excel export in server side vs client side

Question

What is the pros/cons of exporting excel from server side and client side?

I know, it depends on situation, but I want to know what are the exact risks using one?

I have java/angularjs(with restful ws) app that shows datatables in client side. Need Excel export functionality. Normally, it would be best to use server side i guess(like Apache POI). But I also come across with js(angularjs) solutions. Before it was hard to export excel from client side(needed flash). And by rising power of client side coding and html5 there are many plugins for exporting excel in client side.

And I just wonder if its time to use client side, and get adventages like styling and network traffic decrease. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Usually, download client side by flash is a security issue. In HTML5 you can use the downloadproperty of a <a>but this is not compatible in all browser. However i think the actual best way (for cross browser) is to download server side.

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