write over existing Excel file

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

My question is regarding Spreadsheet::WriteExcel or any other module that writes to Excel. All the code documentation I have found always start with :

my $s = Excel->new("here.xls");
[download]

Which creates a new spreadsheet, does this also open an existing spreasheet to modify? I created an excel template and need to open the existing file and modify it each time I run the script. I tried it but I didnt work and wrote over my existing. Thanks everyone.

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Re: write over existing Excel file by jmcnamara (Monsignor) on Oct 09, 2005 at 15:59 UTC
This a FAQ in relation to Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and here is the usual (but not completely satisfactory) answer. -- John.	[reply]
Re^2: write over existing Excel file by Anonymous Monk on Oct 09, 2005 at 16:35 UTC
Thanks for the help though... IF I cant find anything else, I will use this but would probably need some clarification... Thanks again..	[reply]
Re^2: write over existing Excel file by Anonymous Monk on Oct 09, 2005 at 16:34 UTC
I would still need to do this even though I would only need to change data in 5 specific cells out of the whole sheet? There's gotta be an easier way somehow??	[reply]
Re^3: write over existing Excel file by jmcnamara (Monsignor) on Oct 09, 2005 at 16:53 UTC
I would still need to do this even though I would only need to change data in 5 specific cells out of the whole sheet? Unfortunately, yes. There's gotta be an easier way somehow? Have a look at Excel::Template. -- John.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: write over existing Excel file by Anonymous Monk on Oct 09, 2005 at 17:32 UTC
Re: write over existing Excel file by davidrw (Prior) on Oct 09, 2005 at 16:47 UTC
You can create perl code for Spreadsheet::WriteExcel that creates everything that your template has (note: the 'record a macro in excel and translate the vb to perl' method might be useful here), and make that code re-usable and just call it each time .. `sub addMyHeadersEtc { my $workbook = shift or die; my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet('foo'); $worksheet->write(0, 0, "STANDARD TITLE"); } my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('filename.xls'); # c +reate a new file addMyHeadersEtc( $workbook ); # add all your standard stuff # now add all the custom stuff ... my $worksheet = $workbook->sheets()[0]; $worksheet->write(5, 0, "Hi Excel!");` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: write over existing Excel file by Zed_Lopez (Chaplain) on Oct 09, 2005 at 15:30 UTC
The Spreadsheet::WriteExcel docs say: "This module cannot be used to write to an existing Excel file." I don't know what module, if any, can.	[reply]
Re: write over existing Excel file by chester (Hermit) on Oct 09, 2005 at 15:31 UTC
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel will let you read an existing spreadsheet.	[reply]
Re^2: write over existing Excel file by Anonymous Monk on Oct 09, 2005 at 15:56 UTC
Doesn't this module only reads from an excel file rather than prints to an excel file?	[reply]


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