Re^2: Not sure why perl-generated spreadsheet has formatting issues

[poopay]

Hi Athanasius, I've tried the code but the output is still the same. Is it possible for me to send you the output file I was able to generate?

If I highlight the cell, it shows the formatting I want. But if I generate a pivot table from that, it will still cause me problems when I try to group the information.

The only solution for me at this time is to double-click each cell, then press "Enter" in order for the data to be displayed and treated correctly :(

[Athanasius]

Hello poopay,

I can think of only two ways to write formatted dates into an Excel spreadsheet using Excel::Writer::XLSX:

1. The ‘correct’ way is to convert the date string into Excel’s internal date format, namely a floating-point number. For example:

   use Excel::Writer::XLSX::Utility;
   ...
   my $ndate = xl_parse_date($date); 
   $worksheet->write_date_time($row, $col, $ndate, $format);
   

   (Note that Excel::Writer::XLSX::Utility is installed along with Excel::Writer::XLSX, but its use may require the further installation of Date::Manip.)

   Unfortunately, application of the appropriate $format here leads to the problem you describe: the formatting is present, but is not applied to the date until the user double-clicks the cell and presses Enter. I don’t know why this is, and I haven’t found any way to make the formatting appear directly. Possibly a bug in Excel::Writer::XLSX?

2. Bypass Excel’s formatting by entering the date as a string. This is the method I suggested in my previous post. You say, “I’ve tried the code but the output is still the same.” Well, I don’t see how that’s possible, since a date written as a string is just a string, as far as Excel is concerned. The code I gave is a kludge, but it works correctly for me, as I showed.

Is it possible for me to send you the output file I was able to generate?

No, but I don’t see how that would help anyway. It would be much more useful for you to show the code you used, and just describe the resulting output.

...if I generate a pivot table...

According to the documentation, Excel::Writer::XLSX does not (yet) support the generation of pivot tables — this is mentioned in the TO DO section. So, how are you generating pivot tables?

Perhaps the best advice I can give is that you investigate alternative modules for writing Excel. :-(