Excel export

WeKan exports either a whole board or one card as an .xlsx workbook. The board export has two forms:

• the default detailed export produces printable A4 card blocks, using the same fields offered by the export popup;
• explicitly clearing Card details selects a streaming table whose memory use stays flat for very large boards.

The related PDF export uses the same field selection and the same card-document model. The intended common layout is described in One Card Layout.

Implementation

• models/exportExcel.js and models/server/ExporterExcel.js implement the streaming board table.
• models/exportExcelCard.js and models/server/ExporterExcelCard.js implement a printable card workbook.
• models/server/ExporterExcelBoard.js reuses the card renderer for every card when detailed board export is selected.
• models/server/renderCardDocumentExcel.js renders every block from the shared card document with the six-column worksheet geometry.
• models/lib/cardExportDocument.js is the single adapter from board, card, people, checklist, comment and attachment records to that card document. PDF calls the same adapter, including for human-readable attachment sizes.
• models/server/createWorkbook.js selects the safe buffered ExcelJS writer when the installed streaming writer cannot load.
• models/lib/cardDocument.js is the medium-independent card layout shared with PDF.

The board, swimlane, list and card hamburger menus all include the same exportScopeBody Blaze template from client/components/boards/exportScope.jade. Its format table, section checkboxes, URL builder, locale parameters and scope parameters are defined once in client/components/boards/exportScope.js. There are no separate Excel or PDF menu templates for the four scopes.

On the server, scope changes only the surrounding hierarchy and the cards selected. Every selected card goes through buildExportCardDocument; detailed board, list and swimlane Excel then calls the same ExporterExcelCard.renderCardBlock used by a single-card export. Excel-specific code only converts the shared blocks into worksheet cells, fills, borders, progress bars and images.

ExcelJS writes rich text for Markdown, embeds JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP attachment previews, formats dates in the requesting browser's timezone, and prints only the sections selected in the export dialog. The workbook is generated directly into the HTTP response and does not use a temporary export file.

Detailed exports follow the visible hierarchy. A board workbook starts with the board name, members, creation time and modification time, then writes each swimlane, each list in that swimlane, and each card in that list. A swimlane export starts with that swimlane and continues with its lists and cards; a list export starts with that list and its cards; a card export contains that card. Even a board with one visible swimlane names it explicitly. PDF uses this same ordering.

The shared card block includes the complete opened-card data: labels, stickers, all locations (place name, address, latitude and longitude), people, board/list/ swimlane information, numeric sort position, dates and time tracking, dependencies, description, custom fields, checklists, subtasks, comments, attachments, voting and planning poker. Legacy single-location fields are rendered the same way as the current multiple-location array.

The attachment section lists every file in a six-column details table: row number, filename, human-readable size, media type, upload date/time and uploader. Preview images use one worksheet column each, up to six on the same row, with the filename in the cell directly below each image. The seventh image starts the next image row, followed by its own filename row.

Excel stores text as Unicode, so the export preserves every language. The .xlsx format used by ExcelJS cannot portably embed an OpenType font: it records a font family name and the spreadsheet application selects an installed font or fallback. Bundling GNU Unifont therefore fixes portable PDF rendering but cannot force the same font into an Excel workbook. Converting cells to pictures would make all glyphs visible but would destroy editing, searching, copying and accessibility, so WeKan keeps real Unicode cell text.

Current progress

Completed:

• board, list, swimlane and single-card export routes;
• field selection for board and card details;
• localized labels and user-timezone dates;
• the logged-in user's saved language, falling back to the current browser language when no language is saved;
• the date format displayed by the opened card;
• Markdown-rich descriptions, comments, checklist items and custom fields;
• attachment metadata and inline image previews;
• voting, planning poker, checklists, subtasks and custom fields;
• a shared document renderer for a single card and detailed board export, including six-column metadata, colored labels, checklist progress, attachment metadata and image placement;
• one shared hamburger-menu template and one raw-record adapter across board, swimlane, list and card PDF/Excel exports;
• access checks that constrain a card to the authorized board and list;
• an Excel import round trip for the board-table shape.

There is no remaining export-layout implementation item. Portable font embedding in .xlsx is a file-format/library limitation rather than an omitted font asset; PDF is the format to use when identical glyph rendering on every device is required.

The design and progress live here rather than in CHANGELOG.md's TODO list so implementation details stay beside the format they describe.