ruby script/plugin install http://svn.peterleonhardt.com/rails_plugins/acts_as_csvable/trunk/

Usage
==========
Once included as a plugin in your Rails app, you can use the new functionality right away.

You can apply the to_csv method to instances of ActiveRecord objects, or the classes themselves.

People.find_all_by_first_name("Peter").to_csv

or

People.to_csv (performs a People.find(:all)) 

You can also use the respond_to method to respond to .csv requests

url /people.csv

  def index
    @people = Person.find(:all)
    
    respond_to do |wants|
      wants.csv { render :text => @people.to_csv(:columns => ["first_name", "last_name", "date_of_birth"]) }
    end
  end

You can also determine which columns (or functions) you want to export. Simple define an export_columns method in your model with an array of the columns you wan't exported.

There are more detailed examples in the rdoc for the plugin (macro_exportable.rb).

Options
============
There are multiple ways to specify which columns you want to export with the CSV. The first, and default, way is to specify the export_columns method in the model that you are exporting. This takes an array of column names. The names of the methods will be used as the Header Row for the CSV and then subsequent rows will call the method on the object. Because of the way this is set up it is possible to specify not just attributes, but any method that returns a string. Alternatively, you may pass a hash instead of an array, where the keys are used for the header row and the values used as the method to be called.

You can even call methods through associations, if needed:

      @properties.to_csv(:columns => {:owner_name => "owner.name", :address => "address"})

- :template. This allows you to be able to specify conditions for use of different columns

     #in your model
      to_csv_export_columns :fancy_naming, [{:first => "first_name"}, {:last => "last_name"}, {:email => "email_address"}, {:address => "mailing_address"}]
      to_csv_export_columns :detailed, [:first_name, :last_name, :email_address, :mailing_address]
      to_csv_export_columns :default, [:first_name, :last_name]

- :columns. This allows you to pass an array of columns into the to_csv method. This is useful if you are dynamically generating which columns you want to export.

   @proposal.to_csv(:columns => ["title", "amount", "proposer"]). You can also pass this a hash of the form expected in export_columns.

Note: The :columns option take precedence over the :template option if both are specified.

There is currently no advanced documentation for this plugin.