Ruby on Rails console export table to excel

Question

Ruby on Rails 3

I have a table that is not shown on my application. I want to export the table to excel from the console.

Is there way to export a database table to an excel file from the console?

Thank you

Here is what I have so far:

require 'csv'

file = "#{Rails.root}/public/survey.csv"

userrefs = Survey.all

CSV.open( file, 'w' ) do |writer|
 userrefs.each do |ur|
   writer << ur.attributes.values_at(*column_names)
 end
end

When I enter require 'csv' it returns false. How do you make it true? Also, the *column_names is undefined.

@SamD that question does not help with the file format. I can easily get the table in a txt format. I would just copy and paste it if anything. — DDDD
– DDDD, Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 16:44
instead of txt you can run format.xls on a partial with the table only. like here railscasts.com/episodes/362-exporting-csv-and-excel — Sam
– Sam, Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 16:47
This is in the application though. My table is not viewed anywhere in my application. I need to do it from console — DDDD
– DDDD, Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 16:48
you can still run format.xls in console after instantiating the object that you want to export to excel — Sam
– Sam, Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 16:50

Sam · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-16 15:58:36Z

2

As mentioned in the comments an easy approach is using format.xls function to render an excel file from the console. Ryan Bates video covers Excel outputs extensively.

answered Dec 16, 2013 at 15:58

Sam

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Simone Carletti · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-13 19:03:01Z

1

You can connect to the database table using the existing driver or, if you prefer a more high-level API, you can create an ActiveRecord model or use the Sequel gem.

Once connected, simply use the Ruby CSV library (it's in the standard library, so no additional library is required) to dump the content into a CSV file.

CSV files can be easily read from Excel.

PS. Just to use the appropriate words, that is not a Rails table. It's a database table.

answered Dec 13, 2013 at 19:03

Simone Carletti

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4 Comments

DDDD Over a year ago

Not sure what you mean by connect to the database. Also, how do you use the library to dump the file? I see in the link it has a do loop. Is that run at the console?

Simone Carletti Over a year ago

Yes, you can perform everything from a console.

DDDD Over a year ago

The site uses all those titles that is very confusing. Which is all at once? Also, where in the cmd is the table specified? Could you place an example?

Simone Carletti Over a year ago

Instead of having me writing the code for you, according to the spirit of StackOverflow, try to study and write a solution. Then come back and post what you did so that we can comment it and help you.

Gonzalo S · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-13 19:27:01Z

1

Another interesting approach could be using the activeadmin gem, it's easy to install and allow you to export your tables to csv.

http://www.activeadmin.info/

answered Dec 13, 2013 at 19:27

Gonzalo S

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