Is it possible, using javascript, to generate a TSV file on the browser side given that I have an array of headers that I want to put in the file?
For example, in my javascript I have:
var fields = ["field1", "field2", "field3", "field4", "field5"];
Can I create a TSV file which contains the following in the first line
field1 field2 field3 field4 field5
and save it as "fields.tsv"?
You can use Array.prototype.join() with parameter \t or \t\t to join fields array values single or multiple tab characters; use data URI with MIME type set to text/tab-separated-values with joined array concatenated , set window.location.href or window.open() first parameter to data URI to initiate Save File dialog.
Edit, Updated
As noted by @Eugene, pass joined fileds array to encodeURIComponent() to preserve tab characters
var fields = ["field1", "field2", "field3", "field4", "field5"];
var tsv = fields.join("\t");
window.location.href = "data:text/tab-separated-values," + encodeURIComponent(tsv);
encodeURIComponent(tsv) so tabs are not stripped awayBased from the suggestions and the 2nd answer on this post I have come to this plunkr solution. :)
function createFile () {
var fields = ["field1", "field2", "field3", "field4", "field5"];
var tsv = fields.join("\t");
var generatedFile = makeTextFile(tsv);
var link = document.getElementById('downloadLink');
link.href = generatedFile;
};
Thanks for all the help!
download attribute value to .txt if requirement is to create a text/tab-separated-values file?
tsv file generated will be opened via Microsoft Excel and Excel saves tab-delimited files with a .txt extension that's why I'm saving it as .txt for consistency.