AJAX problem with php

[sheldonlg]

I haven't received an answer with my other post, so I am rephrasing it here.

In php I have a 2D array which I "print". The headers force it to be a
file on the user's system. The user receives a pop-up that asks him if
he wants to open it or save it. (Of course, he can simply cancel). The
file I send is in an Excel readable file. This works fine for simple
systems where the page is submitted and then the action is performed by php.

Now for the problem. Using AJAX I have a very complicated page being
displayed that takes a while to build. There are numerous buttons and
"links" on this page. They all operate via AJAX. One of those buttons
is to generate the Excel file. The problem is that if I direct the AJAX
target to a div on the screen, it simply prints and ignores the headers
from php to output to a file. If I don't buffer the output to send it
all at once, then the print statement is not understood by AJAX and I
get an error message about an illegal string.

How do change the AJAX target, and/or what else must I do, so that it
will operate the same as with simple web systems and generate a file and
a popup to the user?

[Erwin Moller]

sheldonlg schreef:

I haven't received an answer with my other post, so I am rephrasing it
here.

In php I have a 2D array which I "print". The headers force it to be a
file on the user's system. The user receives a pop-up that asks him if
he wants to open it or save it. (Of course, he can simply cancel). The
file I send is in an Excel readable file. This works fine for simple
systems where the page is submitted and then the action is performed by
php.

Now for the problem. Using AJAX I have a very complicated page being
displayed that takes a while to build. There are numerous buttons and
"links" on this page. They all operate via AJAX. One of those buttons
is to generate the Excel file. The problem is that if I direct the AJAX
target to a div on the screen, it simply prints and ignores the headers
from php to output to a file. If I don't buffer the output to send it
all at once, then the print statement is not understood by AJAX and I
get an error message about an illegal string.

Hi,

I fail to see why you use Ajax for this.
The response your PHP script gives you is catched in your HtppXML
Object, which is of course NOT a new window.

So why use Ajax for something it is not suited for?

Why not simply open a new window which loads the content?

<a href="myPHPExcelthingy.php" target="someNewWindow">Excel</a>

Regards,
Erwin Moller

>
How do change the AJAX target, and/or what else must I do, so that it
will operate the same as with simple web systems and generate a file and
a popup to the user?

[sheldonlg]

Erwin Moller wrote:

sheldonlg schreef:

>I haven't received an answer with my other post, so I am rephrasing it
here.

In php I have a 2D array which I "print". The headers force it to be
a file on the user's system. The user receives a pop-up that asks him
if he wants to open it or save it. (Of course, he can simply
cancel). The file I send is in an Excel readable file. This works
fine for simple systems where the page is submitted and then the
action is performed by php.

Now for the problem. Using AJAX I have a very complicated page being
displayed that takes a while to build. There are numerous buttons and
"links" on this page. They all operate via AJAX. One of those buttons
is to generate the Excel file. The problem is that if I direct the
AJAX target to a div on the screen, it simply prints and ignores the
headers from php to output to a file. If I don't buffer the output to
send it all at once, then the print statement is not understood by
AJAX and I get an error message about an illegal string.

Hi,

I fail to see why you use Ajax for this.
The response your PHP script gives you is catched in your HtppXML
Object, which is of course NOT a new window.

So why use Ajax for something it is not suited for?

Why not simply open a new window which loads the content?

<a href="myPHPExcelthingy.php" target="someNewWindow">Excel</a>

Regards,
Erwin Moller

The whole application is built on an AJAX framework. I suppose that for
this one item I could do what you say and go directly to a php file
which pulls in the class to create the array, and then uses the class to
export the array to excel and then returns. No new target window would
be used. It bypasses the framework, but my boss might go along with
this. Thanks. I didn't think of that approach.

[abaqueiro]

well, use a normal GET/POST using a target "_blank" or other, so it
opens in a new window

[sheldonlg]

abaqueiro wrote:

well, use a normal GET/POST using a target "_blank" or other, so it
opens in a new window

It's not as simple as that. The AJAX swallows everything. I had to
work outside of AJAX.