download multiple Excel files

I was assigned a project to produce multiple Excel files with
the press of a single button. I am able to generate the files using
CFCONTENT/CFHEADER. I used javascript to submit a form multiple
times with different parameters to generate the separate files. I
couldn't figure a way to synchronize the ''file download'' dialog
with the browser window but I finally hit on using hidden iframes
as the form target - one for each file. This worked fine on my
system - each file would open a separate dialog (files are
generated as ''attachment''), one after the other. But when the
client tries it, only one or sometimes two dialogs are opened, then
it stops. We are both using IE v. 6.0 with slightly different minor
version numbers.



This would appear to be a browser issue - are there any
settings that would affect this?



Is there any way to check the existence or status of the
''file download'' dialog using javascript?



The other possible solution would be to generate the multiple
files on the server side and assemble them into a single ZIP for
download - any thoughts on that?



Thanks for any assistance.



Ken



download multiple Excel files
Not sure what a fix to your current issue might be, but could
you get away with creating 1 Excel file with multiple worksheets
instead of multiple Excel file with 1 Worksheet each? If so, that
might fix your multiple download issue. You can create multiple
worksheet Excel files using the Jakarta POI Java package (which you
probably already have on your server if you are using CFMX 7). I
think I've seen some Custom Tag wrappers for POI that make it even
easier to use.



Otherwise, your zip solution might be your best bet. Browsers
can be rather finicky about both frames and file downloads and when
you mix multiple instances of both together you never know what
might happen.download multiple Excel files
Michael,



Thanks for the response. We do have the POI package and I
have a little bit of familiarity with it. Multiple worksheets would
be an ideal solution as that was the original request - the
customer will actually be combining the multiple files into
separate worksheets in a single file. But that will involve quite a
bit of time for me to get up to speed on the ins and outs of the
package and figuring out how things like formatting.



For now I ''solved'' the problem by delaying the submission of
each form by 10 seconds, obviously not an ideal solution but it may
suffice until I come up with something better.



Ken
Hi,



I'm actually trying to generate multiple excel files at once,
looping though a query and creating the files.



However, when I launch the code, it is generating only the
last file and not one by one.



I unfortunately cannot use POI in this case because of heavy
formatting of the excel files (tables, colspans, rowspans, colors,
etc), unless you know of a way to do this with POI?



Initially the files were generated 1 by 1. This works, no
problem.



But now, the users want the option to tick which files they
want to generate and click on a Submit button to generate all the
Excel files they have checked.



Any idea on this issue?



Pls also advise how you managed to delay the form submission
by 10 seconds for each of the files you were creating.



Thanks and regards,

Yogesh Mahadnac
There is %26lt;cfzip%26gt; in CF8. I would:



Generate each XLS one at a time.

Put it in a temp directory on the web server

Zip them all up

Serve the zip to the client.



From a user perspective, this seems much better then dealing
with multiple download dialogs.



If you're not in CF8, there are custom tags available though
they may cost something.
Yogesh,



Here is the code I used. It sounds like almost exactly what
you are trying to do so if you don't have the option of using cfzip
you might try this. It presents a list of options and the user can
select which ones to generate. Then when submitted another window
is opened to allow the reports to be generated. Javascript
setTimeout() function delays the submission of each report. We have
this in production now and it seems to be working OK. You can
tailor it to your own environment.



HTH,

Ken
Hi Ken,



Many thanks for your prompt reply.



I'll give it a try.



Have a very nice day!



Best regards,

Yogesh