Question

How would you copy multiple rows of data like this <tr><td>cell 1</td><td>cell 2</td></tr> <tr><td>cell 3</td></td>cell 4</td></tr> into user’s clipboard, ready to be pasted in Excel (one <td> pair will go to one cell in Excel)

I have something like this in mind:

$('#copy').click(function(){
   var data = $('datatable tr:visible').text();
   alert("you have copied these data: " + data + "now you can paste them in Excel");
});

Nothing in data variable in the alert box. Pretty much stuck here..

Answer 1

If you want to paste the data in Excel, you’ll probably need each row in a different line, each column separated by tabs. Example:

var rows = []
$('datatable tr:visible').each(function() {
    var columns = [];
    $(this).children("td").each(function() {
        columns.push($(this).text());
    });
    rows.push(columns.join("\t");
});
var data = rows.join("\n");

Working example at jsFiddle (adapted from OP code)

As for copying to clipboad, see this question for more info.

Update: Copying from browser to clipboard is a complicated and potentially insecure operation, and AFAIK does not work consistently between browsers and operating systems. Maybe it’s better to just drop the text in a textarea, selected, and request the user to Ctrl+C it. But it’s up to you.