Export Reports to EXCEL FILE Codeigniter - codeigniter

Question

I have my reports viewed in a page. I want to make function where the reports will be viewed/downloaded as an excel file when an export button is clicked. I've tried this: Reports in Codeigniter but I have no luck. Can someone help me on this? Thanks!
My Controller:
public function export_reports(){
$this->load->dbutil();
$this->load->helper('file');
$filter = $this->input->post('filter');
$year_date = $this->input->post('year_val');
$today = $this->input->post('today');
$month_start = $this->input->post('month_start');
$month_end = $this->input->post('month_end');
$last_month_start = $this->input->post('last_month_start');
$last_month_end = $this->input->post('last_month_end');
$this_year_start = $this->input->post('this_year_start');
if($filter == "this_month"){
$report = $this->getdata_model->get_reports($filter, $year_date, $today, $month_start, $month_end, $last_month_start, $last_month_end, $this_year_start);
$new_report = $this->dbutil->xml_from_result($report);
write_file('billing_report_this_month.xml',$new_report);
}else{
$report = $this->getdata_model->default_report($month_start, $month_end);
$new_report = $this->dbutil->xml_from_result($report);
write_file('monthly_billing_report.xml',$new_report);
}
}
My Model:
public function default_report($month_start, $month_end){
return $this->db->select("b.*, CONCAT(c.first_name,' ',c.last_name) as fullname", FALSE)
->order_by('fullname')
->from('billing as b')
->where('billing_date >=', $month_start)
->where('billing_date <=', $month_end)
->join('clients as c', 'b.customer_uuid=c.uuid')
->get()
->result();
}
public function get_reports($filter, $year_date, $today, $month_start, $month_end, $last_month_start, $last_month_end, $this_year_start){
if($filter==""){
return $this->db->select("b.*, CONCAT(c.first_name,' ',c.last_name) as fullname", FALSE)
->order_by('fullname')
->from('billing as b')
->where('billing_date >=', $month_start)
->where('billing_date <=', $month_end)
->join('clients as c', 'b.customer_uuid=c.uuid')
->get()
->result();
}elseif($filter == "this_month"){
return $this->db->select("b.*, CONCAT(c.first_name,' ',c.last_name) as fullname", FALSE)
->order_by('fullname')
->from('billing as b')
->where('billing_date >=', $month_start)
->where('billing_date <=', $month_end)
->join('clients as c', 'b.customer_uuid=c.uuid')
->get()
->result();
}elseif($filter == "last_month"){
return $this->db->select("b.*, CONCAT(c.first_name,' ',c.last_name) as fullname", FALSE)
->order_by('fullname')
->from('billing as b')
->where('billing_date >=', $last_month_start)
->where('billing_date <=', $last_month_end)
->join('clients as c', 'b.customer_uuid=c.uuid')
->get()
->result();
}elseif($filter == "monthly" || $filter == "annual"){
return $this->db->select("b.*, CONCAT(c.first_name,' ',c.last_name) as fullname", FALSE)
->order_by('fullname')
->from('billing as b')
->where('billing_year', $year_date)
->join('clients as c', 'b.customer_uuid=c.uuid')
->get()
->result();
}elseif($filter == "ytd"){
return $this->db->select("b.*, CONCAT(c.first_name,' ',c.last_name) as fullname", FALSE)
->order_by('fullname')
->from('billing as b')
->where('billing_date >=', $this_year_start)
->where('billing_date <=', $today)
->join('clients as c', 'b.customer_uuid=c.uuid')
->get()
->result();
}
}

Answer 1

I've discovered the solution. I just followed the instructions from http://www.ahowto.net/php/easily-integrateload-phpexcel-into-codeigniter-framework and it works.