Perl and Microsoft Excel

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by Roger (Parson) on Aug 20, 2005 at 00:27 UTC
Yes, have a look at Spreadsheet::WriteExcel.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl and Microsoft Excel by wackattack (Sexton) on Aug 30, 2005 at 05:40 UTC
*deleted because I am a moron**	[reply]
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Aug 20, 2005 at 03:03 UTC
Excel::Template was built for this exact purpose. It has the same API as HTML::Template (and PDF::Template, for that matter) and will gladly provide either a file or a buffer for CGI. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply]
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by davidrw (Prior) on Aug 20, 2005 at 00:53 UTC
As mentioned, first look should be Spreadsheet::WriteExcel (assuming you're not going to fake it out w/a csv file/excel mime type). Also look at the node Index of Spreadsheet FAQs that is a good compilation of spreadsheet-related nodes, modules, and links.	[reply]
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by jimX11 (Friar) on Aug 20, 2005 at 01:10 UTC
Maybe you could get away with simply setting the content type specification to application/vnd.ms-excel in the HTTP headers. Something like: Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel; name='excel' Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=foo.xls Then send a csv data as the content. It's a hack, but it's simple.	[reply]
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by wink (Scribe) on Aug 20, 2005 at 00:34 UTC
Unless there are commas in your fields, you could comma-delimit it and save is as a .csv (comma-seperated value) file.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl and Microsoft Excel by brian_d_foy (Abbot) on Aug 20, 2005 at 01:06 UTC
Even if there are commas in your data, you can save it as a CSV file. Use one of the CSV modules on CPAN to handle it right. And, if you don't think there are commas in your data, just wait. They tend to sneak in there on friday nights and the first days of vacation. :) -- brian d foy <brian@stonehenge.com>	[reply]
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on Aug 20, 2005 at 16:24 UTC
TMTOWTDI, depending on your situation. I wrote about my experience using two entirely different approaches in Writing Excel spreadsheets with Perl. Do not rebuke them with harsh words ... but rather lead them gently - with URLs - so that they may learn wisdom.	[reply]
Re: Perl and Microsoft Excel by jbullock35 (Hermit) on Aug 20, 2005 at 21:58 UTC
davies kindly categorized a lot of Perl-and-spreadsheet information in Index of Spreadsheet FAQs, including a great deal of information on generating spreadsheets with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and Win32::OLE. I use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel a lot and find it a pleasure. And I've never seen a better-documented module. --John	[reply]