Problem in generating output in Excel

Question

Hi, 
     I have pasted this code from a blog.
But i get the output in a single cell of an excel sheet.
I guess its not recognising the horizontal tab and new line.
Does anyone have an alternative?
     <%@page language="abap" %>
<%@extension name="htmlb" prefix="htmlb" %>
<htmlb:content design="design2003" >
  <htmlb:page title=" " >
    <htmlb:form>
      <%
  DATA: flights TYPE FLIGHTTAB,
  flight  LIKE LINE OF flights,
  output  TYPE string.
  CONSTANTS:
  crlf TYPE string VALUE CL_ABAP_CHAR_UTILITIES=>CR_LF,
  tab  TYPE string VALUE CL_ABAP_CHAR_UTILITIES=>HORIZONTAL_TAB.
  SELECT * FROM sflight INTO TABLE flights UP TO 20 ROWS.
  LOOP AT flights INTO flight.
  DATA: seatsmax TYPE string.  seatsmax = flight-seatsmax. CONDENSE seatsmax.
  DATA: seatsocc TYPE string.  seatsocc = flight-seatsocc. CONDENSE seatsocc.
  CONCATENATE output
  flight-carrid     tab
  flight-connid     tab
  flight-fldate     tab
  flight-planetype  tab
  seatsmax          tab
  seatsocc          tab
  crlf
  INTO output.
  ENDLOOP.
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>cache_control ).
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>expires ).
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>pragma ).
  response->set_header_field( name  = if_http_header_fields=>content_type
  value = 'application/msexcel' ).
  response->set_header_field( name = 'content-disposition'
  value = 'attachment;filename=webforms.xls' ).
  response->set_cdata( data = output ).
      %>
    </htmlb:form>
  </htmlb:page>
</htmlb:content>

Answer 1

Sure.  I have a stateless application with a single page: excel_test.htm.  There are no page attributes.
The following is my layout:
<%@page language="abap" %>
<%@extension name="htmlb" prefix="htmlb" %>
<htmlb:content design="design2003" >
  <htmlb:page title=" " >
    <htmlb:form>
      <htmlb:button id      = "test"
                    text    = "test"
                    onClick = "test" />
    </htmlb:form>
  </htmlb:page>
</htmlb:content>
Here is the coding of the OnInputProcessing:
* event handler for checking and processing user input and
* for defining navigation
  data: flights type flighttab,
  flight like line of flights,
  output type string,
  output2 type xstring.
  constants:
  crlf type string value cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf,
  tab type string value cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab.
  select * from sflight into table flights up to 20 rows.
  loop at flights into flight.
    data: seatsmax type string. seatsmax = flight-seatsmax. condense seatsmax.
    data: seatsocc type string. seatsocc = flight-seatsocc. condense seatsocc.
    concatenate output
    flight-carrid cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    flight-connid cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    flight-fldate cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    flight-planetype cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    seatsmax cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    seatsocc cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf
    into output.
  endloop.
  data: response type ref to if_http_response.
  response = runtime->server->response.
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>cache_control ).
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>expires ).
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>pragma ).
  response->set_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>content_type
  value = 'application/msexcel' ).
  response->set_header_field( name = 'content-disposition'
  value = 'attachment;filename=webforms.xls' ).
  call function 'SCMS_STRING_TO_XSTRING'
    exporting
      text     = output
      mimetype = 'text/unicode; charset=utf-16le'
    importing
      buffer   = output2.
  concatenate  cl_abap_char_utilities=>byte_order_mark_little
  output2
  into output2 in byte mode.
  data: l_len type i.
  l_len = xstrlen( output2 ).
  response->set_data( data = output2
  length = l_len ).
  navigation->response_complete( ).
This example does cast the data to Unicode and sends it back as a byte stream.  However if you wanted to go with your original example you could use the following:
* event handler for checking and processing user input and
* for defining navigation
  data: flights type flighttab,
  flight like line of flights,
  output type string,
  output2 type xstring.
  constants:
  crlf type string value cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf,
  tab type string value cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab.
  select * from sflight into table flights up to 20 rows.
  loop at flights into flight.
    data: seatsmax type string. seatsmax = flight-seatsmax. condense seatsmax.
    data: seatsocc type string. seatsocc = flight-seatsocc. condense seatsocc.
    concatenate output
    flight-carrid cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    flight-connid cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    flight-fldate cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    flight-planetype cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    seatsmax cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    seatsocc cl_abap_char_utilities=>horizontal_tab
    cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf
    into output.
  endloop.
  data: response type ref to if_http_response.
  response = runtime->server->response.
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>cache_control ).
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>expires ).
  response->delete_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>pragma ).
  response->set_header_field( name = if_http_header_fields=>content_type
  value = 'application/msexcel' ).
  response->set_header_field( name = 'content-disposition'
  value = 'attachment;filename=webforms.xls' ).
*  call function 'SCMS_STRING_TO_XSTRING'
*    exporting
*      text     = output
*      mimetype = 'text/unicode; charset=utf-16le'
*    importing
*      buffer   = output2.
*  concatenate  cl_abap_char_utilities=>byte_order_mark_little
*  output2
*  into output2 in byte mode.
  data: l_len type i.
  l_len = strlen( output ).
  response->set_cdata( data = output
  length = l_len ).
  navigation->response_complete( ).
Both examples work fine in my system.  Personally I would stick with Unicode if you could possibly need to support more than one language in your data.  The increase in data size will most likely be mostly offset by HTTP compression.