excelFlash
Create and save an Excel XLSX file that contains the data from the table (Adobe Flash - deprecated).
Please note - this property requires the Buttons extension for DataTables.
Deprecated
As of v1.2.0 this feature has been deprecated. This feature has not yet been scheduled for removal, but its use is discouraged and the alternatives discussed below should be used.
As Flash is now being expunged from all browsers, the Flash buttons are only suitable for use in old browsers. As such, they will no longer see new features developed for them after Buttons 1.2.0. They will be removed from the distribution in the next major release.
Description
This button provides the end user with the ability to save the table's data into a locally created Excel XLSX file.
Please note that this button has a number of restrictions:
- Adobe Flash must be installed.
- The action for this button cannot be activated using the
button().trigger()
or key combination methods due to the security restrictions of Flash - The created file save dialogue must be shown and the file cannot be automatically opened.
- The XLSX file cannot contain any styling information. Only the raw data from the table is included.
The excelHtml5
method provides much greater flexibility and thus button is considered to be sunsetted, but is still provided for use with older browsers that do not support the APIs required for the excelHtml5
button type.
Adobe Flash is required for this button to operate. If Flash is not installed, or disabled, in the end user's browser this button will not appear. For a non-Flash alternative please see the excelHtml5
button type. Additionally the excel
will automatically select between this button and excelHtml5
depending on the features of the browser.
Customisation
The Excel file that Buttons creates is intentionally quite simple, but you may wish to add additional information or formatting to the document to suit your output requirements. This ability is provided by the customize
option of this button type.
Full details of the customize
method are available in the excelHtml5
documentation. The customize
method for both button types are identical and a function developed for one can be used for the other (or both if you use the grouping excel
button type, which will automatically select HTML5 or Flash as required for the browser).
Options
This button can have the following options set in its configuration object to customise its actions and display:
Name | Type | Default |
---|---|---|
action | ||
Create and save a Excel XLSX file. | ||
className | buttons-excel buttons-flash | |
The button's class name. See | ||
createEmptyCells Since: 1.5.0 | false | |
Option to instruct the Excel export to create empty cells. By default if a cell contains | ||
customize Since: 1.2.0 | undefined | |
This method can be used to modify the XSLX file that is created by Buttons. The first parameter that is passed in is an object that contains the XML files and the object structure matches the file system paths for those files in an XSLX file. Customisation of the XSLX file is a complex topic - please refer to the Customisation section in the As of Buttons 1.5.2 this function is passed three parameters:
| ||
exportOptions | {} | |
Select the data to be gathered from the DataTable for export. This includes options for which columns, rows, ordering and search. Please see the | ||
extension | .xlsx | |
The extension to give the created file name. | ||
fieldBoundary | " | |
The character(s) used to enclose each field in the plain text representation of the table that is copied to the system's clipboard. This is automatically added at the start and end of each cell's data. | ||
fieldSeparator | , | |
The character(s) used to separate fields in the plain text representation of the table that is copied to the system's clipboard. | ||
filename | * | |
File name to give the created file (plus the extension defined by the | ||
footer | false | |
Indicate if the table footer should be included in the exported data or not. | ||
header | true | |
Indicate if the table header should be included in the exported data or not. | ||
messageBottom Since: 1.4.0 | * | |
Message to be shown at the bottom of the table, or the | ||
messageTop Since: 1.4.0 | * | |
Message to be shown at the top of the table, or the | ||
sheetName | Sheet1 | |
Name for the worksheet in Excel file created. The characters [] \ /: *? : are not allowed and will be removed if present. | ||
text | Excel | |
The button's display text. The text can be configured using this option (see | ||
title Since: 1.4.0 | * | |
Title of the table that will be included in the exported data. Please see |
Examples
DataTables initialisation: Use the Flash Excel button:
$('#myTable').DataTable( {
buttons: [
'excelFlash'
]
} );
DataTables initialisation: Use the excel
button type to automatically select between the Flash and HTML button options.:
$('#myTable').DataTable( {
buttons: [
'excel'
]
} );
DataTables initialisation: Use the exportOptions
to save only the data shown on the current DataTable page:
$('#myTable').DataTable( {
buttons: [
{
extend: 'excelFlash',
text: 'Save current page',
exportOptions: {
modifier: {
page: 'current'
}
}
}
]
} );