File download via JavaScript?

Question

So I had a thought today. I generate CSV from data already in memory in my JavaScript application, then pump that data to the user's browser via a File download prompt -- all in JavaScript --.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

No.

You need a server application too.

Answer 2

If your server is setup to trigger a download for your given MIME type then you can simply do a straight location.href = 'myFile.csv'.

This will prompt the user to open or save the file as you'd like.

This does require that your server be configured to behave this way.

Answer 3

If you want to do it entirely on the client-side, without any server interaction, you will need at least the help of Flash.

Give a look to Downloadify, is the best I've seen for client-side file generation.

Check the demo.