Export From Database To CSV In NodeJS (Simple Example)

Welcome to a quick tutorial on how to export from a database to a CSV file with NodeJS. Need to generate a CSV report? Want to export a list from the database? Well, let us walk through a simple example – Read on!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Source code on GitHub Gist

Just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

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QUICK SETUP

Run npm i sqlite3 csv-stringify to install the required modules.

 

PART 1) DUMMY DATA

1A) DUMMY USER DATABASE

CREATE TABLE users (
  id INTEGER,
  name TEXT NOT NULL,
  email TEXT NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY("id" AUTOINCREMENT)
);

INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES 
("Joa Doe", "joa@doe.com"),
("Job Doe", "job@doe.com"),
("Joe Doe", "joe@doe.com"),
("Jog Doe", "jog@doe.com"),
("Joi Doe", "joi@doe.com"),
("Jon Doe", "jon@doe.com"),
("Jor Doe", "jor@doe.com"),
("Jos Doe", "jos@doe.com"),
("Jou Doe", "jou@doe.com"),
("Joy Doe", "joy@doe.com");

For this example, we will be working with this dummy user table. This should be pretty self-explanatory:

• id User ID. Primary key, auto-increment.
• name User name.
• email User email.

 

 

1B) CREATE DATABASE

// (A) REQUIRED MODULES
const fs = require("fs"),
sqlite = require("sqlite3");

// (B) CREATE DUMMY DATABASE
const db = new sqlite.Database("users.db", err => {
  if (err) { console.log(err); }
  else {
    db.exec(fs.readFileSync("1a-users.sql", "utf8"));
    db.close();
    console.log("Database created");
  }
});

Next, this little snippet will read the above SQL and create the actual database file.

 

PART 3) EXPORT DATABASE TO CSV

// (A) LOAD REQUIRED MODULES
// https://www.npmjs.com/package/csv-stringify
const sqlite = require("sqlite3"),
fs = require("fs"),
csv = require("csv-stringify");
 
// (B) EXPORT USERS
const db = new sqlite.Database("users.db");
db.all("SELECT * FROM users", (err, rows) => rows.forEach(row => {
  row = Object.values(row);
  csv.stringify([row], (err, output) => {
    console.log(row);
    fs.appendFileSync("demo.csv", output);
  });
})); 
db.close();

Sorry to the people who are expecting “hacker code”, this is all we need… Do a “regular select” from the database, and append rows to the CSV file. The end.

 

 

 

HOW ABOUT OTHER DATABASES?

MYSQL, MSSQL, POSTGRESQL, MongoDB – The connection and libraries are different from each other. But the “select from the database and write to CSV” core process remains the same… You will have to do your own homework on the database basics, it’s impossible to cover everything in this tutorial.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• How To Write CSV Files In NodeJS – Code Boxx