csv/filename.csv. That's basically all. The filename in the pathinfo is important because a certain webbrowser developed by a team in Redmond ignores the filename part of the Content-Disposition header and uses the last path part of the URL instead.