form into an excel document?

deesh123

I need a form to dump its information into an excel file.

For example, I need the following information from 30 different people:

Name:
Address:
Phone Number:

How can I get the information to dump into an excel file that looks like the attatched picture?

I am very new to php so go easy on me

Thanks!😃

TheDefender

Search these forums... This topic has been asked many many times in the past... Anyhow, since Excel supports web pages, you just create a page with the table and data structure you are looking for, and output it with the *.xls extension, and you have your spreadsheet... I am not 100% on all of the details, but if you search these forums, you should find your answer pretty quickly.

Frederick

Use the attached text file for what you need. It will do what you want.

deesh123

frederick what should my method equal ?

it shoudn't be "method=post" right?

deesh123

better yet, what should my entire html file that refers this php file look like?

here is my attempt

<html>
<body>

<form action="welcome.php" method="POST">
Enter your ssn: <input type="text" name="ssn" />
Enter your name: <input type="text" name="name" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

</body>
</html>

Frederick

This script that is attached calls data from MySQL and creates an Excel spreadsheet from the results.

deesh123

This is my first php project, so I am still trying to get a grasp of this entire concept.

If I use Fredricks script, doesn't there have to be another html-based form with

<html>
<body>

<form action="FREDRICKS_TEXTFILE.php" method="POST">
Enter your ssn: <input type="text" name="name" />
Enter your age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

</body>
</html>

and has <form action="FREDRICKS_TEXTFILE.php" method="POST">

that the users use to input data?

tommynanda

Lets use CSV(comma seperated) for time being until you get out of "NewB" 😉

Here is a simple code that does your job. Microsoft Excel can read out CSV.. Set proper write permissions to excelfile you are trying to write.

<html>
<body>

<form action="writetoxl.php" method="POST">
Enter your ssn: <input type="text" name="name" />
Enter your age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

</body>
</html>

writetoxl.php

<?php
$name = $_POST['name'];
$age = $_POST['age'];
$templine = $name . ",". $age . "\n";
$fname = fopen("excelfile.csv","a+");
fwrite($fname,$templine);
fclose($fname);
?>

You can use POST or GET. I would recommend POST.. GET is size limited...

Good Luck
Am Back 😃
TommYNandA

deesh123

Hey thanks for the help!

If I wanted to add more blanks in my form would it look like this:

<html>
<body>

<form action="writetoxl.php" method="POST">
Enter your ssn: <input type="text" name="name" />
Enter your age: <input type="text" name="age" />
Enter your phone: <input type="text" name="phone" />
Enter your address: <input type="text" name="address" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

<?php
$name = $_POST['name'];
$age = $_POST['age'];
$phone = $_POST['phone'];
$address = $_POST['address'];
$templine = $name . ",". $age . ","$phone . ","$address . "\n";
$fname = fopen("excelfile.xls",a+);
fwrite($fname,$templine);
fclose($fname);
?>

And are you sure it would it be
$fname = fopen("excelfile.xls",a+); and not
$fname = fopen("textlfile.txt",a+);?

Also, how could I put a little message saying "info recieved, thanks for your input"

Thanks again!
😃

tommynanda

And are you sure it would it be
$fname = fopen("excelfile.xls",a+); and not
$fname = fopen("textlfile.txt",a+);?

its can be "anyfilename.anyextension" BUT behind the scene.. its actually writing a text file... Using commas as separators leads to .CSV file. (this can be opened in Excel)

If we want to use .xls as our extension to open in Excel, just replace those separators with tabs ---> "," to "\t"

Using commas is a standard CSV type that any SpreadSheet apps can open...

CORRECTION to my previous post it should be .csv not .xls since we are using "," as our seperator

2 next Q

THis is a CSV file.. can be opened with any spreadsheet app including Excel

<?php 
$name = $_POST['name']; 
$age = $_POST['age']; 
$phone = $_POST['phone']; 
$address = $_POST['address']; 
$templine = $name . ",". $age . "," . $phone . "," . $address . "\n"; 
if($fname = fopen("excelfile.csv","a+"))
{
 fwrite($fname,$templine); 
 fclose($fname); 
 echo "Info added, thanks for your inp";
}
else
{
 echo "We are experiencing tech difficulties :( ";
}
?>

xls file.. can be read in Excel.. not sure with other aps

<?php 
$name = $_POST['name']; 
$age = $_POST['age']; 
$phone = $_POST['phone']; 
$address = $_POST['address']; 
$templine = $name . "\t". $age . "\t" . $phone . "\t" . $address . "\n"; 
if($fname = fopen("excelfile.xls","a+"))
{
 fwrite($fname,$templine); 
 fclose($fname); 
 echo "Info added, thanks for your inp";
}
else
{
 echo "We are experiencing tech difficulties :( ";
}
?>

Dont forget quotes around "a+"

Good Luck
TommYNandA

deesh123

i gave it a shot, and when I tested it i got this error:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in /home/content/d/e/e/deesh123/html/php/writetoxl.php on line 15

tommynanda

Grrr... Looks like vB messed up my code.. there is no <img> tag in my code... I used :+) and it vB changed that to some stupid <img> tag.... here is the actual code

<?php  

$name = $_POST['name'];  

$age = $_POST['age'];  

$phone = $_POST['phone'];  

$address = $_POST['address'];  

$templine = $name . "\t". $age . "\t" . $phone . "\t" . $address . "\n";  

if($fname = fopen("excelfile.xls","a+")) 
{ 
 fwrite($fname,$templine);  

 fclose($fname);  

 echo "Info added, thanks for your inp"; 
} 
else 
{ 
 echo "We are experiencing tech difficulties "; 
} 
?>

This is actual code... remove those <img> tags in CSV code too

Good Luck
TommYNandA