NAME
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML - Parse Excel Spreadsheets using xlhtml
SYNOPSIS
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML;
my $excel = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML->new;
my $book = $excel->Parse('/some/excel/file.xls');
# Cheesy CSV printer...
for my $sheet (@{$book->{Worksheet}}) {
print STDERR "Worksheet: ", $sheet->{Name}, "\n";
for my $i ($sheet->{MinRow}..$sheet->{MaxRow}) {
print join ',', map { qq|"$_"| }
map { defined $_ ? $_->Value : "" }
@{$sheet->{Cells}[$i]};
print "\n";
}
}
# or...
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML qw/-install/;
# then use the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel API
my $book = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Workbook->parse('/some/file.xls');
my $sheet = $book->{Worksheet}[0];
DESCRIPTION
This module follows the interface of the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module,
except only the "Value" fields of cells are filled, there is no extra
fancy stuff. The reason I wrote it was to have a faster way to parse
Excel spreadsheets in Perl. This module parses around six times faster
according to my own informal benchmarks then the original
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel at the time of writing.
To achieve this, it uses a program called "xlhtml" by Stev Grubb. You
can find it here:
<
http://chicago.sourceforge.net/xlhtml/>
It is also in Debian as the "xlhtml" package.
Get the latest developer release. Once compiled, it needs to be in the
PATH of your Perl program for this module to work correctly.
You only need to use this module if you have a large volume of big Excel
spreadsheets that you are parsing, or perhaps need to speed up a
CGI/mod_perl handler. Otherwise stick to the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
module.
Now, someday we will have a nice C library with an XS interface, but
this is not someday :)
COMPATIBILITY
The workbook 'Author' attribute is supported, and the following
worksheet attributes are supported: 'Name', 'MinRow', 'MaxRow',
'MinCol', 'MaxCol'.
In terms of behaviour, there is one other difference which may or may
not affect you. Spreadsheet::ParseExcel will often create
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Cell objects with empty or whitespace-filled
Value fields, while this module will only create Cell objects if a value
exists; otherwise the Cells array will contain an "undef" for that cell.
In other words, don't blindly call "$sheet->{Cells}[$i][$j]->Value",
check if the cell is defined first.
OPTIONS
When used with the "-install" (dash optional) option, it will install
its own "new" and "Parse" methods into the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
namespace, useful if you want to try using this module along with
modules that depend on the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module, and/or
minimize changes to your code for compatibility.
AUTHOR
Rafael Kitover <
[email protected]>
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
This program is Copyright (c) 2001-2009 by Rafael Kitover. This program
is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
same terms as Perl itself.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the authors of Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and xlhtml for allowing
us to deal with Excel files in the UNIX world.
Thanks to my employer, Gradience, Inc., for allowing me to work on
projects as free software.
BUGS
are tasty!
TODO
I'll take suggestions.
SEE ALSO
Spreadsheet::ParseExcel, xlhtml
