Dave Rowe’s Blog

I’m evaluating a DataGrid for use in a project which is using the Zend Framework, and I came across the ZFDataGrid project.  Fantastic work, and the grid works wonderfully.  It enables you to filter your data and export it in various formats (PDF, Doc, Docx, OpenOffice, etc).  The sample on the site works exactly like this.  The only issue is the manual doesn’t exactly explain how to enable the export functionality.  It doesn’t ‘just work’, but it was reasonably easy to find since the code for the sample site is in Google Code.  But, it isn’t in an intuitive place like the manual or on the site itself.  So, to hopefully save someone else some time, I’ll post the code here – it is from the sample SiteController, and not originally written by me.

$export = $this->getRequest ()->getParam ( 'export' );
 
switch ($export)
{
    case 'odt' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Odt";
        break;
    case 'ods' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Ods";
        break;
    case 'xml' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Xml";
        break;
    case 'csv' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Csv";
        break;
    case 'excel' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Excel";
        break;
    case 'word' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Word";
        break;
    case 'wordx' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Wordx";
        break;
    case 'pdf' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Pdf";
        break;
    case 'print' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Print";
        break;
    default :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Table";
        break;
}
 
$grid = new $grid (false, 'DataGrid Example', '/tmp', array('download'));
$grid->setDataFromCsv(dirname(__FILE__).'/Detail_Limited.csv');
$grid->imagesUrl = '/images/';
 
$this->view->grid = $grid->deploy();

The code at the end is mine, which basically tells the DataGrid where to render/save the exported file, which is then immediately sent for download. I also am not using the Zend_Db stuff for the data. As a proof-of-concept, I’m using a simple dataset in CSV, which works amazingly well. The filters, sorting, and pagination still work with CSV.

I’m thinking about writing an adapter for Doctrine, such that one could construct a Doctrine query object, pass it into the DataGrid, and everything would work, as it does with the Zend_Db counterparts.