Modifying an existing Excel file

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Modifying an existing Excel file by ikegami (Patriarch) on May 04, 2005 at 21:40 UTC
It can be done using Win32::OLE, if Excel is installed on the system on which the Perl script is running. (I think it's even be possible to control an Excel on a different machine, if the Perl script is running on a Windows machine.)	[reply]
Re: Modifying an existing Excel file by merrymonk (Hermit) on May 04, 2005 at 21:47 UTC
By chance I also asked about facilities to modify Excel using Perl ealier today. It may be worth your while looking at the replies to my questions that I found very useful.	[reply]
Re^2: Modifying an existing Excel file by Joost (Canon) on May 04, 2005 at 22:39 UTC
That thread was "Reading & Writing Excel Spreadsheets" Linked for your convenience :-) "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply]
Re^3: Modifying an existing Excel file by toncelli (Initiate) on May 04, 2005 at 23:04 UTC
Thanks guys. I am using a machine with office. I took a look at Win32::OLE. It should be able to do it. But Is there some sample code that can help me out? I tried the sample that was in the documentations. This is what I tried but it doesn't seem to work: `use Win32::OLE; $doc = 'Smoke_Test.xls'; $ex = Win32::OLE->GetObject($doc); # get a new workbook $book = $ex->Workbooks->Add; # write to a particular cell $sheet = $book->Worksheets("Sheet1"); $sheet->Cells(1,1)->{Value} = "foo"; undef $book; undef $ex; __END__` [download] 2005-05-05 code tags added by Arunbear	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Modifying an existing Excel file by davies (Monsignor) on May 05, 2005 at 09:11 UTC
Re^4: Modifying an existing Excel file by merrymonk (Hermit) on May 05, 2005 at 06:46 UTC
Re^5: Modifying an existing Excel file by davies (Monsignor) on May 05, 2005 at 12:53 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re: Modifying an existing Excel file by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on May 05, 2005 at 12:57 UTC
toncelli, I recently had a similar task and needed to rely on Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel as the work was being performed on a *nix platform. I found Re: open workbook-WriteExcel helpful but I had to break encapsulation several times to preserve formatting when modifying existing cells. Let me know if you go this route and have specific problems. Cheers - L~R	[reply]
Re^2: Modifying an existing Excel file by toncelli (Initiate) on May 05, 2005 at 14:46 UTC
Thanks, I tried the with the sample and as mentioned in the documentation if you have graphs or macros in the same file they will be lost. If it's not possible to modify a the file if it includes graphs, is there a way to recreate the graphs? I can use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel to recreate all the data.	[reply]
Re^3: Modifying an existing Excel file by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on May 05, 2005 at 18:56 UTC
toncelli, Spreadsheet::WriteExcel has experimental support for graphs and I have been able to get them to work. It takes a little practice so see the documentation and examples. Cheers - L~R	[reply]