PHP: Exporting Data to Files

Course details

Providing a file from a database in exactly the same format that's requested by the user is an extremely valuable technique. In this course, David Powers shows you how to export data from a database with PHP in a variety of formats, including rich text, CSV, Excel, Word, OpenOffice spreadsheets and documents, and even XML. He introduces tools like PHPExcel and PHPRtfLite that make the job of formatting the data (fonts, headers, columns, and all) easier to manage, and also shows how to embed nontext data like images in your exports.

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - What you should know before watching this course
03 - Using the exercise files

1. Setting Up

04 - Loading the test data into a database
05 - Querying the database with MySQL Improved
06 - Connecting to different databases with PHP Data Objects (PDO)
07 - Querying the database with PDO
08 - Displaying the data in a webpage
09 - Autoloading classes

2. Basic File Formats

10 - Outputting the database result to a text file
11 - Outputting the result as a CSV file
12 - Introducing the Base class for file downloads
13 - Using the Text class for greater control over output
14 - Controlling CSV options with the Csv class
15 - Saving the data to a local file

3. Generating a Spreadsheet

16 - Introducing PHPExcel
17 - Setting properties and defaults in PHPExcel
18 - Setting the spreadsheet's print options
19 - Populating an Excel spreadsheet with data
20 - Formatting columns in PHPExcel
21 - Downloading the data as a .xlsx file
22 - Creating a spreadsheet in the OpenDocument format
23 - Creating columns and headers in Fusonic SpreadsheetExport
24 - Adding the data and downloading as a .ods file

4. Exporting as Rich Text Format

25 - Installing PHPRtfLite
26 - Defining the page margins and the footer
27 - Setting heading and paragraph styles
28 - Adding the data and outputting a .rtf file

5. Exporting to Word Processor Formats

29 - Understanding the basic process
30 - Merging XML documents with XSLT
31 - Preparing a directory to generate the output
32 - Generating XML from a database result

6. Generating an OpenDocument Text File

33 - Creating a .odt file to use as a template
34 - Inspecting the structure of an OpenDocument text file
35 - Extracting the main content file from a .odt document
36 - Converting the main content file to XSLT
37 - Outputting the database result as a .odt file

7. Generating a Microsoft Word File

38 - Creating a .docx file to use as a template
39 - Extracting the main content file from a Word document
40 - Formatting the main content file
41 - Converting the main content file to XSLT
42 - Outputting the database result as a .docx file
43 - Offering a choice of download formats

Conclusion

44 - Goodbye