I am working as a web developer for nearly 20 years. I care a lot about simple and maintainable code that is fun to work with, good documentation and clean APIs.
Okay, wait a second - did I get this correctly: I load JSON data from your server and turn that into an excel file INSIDE YOUR BROWSER using massive amounts of client side javascript.
Why?
Instead of requesting JSON from the server, why not requesting the excel file directly from the server (create it serverside)?
That would result in a much smaller client side app and works even in older browsers.
Or did I miss any reason to do that stuff in the browser?
I write about various topics that I'm currently learning, be it front end, back end, cloud, DevOps, etc., you name it!
For any questions you may have, you can reach out to me at: hello@hungvu.tech.
Server-side export is a different use case, and is not always a solution. For example, if you want to create a reusable table component with XLSX exporting feature, then client side is a way to do so. Certainly, information in the table is from an API, and at least I would not want to have my table feature being disabled due to internet connection issue.
The article is an introduction to xlsx feature, so either examples work.
I am working as a web developer for nearly 20 years. I care a lot about simple and maintainable code that is fun to work with, good documentation and clean APIs.
You should definitely mention just HOW BIG the xlsx module is. Its over 400kb of minified javascript. Thats nothing you should casually load alongside your app just because someone might want to save an excel file.
And if you want to create a React table component, it should not be built with excel export included in the component. That logic definitely belongs someplace else.
There may be a rare case of when there is really no other way than generating the excel file in the browser - but the way your article is written most people get the idea that there is no downside at all to that approach. "Just install those three modules" sounds simple but in the background you are getting truckloads of additional code into your application. Your article seems to be aimed at beginners.
So big red warning: you would normally NOT want to do it this way, but there MAY be reasons to do so.
I write about various topics that I'm currently learning, be it front end, back end, cloud, DevOps, etc., you name it!
For any questions you may have, you can reach out to me at: hello@hungvu.tech.
I agree it has an impact on performance and should have more consideration in a real product implementation, but again, that was not the point of this article (at least in the way I interpret it).
The table example was simply based on MUI data grid, which was on top of my head at that time.
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Okay, wait a second - did I get this correctly: I load JSON data from your server and turn that into an excel file INSIDE YOUR BROWSER using massive amounts of client side javascript.
Why?
Instead of requesting JSON from the server, why not requesting the excel file directly from the server (create it serverside)?
That would result in a much smaller client side app and works even in older browsers.
Or did I miss any reason to do that stuff in the browser?
Server-side export is a different use case, and is not always a solution. For example, if you want to create a reusable table component with XLSX exporting feature, then client side is a way to do so. Certainly, information in the table is from an API, and at least I would not want to have my table feature being disabled due to internet connection issue.
The article is an introduction to
xlsxfeature, so either examples work.You should definitely mention just HOW BIG the xlsx module is. Its over 400kb of minified javascript. Thats nothing you should casually load alongside your app just because someone might want to save an excel file.
And if you want to create a React table component, it should not be built with excel export included in the component. That logic definitely belongs someplace else.
There may be a rare case of when there is really no other way than generating the excel file in the browser - but the way your article is written most people get the idea that there is no downside at all to that approach. "Just install those three modules" sounds simple but in the background you are getting truckloads of additional code into your application. Your article seems to be aimed at beginners.
So big red warning: you would normally NOT want to do it this way, but there MAY be reasons to do so.
I'm not the author by the way, just a passerby.
I agree it has an impact on performance and should have more consideration in a real product implementation, but again, that was not the point of this article (at least in the way I interpret it).
The table example was simply based on MUI data grid, which was on top of my head at that time.