How to output an Excel *.xls file from classic ASP

Question

I have a number of generated html tables that I need to output as an Excel file. The site is codded in classic ASP. Is this possible? Could it be done by somehow using the Open Office libraries?

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EDIT: Thus far, I have tried some of the suggestions, but it seems to fail. Ideally, I want the user to be able to click a link that will begin the download of a .xls file. This code:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%  option explicit

Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
Response.AppendHeader "content-disposition", " filename=excelTest.xls"
%>
<table>
    <tr>
        <th>Test Col 1</th>
        <th>Test Col 2</th>
        <th>Test Col 3</th>
        <th colspan="2">Test Col 4</th>
        <th>Test Col 6</th>
        <th>Test Col 7</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Data</td>
        <td>Data</td>
        <td>Data</td>
        <td>Data</td>
        <td>Data</td>
        <td>Data</td>
        <td>Data</td>
    </tr>
</table>

seems to fail when IE7 is used to get the page. IE says that it "cannot download excelTest.asp" and that "The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found."

Answer 1

It's AddHeader, not AppendHeader.

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%  Option Explicit

Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
Response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=excelTest.xls"
%>
<table>
    <tr>
        <td>Test</td>
    </tr>
</table>

Update: I've written a blog post about how to generate Excel files in ASP Classic. It contains a rather useful piece of code to generate both xls and csv files.

Answer 2

MS made a COM library called Office Web Components to do this. MSOWC.dll needs to be registered on the server. It can create and manipulate office document files.

How To Use the Spreadsheet Web Component with Visual Basic

Working with the Office Web Components