Word/Excel file generation

[Thierry]

Hello.

Is it possible to generate word/excel files in PHP ? with a template
file ?...

It is possible in Java so I guess it is possible in PHP to. I allready
know how to do PDF...

Can anyone help me ?

Thx. Titi

[Erwin Moller]

Re: Word/Excel file generation

Thierry wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hello.
>
> Is it possible to generate word/excel files in PHP ? with a template
> file ?...
>
> It is possible in Java so I guess it is possible in PHP to. I allready
> know how to do PDF...
>
> Can anyone help me ?
>
> Thx. Titi[/color]

Hi Titi,

Yeas, some API's have been written in the past, but they always suffer from
the fact that M$ is changing their format in their newer versions.

I think the safest bet for you is to use Word and Excel themself on a W$
machine as server.
The process in short:
1) Instantiate a new Word-object. (Let PHP do that)
2) Do stuff on that object, like opening a template, etc. etc.
3) Safe a copy somewhere, or stream the copy to a client.
4) close and destroy the object.

The above approach used to be suspect for memoryleaks.
I am unsure how things are now on moderen OS's from M$.

The process is refered to as 'automation' I think.
Google for it for hints and examples.

You can also find many examples on the net, most are written in VBScript,
but do not let that demotivate you: You can use the same api once you
create an object in PHP, since the underlying object (and methods) are the
same.

Good luck.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[freako9699@gmail.com]

Re: Word/Excel file generation

yeh its not that hard. just do fwrite() with a .doc extension then hope
to buggery it formats alright :-P. probably a lot easier to do in PERL.

[MsKitty]

Re: Word/Excel file generation

Create text files that are tab or comma separated for easy loading into
Excell.

For WORD create an RTF file if you want all the formatting. Google it,
there are some sites out there that explain how. Easiest to create your
own template file (have a look at it in a plain text editor or in
emacs) and then insert the new text in the middle following the RTF
formatting rules. Yes, I have done this a few times. Not too hard once
you get the hang of it.

Kitty

http://OpenSkyWebDesign.com

[Thierry]

Re: Word/Excel file generation

MsKitty wrote:[color=blue]
> Create text files that are tab or comma separated for easy loading into
> Excell.
>
> For WORD create an RTF file if you want all the formatting. Google it,
> there are some sites out there that explain how. Easiest to create your
> own template file (have a look at it in a plain text editor or in
> emacs) and then insert the new text in the middle following the RTF
> formatting rules. Yes, I have done this a few times. Not too hard once
> you get the hang of it.
>
> Kitty
> http://OpenSkyWebDesign.com
>[/color]

Well if you have website examples...

Titi