Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure

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

Hi monks,

I've been trying to get the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write method working for a while without success. I've read *some* of the perldoc, esp:
"So for those of you who prefer to assemble Ikea furniture first and then read the instructions, here are three easy steps:

1. Create a new Excel *workbook* (i.e. file) using "new()".
2. Add a *worksheet* to the new workbook using "add_worksheet()".
3. Write to the worksheet using "write()".

Like this:

use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new("perl.xls");$worksheet   =
+ $workbook->add_worksheet();$worksheet->write('A1', "Hi Excel!");
"
[download]

I always get the error "No such file or directory"
perl.xls gets created, but thats it.
I tried this code for degugging:

use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
use strict;

print "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel VERSION $Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::VERSI
+ON\n";

unlink("perl.xls");
my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new("perl.xls") or
  die "failed to create new workbook: $!";
my $worksheet   = $workbook->add_worksheet() or
  die "failed to create new worksheet: $!";
my $status;
eval {
  $status = $worksheet->write('A1', "Hi Excel!") or die $!
};
print "write failed: $@ with status $status\n" if $@;
[download]

and get:

Spreadsheet::WriteExcel VERSION 2.10
write failed: No such file or directory at worksheet.pl line 11.
  with status 0"
[download]

Any pointers would be appreciated.... I have also read a fair bit more of the perldoc, but can't find anything.

Cheers Tony

I'm using
v5.8.4 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread

Retitled by davido.

Comment on Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure Select or Download Code

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Re: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by rdfield (Priest) on Jan 11, 2005 at 11:39 UTC
The code works OK if you remove the `or die $!` from the line inside the eval - the successful return code appears to be 0 causing the die to be evaluated. rdfield	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by adolpht (Novice) on Jan 11, 2005 at 12:36 UTC
Hi John and rdfield, write returns 0 if successful so of course my code will fail,... if write is successful. Dho! $! being set to "No such file or directory" is an intersting red herring Thanks for the feedback guys Cheers Tony	[reply]
Re^3: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by gellyfish (Monsignor) on Jan 11, 2005 at 12:39 UTC
The `$!` being set like that is often a result of the searching through @INC for a file to be used or required. /J\	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by adolpht (Novice) on Jan 11, 2005 at 12:54 UTC
Re^3: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by Errto (Vicar) on Jan 12, 2005 at 05:19 UTC
A couple of things to note: most modules do not set the variable $! on failure. For example, DBI sets the variable $DBI::errstr for class method errors, and $dbh->errstr for errors concerning a specific database handle. Also, you really have to look at the docs for each module to determine whether a particular method returning undef or false means that the method failed. Generally this will only be true for methods whose return value is specified to have a certain meaning. Spreadsheet::WriteExcel's write method appears not to be one of them. Finally, you have to be careful because unlike $@, $! is not guaranteed to contain a blank string or other false value when no error has occurred, so its value is essentially unpredictable in those circumstances. See perlvar for details.	[reply]
Re: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by jmcnamara (Monsignor) on Jan 11, 2005 at 11:06 UTC
I never seen or had a report of that error. It is may be caused by not having sufficient permissions to create a temp file on your system. Try the following to see where your temp dir is and see if you have write permissions: `perl -MFile::Spec -le "print File::Spec->tmpdir"` [download] If that is the problem you can work around it using the `set_tempdir()` method. See the docs for more information. If not let me know. Update: I interpreted this to mean that the error message was also occuring with the first piece of code. rdfield++ for spotting the real problem. -- John.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by trammell (Priest) on Jan 11, 2005 at 15:44 UTC
The following code DWIM: `#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel; my $book = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new("perl.xls"); my $sheet = $book->addworksheet(); $sheet->write('A1', 'Hi Excel!');` [download] Maybe the problem is with `addworksheet()` (note spelling)?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by reneeb (Chaplain) on Jan 11, 2005 at 19:29 UTC
No, `addworksheet` is ok. It's deprecated, but it works. It's a rudiment of older Spreadsheet::WriteExcel versions... In newer versions `addworksheet` is replaced by `add_worksheet`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write failure by trammell (Priest) on Jan 11, 2005 at 23:01 UTC
Dang, Debian stable is way out of date. :^(	[reply]