Axlsx-Rails — Axlsx templates for Rails views

##Installation

In your Gemfile:

gem 'axlsx_rails'

##Requirements

• Rails 3.1, tested on 3.1, 3.2, and 4.1
• As of 0.2.0 requires Axlsx 2.0.1, which requires rubyzip 1.0.0
• As of Rails 4.1 you must use render_to_string to render a mail attachment.

##Usage

Axlsx-Rails provides a renderer and a template handler. It adds the :xlsx format and parses .xlsx.axlsx templates. This lets you take all the Axlsx code out of your controller or model and place it inside the template, where view code belongs! See this blog post for a more complete walkthrough.

###Controller

To use Axlsx-Rails set your instance variables in your controller and configure the response if needed:

class ButtonController < ApplicationController
  def action_name
    @buttons = Button.all
    respond_to do |format|
      format.xlsx
    end
  end
end

###Template

Create the template with the .xlsx.axlsx extension (action_name.xlsx.axlsx for example.) Watch out for typos! In the template, use xlsx_package variable to create your spreadsheet:

wb = xlsx_package.workbook
wb.add_worksheet(name: "Buttons") do |sheet|
  @buttons.each do |button|
    sheet.add_row [button.name, button.category, button.price]
  end
end

This is where you place all your Axlsx specific markup. Add worksheets, fill content, merge cells, add styles. See the Axlsx examples page to see what you can do.

That's it. Call your action and your spreadsheet will be delivered.

###Rendering Options

You can call render in any of the following ways:

# rendered, no disposition/filename header
render 'buttons'
# rendered from another controller, no disposition/filename header
render 'featured/latest'
# template and filename of 'buttons'
render xlsx: 'buttons'
# template from featured controller, filename of 'latest'
render xlsx: 'featured/latest'
# template from another controller, filename of 'latest_buttons'
render xlsx: 'latest_buttons', template: 'featured/latest'

###Disposition

To specify a disposition (such as inline so the spreadsheet is opened inside the browser), use the disposition option:

render xlsx: "buttons", disposition: 'inline'

If render xlsx: is called, the disposition defaults to attachment.

###File name

If Rails calls Axlsx through default channels (because you use format.xlsx {} for example) you must set the filename using the response header:

format.xlsx {
  response.headers['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="my_new_filename.xlsx"'
}

If you use render xlsx: the gem will try to guess the file name:

# filename of 'buttons'
render xlsx: 'buttons'
# filename of 'latest_buttons'
render xlsx: 'latest_buttons', template: 'featured/latest'

If that fails, pass the :filename parameter:

render xlsx: "action_or_template", filename: "my_new_filename.xlsx"

###Acts As Xlsx

If you use acts_as_xlsx, configure the active record normally, but specify the package in the template:

User.to_xlsx package: xlsx_package, (other options)

Note: As of 4/1/2014 Acts As Xlsx is not compatible with Rails 4.1, and generates a warning on 4.0. You may use my patched fork until it is remedied.

###Author

To set the author attribute upon Axlsx::Package.new, insert the following in application.rb:

config.axlsx_author = "Elmer Fudd"

NOTE: We really ought to allow the author to be set in each call

###Partials

Partials work as expected:

wb = xlsx_package.workbook
render :partial => 'cover_sheet', :locals => {:wb => wb}
wb.add_worksheet(name: "Content") do |sheet|
  sheet.add_row ['Content']
end

With the partial simply using the passed variables:

wb.add_worksheet(name: "Cover Sheet") do |sheet|
  sheet.add_row ['Cover', 'Sheet']
end

###Mailers

To use an xlsx template to render a mail attachment, use the following syntax:

class UserMailer < ActionMailer::Base
  def export(users)
    xlsx = render_to_string handlers: [:axlsx], formats: [:xlsx], template: "users/export", locals: {users: users}
    attachments["Users.xlsx"] = {mime_type: Mime::XLSX, content: xlsx}
    ...
  end
end

• If the route specifies or suggests the :xlsx format you do not need to specify formats or handlers.
• If the template (users/export) can refer to only one file (the xlsx.axlsx template), you do not need to specify handlers, provided the formats includes :xlsx.

##Troubleshooting

###Mispellings

It is easy to get the spelling wrong in the extension name, the format.xlsx statement, or in a render call. Here are some possibilities:

• If it says your template is missing, check that its extension is .xlsx.axlsx.
• If you get the error uninitialized constant Mime::XSLX you have used format.xslx instead of format.xlsx, or something similar.

###What to do

If you are having problems, try to isolate the issue. Use the console or a script to make sure your data is good. Then create the spreadsheet line by line without Axlsx-Rails to see if you are having Axlsx problems. If you can manually create the spreadsheet, create an issue and we will work it out.

##Dependencies

• Axlsx

##Authors

• Noel Peden

##Contributors

• randym
• sugi
• envek
• engwan
• maxd

##Change log

April 9, 2014: 0.2.0 release

• Require Axlsx 2.0.1, which requires rubyzip 1.0.0
• Better render handling and testing, which might break former usage
• Rails 4.1 testing
• Mailer example update (use render_to_string not render)

October 11, 2013

• Handle (and test) respond_to override

October 4, 2013

• Added coveralls
• Raised testing to axlsx 2.0.1, roo 1.12.2, and rubyzip 1.0.0

July 25, 2013

• Documentation improved
• Testing for generating partial in mailer

January 18, 2013: 0.1.4 release

• Now supports Rails 4 (thanks Envek)
• If you call render :xlsx on a request without :xlsx format, it should force the :xlsx format. Works on Rails 3.2+.

December 6, 2012: 0.1.3 release

• Fix for absolute template paths

July 25, 2012: 0.1.2 release

• Partials tested

July 19, 2012: 0.1.1 release

• Travis-ci added (thanks randym)
• render statements and filename tests fixes (thanks engwan)

July 17, 2012: 0.1.0 release

• Tests completed
• Acts_as_xlsx tested, example in docs

July 12, 2012: 0.0.1 release

• Initial posting.
• It works, but there are no tests! Bad programmer!