Exporting data from Rails to be used in different applications can be a tricky topic. What format do you need to export to? What if one export needs some data and another export needs other data? I had to solve exactly this problem with CSV. Ruby has an excellent CSV Library that is ripe for use with Rails. From my research, there are 2 basic ways of exporting CSV data from a Rails application that I have come across so far: calling to_csv on a model object in the Controller and generating CSV directly in the view.

Calling to_csv is a great option if you only ever need the CSV data in one format. My problem was more complex: I needed to allow the user to choose what format the CSV data was exported in, and then provide it in that format. To solve this problem, I chose to render the CSV in the view. Here’s how I did it:

The Controller

Rails controller actions respond to HTML by default. Luckly, setting up your controller to respond to CSV is really easy using ActionController::MimeResponds#respond_to, as follows:

def index
	# Standard model queries here...
	
	@template = params[:template]
	
	respond_to do |format|
		format.html
		format.csv { render template: "path/to/#{@template}" }
	end 
end 

The most important portion of the index action is the @template variable. When the user chooses what format they would like the CSV exported as, the download link provides a param that tells the controller what CSV template to render.

Bonus Tip: Optionally, you can also set the Content-Disposition header to make the CSV file download automatically and set a file name, like so:

format.csv do 
	headers['Content-Disposition'] = "attachment;filename=Your-File-Name-Here.csv"
	render template: "path/to/#{@template}"
end 

The View

Here’s where Ruby’s CSV Library comes in handy. Create as many CSV templates (in csv.erb format, so you can embed Ruby directly in the template) as you need and save them wherever it makes sense. They will each look something like this (obviously, with variation in the data displayed):

<% export = CSV.generate(" ", { headers: ["Array", "Of", "Headers"], write_headers: true, encoding: "UTF-8}) do |csv| %> 
	<% csv.add_row data %> 
<% end %>
<%= export.lstrip.html_safe %> 

Let me explain what’s going on:

1. The export variable is set to CSV.generate. This is the method that will be generating the actual CSV string that the user has requested.
2. CSV.generate takes 2 arguments: a string and a hash of options. I’ve passed a blank string and provided headers, write_headers, and encoding as options. headers is the content of the top row of your CSV file, and can be either an array of strings or a string separated by commas. write_headers specifies that the headers should be added to the CSV output (optional – false by default). encoding allows you to specify an encoding for the file (also optional – I’ve chosen UTF-8).
3. CSV.generate takes a block, in which you pass in the rows you actually want to add to the output. You can iterate over your data however you normally would in a view file in this block, and then pass the result to csv.add_row.
4. I explicitly have not printed anything in the view file until the last line. If the last line was left out, the CSV download would be a blank file. This is optional (you can alternatively remove the export variable and call CSV.generate in <%= %> tags). I did it this way because:

• My own CSV exports required that no blank lines be present in the export. I am calling lstrip because I found that a 0A (LF) character was being prepended to my CSV string, inexplicably.
• I am calling html_safe to avoid HTML escaping in the output. This should only be done if your data is known safe.

The Link

Now, when your user is given the option to select a CSV download, you can provide options that will provide the name of your CSV template to your controller. I implemented this by using a select_tag together with options_for_select that gathered the options from a Hash I provided. You can use whatever method provides the correct param to your controller.

In just a few lines of code, Ruby and Rails provide everything needed to create a very flexible CSV exporting system. Hope this helps with your CSV exporting needs!