Excel WFS Output Format

The GeoServer Excel plugin adds the ability to output WFS requests in either Excel 97-2003 (.xls) or Excel 2007 (.xlsx) formats.

Installation

  1. Download the Excel plugin for your version of GeoServer from the download page.
  2. Unzip the archive into the WEB-INF/lib directory of the GeoServer installation.
  3. Restart GeoServer.

Usage

When making a WFS request, set the outputFormat to excel (for Excel 97-2003) or excel2007 (for Excel 2007).

Examples

Excel 97-2003 URL:
http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wfs?request=GetFeature&version=1.1.0&typeName=topp:states&outputFormat=excel
Excel 2007 URL:
http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wfs?request=GetFeature&version=1.1.0&typeName=topp:states&outputFormat=excel2007

Excel 97-2003 XML:

<wfs:GetFeature service="WFS" version="1.1.0"
  outputFormat="excel"
  xmlns:topp="http://www.openplans.org/topp"
  xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs"
  xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/wfs
                      http://schemas.opengis.net/wfs/1.1.0/wfs.xsd">
  <wfs:Query typeName="topp:states" />
</wfs:GetFeature>

Limitations

Excel 97-2003 files are stored as binary and thus space efficient, but have several inherent limitations (65,526 rows per sheet; 256 columns per sheet). Excel 2007 files are XML based, and have much higher limits (1,048,576 rows per sheet; 16,384 columns per sheet). However, because they are text based Excel 2007 files are much larger than Excel 97-2003 files. Generating Excel 2007 files also uses much more memory than Excel 97-2003 files.

If the number of rows or characters in a cell exceeds the limits of the chosen Excel file format, warning text will be inserted indicating the truncation.

Previous: Extensions
Next: GeoSearch