Excel Exporter (Using Spout)

Spout is a plugin that focuses more on speed and less on formating options for the resulting excel spreadsheet. To use this exporter you must create a few files. We will start with the service php file you need to create that extends the SpoutExcelExporter (we will be using the families exporter as an example):

<?php

namespace WeMake\Services\Documents;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection;
use WeMake\Http\Requests\Request;
use WeMake\Services\Core\SpoutExcelExporter;

/**
 * Class FamiliesListingExporter
 *
 * @package OneVet\Interfaces
 */
class FamiliesListingExporter extends SpoutExcelExporter
{
    /**
     * @var string
     */
    protected $filename = 'families_listing'; // name of the generated file (no extension)

    /**
     * @var string
     */
    protected $type = 'xlsx'; // defines wether it exports an excel file, csv file or ods file

    /**
     * @var array
     */
    protected $header = [ // array of elements for the header (translated strings)
        'form.field.name',
        'form.field.type',

        ...

    ];
}

After creating the file above, you must create an ExportTransformer (if you have read the PDF Listing Exporter documentation you will notice it is the same type of file):

<?php

namespace WeMake\Transformers\Documents;

use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use League\Fractal\TransformerAbstract;
use WeMake\Contracts\Core\CollectionTransformerContract;

/**
 * Class FamilyExportTransformer
 *
 * @package WeMake\Transformers\Documents
 */
class FamilyExportTransformer extends TransformerAbstract implements CollectionTransformerContract
{
    /**
     * Turn this item object into a generic array
     *
     * @param Collection $collection
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function transform(Collection $collection)
    {
        $records = [];

        foreach ($collection as $record) {
            $records[] = $this->transformRecord($record);
        }

        return $records;
    }

    /**
     * Turn this item object into a generic array
     *
     * @param Model $model
     *
     * @return array
     */
    private function transformRecord(Model $model)
    {
        return [
            'name'          => $model->name,
            'type'          => $type,

            ...
        ];
    }
}

Now, just alter the appropriate Repository (in this case it would be the FamiliesRepository) and add this function: NOTE: This document presuposes that you know what a repository (backend) is and what it is for

/**
* Returns export records.
*
* @param Request                       $request
* @param CollectionTransformerContract $transformer
*
* @return array $records
*/
public function export(Request $request, CollectionTransformerContract $transformer)
// (Note: if you need to export more than one diferent excel list name your functions like exportExcelName1, exportExcelName2, ...)
{
    $records = $this->searchQuery($request)->get();

    return $transformer->transform($records); // return an array of transformed records
}

Finally, just add a method to the controller that allows the generated file to be downloaded:

/**
* Creates excel file and downloads it to browser
*
* @param ShowRequest             $request
* @param Repository              $repository
* @param FamiliesListingExporter $exporter
*/
public function excel(ShowRequest $request, Repository $repository, FamiliesListingExporter $exporter)
// Note: Again, change the name of the function as appropriate
{
    $records = $repository->export($request, new FamilyExportTransformer);

    $exporter->download($request, $records); // generates and downloads the excel file.
}