Streaming file download while creating?

[drewB]

I am creating a file that can take a while to generate. I was thinking I would background the processing but then it occurred to me that I could do a streaming file download while I create the file. Is it possible to do that using the streamIO feature mentioned in #11?

[randym]

Hi @drewB

To the best of my limited knowledge, this is not going to be possible. The entire file needs to be serialized and zipped to be a valid OOXML file.

Regardless, it is still going to be chewing up that connection so you are probably better served by spinning off a job (resque et. al.) that generates the report on a worker machine (not your application server) and stores the data on an assets server tuned for concurrent downloads.

Once the report is ready, you can send the end user an email with a download link that lets them download it from that dedicated server.

I think that is really the only scalable way to do large report generation and delivery while protecting the performance of your core application.

[drewB]

That makes sense. Thanks for your response.

[wvengen]

If you need this, look at xlsxtream.