Phlex Documentation

To generate CSV output, subclass Phlex::CSV and provide a collection to the initializer. You must implement the row_template method to define how each row is constructed using the column method.

Important Security Requirement: You must define the escape_csv_injection? method in your class to specify how to handle CSV injection vulnerabilities. If left undefined, the component will raise an error during the call method.

Legacy Support: If your component uses the old view_template method name, Phlex::CSV will automatically alias it to row_template and issue a deprecation warning.

By default, Phlex::CSV renders a header row based on the first argument passed to the column method in your first row. You can disable this behavior by overriding render_headers? in your subclass.

• true (default): Renders the header row.
• false: Skips the header row.

def render_headers?
  false
end

You can control whether leading and trailing whitespace is stripped from CSV values by overriding the trim_whitespace? method in your Phlex::CSV subclass.

• true: Strips leading and trailing whitespace from all values.
• false (default): Preserves whitespace as provided.

def trim_whitespace?
  true
end

CSV injection occurs when malicious formulae (starting with =, +, -, @, \t, or \r) are used to execute code in spreadsheet software. You must override escape_csv_injection? in your Phlex::CSV subclass to choose a security posture:

• true: Prefixes values starting with formula characters with a single quote (') to neutralize them. This may impact data integrity.
• false: Disables all escaping. Use this only if the CSV is intended for byte-for-byte data exchange between secure systems and will not be opened in spreadsheet programs like Excel or Google Sheets.

If you do not define this method, Phlex::CSV will raise an error to prevent accidental vulnerability.

The call method accepts a delimiter option to change the character used to separate values. The delimiter must be a single character.

If an invalid delimiter (length != 1) is provided, a Phlex::ArgumentError is raised.