export products to csv from the admin product grid

Question

Hi,

The import products profile allows you to filter which products to export by name, sku... I want to have the same functionality in the manage products page. The admin will filter products in the grid and then click a "export" button to get the filtered products.

How can I add the "export" button? what template/block do I need to override? When the admin click the button, how can I get the filtered collection? How can I export the filtered collection to a csv file? Can I use the dataflow for that?

Thanks

Answer 1

You will need to implement a new massAction in the admin product controller. A good way to start is to have a look at the product controller and see how the other massActions are implemented.

Let's have a look... First you will need to add a declaration of a massAction to a grid. This can be done in app/code/core/Mage/Adminhtml/Block/Catalog/Product/Grid.php. You need to add the following in the _prepareMassaction method:

$this->getMassactionBlock()->addItem('export', array(
                'label' => Mage::helper('catalog')->__('Export to CSV'),
                'url'   => $this->getUrl('*/*/massExport', array('_current'=>true)),
            ));

Now you will have to implement this new action in the product controller (app/code/core/Mage/Adminhtml/controllers/Catalog/ProductController.php):

public function massExportAction()
    {
        $productIds = $this->getRequest()->getParam('product');
        if (!is_array($productIds)) {
            $this->_getSession()->addError($this->__('Please select product(s).'));
            $this->_redirect('*/*/index');
        }
        else {
            //write headers to the csv file
            $content = "id,name,url,sku\n";
            try {
                foreach ($productIds as $productId) {
                    $product = Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product')->load($productId);
                    $content .= "\"{$product->getId()}\",\"{$product->getName()}\",\"{$product->getProductUrl()}\",\"{$product->getSku()}\"\n";
                }
            } catch (Exception $e) {
                $this->_getSession()->addError($e->getMessage());
                $this->_redirect('*/*/index');
            }
            $this->_prepareDownloadResponse('export.csv', $content, 'text/csv');
        }

    }

The code is mostly copied from the massDeleteAction, but instead of deleting products you should add to the $content variable. After you are done creating the content of your csv export (you will probably need to add other fields to it) you need to call the _prepareDownloadResponse method of the controller class. That's it, you have your custom export in place!

On a final note, once you are happy with the changes remember to move them to your local code pool so that your magento installation remains update-proof :)