oracle apex arabic characters not displaying properly in csv export - oracle

Question

I have an Interactive Report with column having arabic Characters displaying well in the Report , however i am exporting the Reports into csv but the arabic characters turns to ????? in csv file , Any suggestions or workaround i may follow either at Interactive Report level or query level or this something csv don't support.

Answer 1

I am not entirely sure, but I think the problem might happen because the Java script function associated with Actions Menu --> Download might not take in consideration the encoding on database side, rather than the one on client side.
Normally, when I want to control the export to csv from a page, I disable the actions menu to avoid that the user can do it using that menu, instead I prefer to create a PL/SQL procedure to be triggered by an application express process.
How to do that ?
Download CSV File Using PL/SQL Procedure and Application Process in Oracle Apex
In order to do this , follow the instructions:
1.Create a PL/SQL Procedure
Create a database procedure which will return the CSV as CLOB data.
create or replace procedure tab_to_csv(o_Clobdata OUT CLOB) IS
l_Blob BLOB;
l_Clob CLOB;
BEGIN
Dbms_Lob.Createtemporary(Lob_Loc => l_Clob,
Cache => TRUE,
Dur => Dbms_Lob.Call);
SELECT Clob_Val
INTO l_Clob
FROM (SELECT Xmlcast(Xmlagg(Xmlelement(e,
Col_Value || Chr(13) ||
Chr(10))) AS CLOB) AS Clob_Val,
COUNT(*) AS Number_Of_Rows
FROM (SELECT 'your columns for the header split by the separator' AS Col_Value
FROM Dual
UNION ALL
SELECT col1||',' ||col2||','|| col3||','|| col4||','|| col5||','|| col6 as Col_Value
FROM (SELECT col1,col2,col3,col4,col5,col6 from yourtable)));
o_Clobdata := l_Clob;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
NULL;
END;
/
You can adapt that procedure the way you want. I use header, so that is the reason for the first select. In my example, the separator was , , but you can use another one if you like, or even use a parameter for it instead.
2.Create an Application Process in Oracle Apex
In Oracle Apex, click on the Shared Components --> Application Process and then click on the Create button. Then follow these steps:
Then press next and put the following code
DECLARE
L_BLOB BLOB;
L_CLOB CLOB;
L_DEST_OFFSET INTEGER := 1;
L_SRC_OFFSET INTEGER := 1;
L_LANG_CONTEXT INTEGER := DBMS_LOB.DEFAULT_LANG_CTX;
L_WARNING INTEGER;
L_LENGTH INTEGER;
BEGIN
-- create new temporary BLOB
DBMS_LOB.CREATETEMPORARY(L_BLOB, FALSE);
--get CLOB
tab_to_csv( L_CLOB);
-- tranform the input CLOB into a BLOB of the desired charset
DBMS_LOB.CONVERTTOBLOB( DEST_LOB => L_BLOB,
SRC_CLOB => L_CLOB,
AMOUNT => DBMS_LOB.LOBMAXSIZE,
DEST_OFFSET => L_DEST_OFFSET,
SRC_OFFSET => L_SRC_OFFSET,
BLOB_CSID => NLS_CHARSET_ID('WE8MSWIN1252'),
LANG_CONTEXT => L_LANG_CONTEXT,
WARNING => L_WARNING
);
-- determine length for header
L_LENGTH := DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(L_BLOB);
-- first clear the header
HTP.FLUSH;
HTP.INIT;
-- create response header
OWA_UTIL.MIME_HEADER( 'text/csv', FALSE, 'AL32UTF8');
HTP.P('Content-length: ' || L_LENGTH);
HTP.P('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="yourfile.csv"');
HTP.P('Set-Cookie: fileDownload=true; path=/');
OWA_UTIL.HTTP_HEADER_CLOSE;
-- download the BLOB
WPG_DOCLOAD.DOWNLOAD_FILE( L_BLOB );
-- stop APEX
-- APEX_APPLICATION.STOP_APEX_ENGINE;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
DBMS_LOB.FREETEMPORARY(L_BLOB);
RAISE;
END;
After that click on the Next button and on the next screen click on the Create button to finish the wizard. Your application process has been created.
3.Create a Button on a Page in Oracle Apex
Now open a page in Page designer in Oracle Apex in which you want to add a button to download the CSV file.
Then do the right-click on the Region and click on the option Create Button.
Set the Action to Redirect to URL.
Paste the following URL in the URL target.
f?p=&APP_ID.:0:&SESSION.:APPLICATION_PROCESS=download_emp_csv:NO
Notice that we are calling the application process download_emp_csv, we just created in the second step.
Now save the changes and run the page. On click of the button, the CSV file will be download.