Download CSV file using “AJAX”

Question

I\'m trying to accomplish a fairly simple task for my website, but I\"m not sure exactly how to go about it. I want the user to be viewing a table, then click a button, at w

Answer 1

The best way to accomplish this is to use a Data URI as follows:

1. Make the AJAX call to the server as per normal
2. Generate the CSV on the server-side
3. Return the data (either bare or inside a JSON structure)
4. Create a Data URI in Javascript using the returned data
5. Set window.location.href to the Data URI

See this link for instructions (paragraph #3, specifically): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_URI_scheme

This way, you don't need to save any files on the server, and you also don't need to use iframes or hidden form elements or any such hacks.