TableSorter : how to export results to csv?

TableSorter is a great jquery script to sort html tables with many options.

But I don't know how to add a simple 'export to csv' button (or link) to get a file containing the records of my table (with no special formatting).

I know the Output Plugin but it seems far too complex to me.

Thanks by advance for your help !

Ted

Solution

It's actually not complicated, it only looks intimidating because of all the options. The output widget can output csv, tsv, any other separated (space, semi-colon, etc) values, javascript array or JSON.

If you are just using basic functionality, the default settings will:

Output csv to a popup window
Only include the last header row
Only include filtered rows (so all rows if the filter widget isn't even being used)
Will only output the table cell text (ignores HTML)

All you would need is this code (demo):

HTML

<button class="download">Get CSV</button>
<table class="tablesorter">
    ....
</table>

Script

$(function () {
    var $table = $('table');

    $('.download').click(function(){
        $table.trigger('outputTable');
    });

    $table.tablesorter({
        theme: 'blue',
        widgets: ['zebra', 'output']
    });
});

I created another demo, showing all options, with a set of radio buttons which allow the user to choose between sending the output to a popup window, or downloading the file.

HTML

<label><input data-delivery="p" name="delivery" type="radio" checked /> popup</label>
<label><input data-delivery="d" name="delivery" type="radio" /> download</label>
<button class="download">Get CSV</button>

Script

var $table = $('table');

$('.download').click(function(){
    // get delivery type
    var delivery = $('input[name=delivery]:checked').attr('data-delivery');
    $table.data('tablesorter').widgetOptions.output_delivery = delivery;        
    $table.trigger('outputTable');
});

So, you can make it as simple or complex as you want (see the actual output widget demo which allows the user to set almost all the options).