Spring 3 - export data in csv format

Question

I have some data in the DB and would like to be able to export it to a CSV file and provide a link so the user can download it.

Is there any mechanism provided by Spring 3 for this?

Do you know how could I do that?

Answer 1

I guess it should be easy to build a CSV or any text file view. Here are suggested steps:

1. Create a View class (you can name it as CSVView) extending org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractView

2. Override renderMergedOutputModel as follows (pseudo code):

BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(response.getWriter())

response.setHeader("Content-Disposition","attachment; filename=\"file.csv\"");

myDbData = (Whatever) modelMap.get("modelKey");

some kind of loop {writer.write(myDbData csv row); writer.newLine(); }

finally writer.flush(); writer.close();

After that just return ModelAndView with model (object Whatever with modelKey) and view as CSVView in the controller.