Exporting data as CSV format using csv helper at CakePHP

Save the following file as csv.php into your app/views/helpers/ directory
Helper Class:

<?php

class CsvHelper extends AppHelper {

	var $delimiter = ',';
	var $enclosure = '"';
	var $filename = 'Export.csv';
	var $line = array();
	var $buffer;

	function CsvHelper() {
		$this->clear();
	}

	function clear() {
		$this->line = array();
		$this->buffer = fopen('php://temp/maxmemory:'. (5*1024*1024), 'r+');
	}

	function addField($value) {
		$this->line[] = $value;
	}

	function endRow() {
		$this->addRow($this->line);
		$this->line = array();
	}

	function addRow($row) {
		fputcsv($this->buffer, $row, $this->delimiter, $this->enclosure);
	}

	function renderHeaders() {
		header("Content-type:application/vnd.ms-excel");
		header("Content-disposition:attachment;filename=".$this->filename);
	}

	function setFilename($filename) {
		$this->filename = $filename;
		if (strtolower(substr($this->filename, -4)) != '.csv') {
			$this->filename .= '.csv';
		}
	}

	function render($outputHeaders = true, $to_encoding = null, $from_encoding = "auto") {
		if ($outputHeaders) {
			if (is_string($outputHeaders)) {
				$this->setFilename($outputHeaders);
			}
			$this->renderHeaders();
		}
		rewind($this->buffer);
		$output = stream_get_contents($this->buffer);
		if ($to_encoding) {
			$output = mb_convert_encoding($output, $to_encoding, $from_encoding);
		}
		return $this->output($output);
	}
}

?>

Add this Helper to your controller:

 var $helpers = array('Html', 'Form','Csv');

Then create a method “download” at controller:

  function download(){
	$this->set('orders', $this->Order->find('all'));
	$this->layout = null;
	$this->autoLayout = false;
	Configure::write('debug', '0');
  }

at index.ctp,put this link:

 <?php echo $html->link('Download Data','download');?>

In download.ctp view file put the below code :

 <?php
	$line= $orders[0]['Order'];
	$csv->addRow(array_keys($line));
	foreach ($orders as $order){
	  $line = $order['Order'];
	  $csv->addRow($line);
	}
	$filename='orders';
	echo $csv->render($filename);
  ?>

This example is to write an array to a file with csv extension

 $list = array (
	array('aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc', 'dddd'),
	array('123', '456', '789'),
	array('"aaa"', '"bbb"')
  );
  $fh = fopen(WWW_ROOT."export.csv", 'w') or die("can't open file");
  foreach($list as $row){
	// write csv line to file
	fputcsv($fh, $row);
  }

 //close handle
 fclose($fh);

Read CSV file in CakePHP

http://code.google.com/p/parsecsv-for-php/downloads/detail?name=parsecsv-0.3.2.zip

Now copy the main class file to your app/vendors/ and name it parsecsv.php.

Now the above file will be look liked that :

 function download(){
	App::import("Vendor","parsecsv");
	$csv = new parseCSV();
	$filepath = WWW_ROOT."export.csv";
	$csv->auto($filepath);
	$this->set('orders',$csv->data);
	$this->layout = null;
	$this->autoLayout = false;
	Configure::write('debug', '0');
 }