I'm confused writing a .xlsx file using writeFile method because I'm getting an empty file.

The function receives a valid worksheet object(I inspected), the worksheet name display well but no information is in the file. Below is my code, thank you in advance.

function saveToExcel(event, worksheet) {
    const workbook = XLSX.utils.book_new();
    XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, worksheet, "Lista de Evaporadores");
    event.sender.send('verga', workbook);
    XLSX.writeFile(workbook, `books/lista-evaporadores.xlsx`, {type: 'file'});
    open('books/lista-evaporadores.xlsx');
}

I'm confused writing a .xlsx file using writeFile method because I'm getting an empty file.

The function receives a valid worksheet object(I inspected), the worksheet name display well but no information is in the file. Below is my code, thank you in advance.

function saveToExcel(event, worksheet) {
    const workbook = XLSX.utils.book_new();
    XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, worksheet, "Lista de Evaporadores");
    event.sender.send('verga', workbook);
    XLSX.writeFile(workbook, `books/lista-evaporadores.xlsx`, {type: 'file'});
    open('books/lista-evaporadores.xlsx');
}

• javascript
• excel
• sheetjs
• js-xlsx

• did you find a solution? I'm experiencing the same problem! – sonja Commented Oct 12, 2018 at 9:48

2 Answers 2

It's described pretty well here : https://github./SheetJS/js-xlsx/issues/817. This is the example of creating a worksheet and populating it with data, then adding that worksheet in a new workbook

var workbook = xlsx.utils.book_new();
var data = [
    {name:"John", city: "Seattle"},
    {name:"Mike", city: "Los Angeles"},
    {name:"Zach", city: "New York"}
];
var ws = xlsx.utils.json_to_sheet(data);
xlsx.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, ws, "Results");
xlsx.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsx', {type: 'file'});

When ever your data Object is empty you will receive the error mentioned above

Error:

var workbook = xlsx.utils.book_new();
var data = [];
var ws = xlsx.utils.json_to_sheet(data); // data Array is empty
xlsx.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, ws, "Results");
xlsx.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsx', {type: 'file'});

Solution:

var workbook = xlsx.utils.book_new();
var data = [
    {name:"John", city: "Seattle"},
    {name:"Mike", city: "Los Angeles"},
    {name:"Zach", city: "New York"}
];
var ws = xlsx.utils.json_to_sheet(data); // data Array not empty 
xlsx.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, ws, "Results");
xlsx.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsx', {type: 'file'});