phpexcel - download file gets corrupted

Question

I am trying to download excel file generated by phpexcel. I am using example "Simple download xlsx" of phpexcel.

I am using same concept given in this SO question.

I am calling php file by POST request from client. Not passing any header. Using below code:

MessageService.invokePostRequest( 
            "/rest/testphpexcel1.php", 
            function(returnedResponse){ 

                var data_type     = 'application/vnd.ms-excel';
                var excelDoc = new Blob([returnedResponse], {
                  type: data_type
                });
                var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(excelDoc);
                var exportLink  = new core.Element('a');
                exportLink.setAttribute('href', url);
                exportLink.setAttribute('download', this.filename + '.xlsx');
                exportLink.trigger('click');
                //adding some delay in removing the dynamically created link solved the problem in FireFox
                setTimeout(function() {
                  window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
                }, 0);


            }.bind(this),{data: JSON.stringify(postData)} 

Here MessageService.invokePostRequest is a wrapper around ajax.

On server side I've below php code:

// Create new PHPExcel object
    $objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();

    // Set document properties
    $objPHPExcel->getProperties()->setCreator("Maarten Balliauw")
                                 ->setLastModifiedBy("Maarten Balliauw")
                                 ->setTitle("Office 2007 XLSX Test Document")
                                 ->setSubject("Office 2007 XLSX Test Document")
                                 ->setDescription("Test document for Office 2007 XLSX, generated using PHP classes.")
                                 ->setKeywords("office 2007 openxml php")
                                 ->setCategory("Test result file");


    // Add some data
    $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0)
                ->setCellValue('A1', 'Hello')
                ->setCellValue('B2', 'world!')
                ->setCellValue('C1', 'Hello')
                ->setCellValue('D2', 'world!');

    // Miscellaneous glyphs, UTF-8
    $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0)
                ->setCellValue('A4', 'Miscellaneous glyphs');

    // Rename worksheet
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setTitle('Simple');


    // Set active sheet index to the first sheet, so Excel opens this as the first sheet
    $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);


    // Redirect output to a client’s web browser (Excel2007)
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="01simple.xlsx"');
    header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
    header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
    header('Pragma: public');

    $objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel2007');
    $objWriter->save('php://output');
    exit;

Here I tried with Content-Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet on client and server both side.

I am getting below response headers (from chrome's developer tools):

cache-control:must-revalidate
connection:Keep-Alive
content-disposition:attachment;filename="01simple.xlsx"
content-length:6309
content-transfer-encoding:binary
content-type:text/html; charset=UTF-8
date:Fri, 30 Jun 2017 13:51:40 GMT
keep-alive:timeout=5, max=100
pragma:public
server:Apache/2.4.6 (CentOS) PHP/5.4.16
x-powered-by:PHP/5.4.16

From content-length I assume there is some data and in response tab I can see some gibberish text. But that response is not properly converted to excel file, I think.

A file is always getting downloaded and when I open the file, it has text "Unexpected token P in JSON at position 0".

I don't know what am I doing wrong here. How to download a proper excel file generated by phpexcel ?

Answer 1

Try to use additional headers, it works for me. And try to open by php without js. If php opens correct, try to find error in js script.

header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition:attachment;filename="01simple.xls"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=1');

header ('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT');
header ('Last-Modified: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT');
header ('Cache-Control: cache, must-revalidate');
header ('Pragma: public');