how to send an excel file with servlet

Question

im trying to create an excel file on a servlet and send it to the client browser when i did it on a stand alone program the file was created on my computer but when i tried to do it on a servlet it did nothing

servlet:

response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");
        // PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        String[] items=request.getParameterValues("lecture");
        String course=request.getParameter("course");
        int sheets=Integer.parseInt(request.getParameter("sheets"));
        List <XlElement> xlElements=getAllElements(items);
        ServletOutputStream output=response.getOutputStream();
        try
        {
           response.setContentType("application/vnd.ms-excel");
            response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename="+course+".xls");
            CreateXl xl=new CreateXl();
            xl.createScadualFile(output, xlElements, sheets);
            output.println(course);
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            System.out.println(e.toString());
            throw new ServletException("Exception in Excel Sample Servlet", e);
        }
          output.close();

createXl class

   private List<WritableSheet> xlSheets;
    private String[] days={"א","ב","ג","ד","ה"};
    private final int numOfClasses=9;
    private final int cellHeight= 1020;
    private final int cellWidth=15;
    public void createScadualFile(ServletOutputStream output, List <XlElement> items,int sheets) throws IOException, WriteException{
        xlSheets=new ArrayList<WritableSheet>();
        WritableWorkbook workbook = Workbook.createWorkbook(output);
        for(int i=0;i<sheets;i++){
            WritableSheet sheet = workbook.createSheet("week "+(i+1), i);
            xlSheets.add(sheet);
        }
        for(WritableSheet s: xlSheets){
            initSheet(s);
        }
        for(XlElement e: items){
            insertElement(e);
        }
        workbook.write();
        workbook.close();
    }




    private  WritableCellFormat getCellFormat(Colour colour, Pattern pattern) throws WriteException {
        WritableFont cellFont = new WritableFont(WritableFont.TIMES, 12);
        WritableCellFormat cellFormat = new WritableCellFormat(cellFont);
        cellFormat.setBackground(colour, pattern);
        cellFormat.setWrap(true);
        cellFormat.setVerticalAlignment(jxl.format.VerticalAlignment.TOP);
        return cellFormat;
    }
    private void initSheet(WritableSheet s) throws WriteException{
        for(int i=0;i<days.length;i++){
            Label l=new Label(i+1,0,days[i],getCellFormat(Colour.GREY_25_PERCENT,Pattern.SOLID));
            s.setColumnView(i+1,cellWidth );
            s.addCell(l);
        }
        for(int i=0;i<numOfClasses;i++){
            Label l=new Label(0,i+1,Integer.toString(i+1),getCellFormat(Colour.GREY_25_PERCENT,Pattern.SOLID));
            s.setRowView(i+1, cellHeight);
            s.addCell(l);
        }
    }
    private void insertElement(XlElement e) throws WriteException{
        Label l=new Label(e.getCol(),e.getRow(),e.toXlString(), getCellFormat(Colour.RED,Pattern.SOLID));
        xlSheets.get(e.getWeek()).mergeCells(e.getCol(), e.getRow(), e.getCol(), e.getRow()+e.getSpan()-1);
        xlSheets.get(e.getWeek()).addCell(l);
    }

dose anybody know what I am doing wrong?

If it did "nothing" it's likely that what it actually did was throw an Exception. Have you checked your server logs to see what that was? — Anthony Grist
– Anthony Grist, Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 9:47
i debuged it and i didnt see any exception throwen it just ran through the code — user1839169
– user1839169, Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 9:59

developerwjk · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-23 21:51:05Z

1

First, you should only call response.setContentType() once. You want to return an Excel, so take out the one where you are setting the content type to "text/html;charset=UTF-8".

Second, writing text to the output stream after writing the binary file to it will screw it up. Take out the output.println(course);

Third, I really don't think the output.close(); is needed either, so you might try taking that out as well.

answered Jan 23, 2014 at 21:51

developerwjk

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1 Comment

user1839169 Over a year ago

ok i did all of those things but im still not getting any file to the browser

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