base64 encoding

sfullman

Hi there, I'm admitting right off the bat this is only marginally related to php though I'll be using php's base64 encoding if I can make this work somehow.

MS Excel has the ability to embed images. HTML pages also have the ability to embed images such as this example:

<table>
<tr>
<td>base64-encoded image to right:</td>
<td>
<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhDwAPAKECAAAAzMzM/////wAAACwAAAAADwAPAAACIISPeQHsrZ5ModrLlN48CXF8m2iQ3YmmKqVlRtW4MLwWACH+H09wdGltaXplZCBieSBVbGVhZCBTbWFydFNhdmVyIQAAOw=="alt="Base64 encoded image" width="150" height="150"/>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

However, MS Excel will not read or show that image, though it will show a "blank" image marker that is 150x150.

Is there any type of file format that has embedded images (i.e. all data in one file), which can be exported from a browser, which Excel could read or treat as it's own type? My client would love to see an excel spreadsheet with embedded images.

Thanks,
Samuel

Weedpacket

How about an Excel spreadsheet? Those things with ".xls" as the file extension? I don't know of any packages offhand other than Excel or OpenOffice's Calc spreadsheet app that can generate Excel spreadsheets, but they're probably out there.

sfullman

The issue is not the .xls - I can do a .htm with a table, and excel reads it just fine. The issue is the embedded images - so that one file is portable for both spreadsheet and images as well.

A workaround for now is that I found a class that can be used to create zip files - so that way I create a zip file including a folder for the images - when extracted the images are in a subfolder and the .htm (maybe .xls later on) file points to them.

The downside is an extra process for the client. Want him/her to be able to just open a single excel file and bang there are the images.

The class for creating the zip, btw is attached, just add a .php extension and follow directions - this really is neat! But I still would like to know about the first way.

Thanks,
Samuel

Weedpacket

sfullman wrote:
The issue is not the .xls - I can do a .htm with a table, and excel reads it just fine.

Buyt that's not an Excel worksheet, that's HTML. If you used an Excel worksheet instead of HTML then you probably could have embedded images. Microsoft have recently patented their own version of office document XML (to compete with the OpenOffice specification) which presumably does embedded images (MS make a big deal about having the entire document in one XML file). Assuming Microsoft are being genuine about their claim that the patent is to ensure that the document format is open for all to use it should be possible to find a description of the specification and use it. It would of course mean that your client would need to have invested in a recent copy of Microsoft Office - but Microsoft have to make money somehow to stay in business.

Or you could see how Excel does it when it's asked (See attached; .zip file so that it uploads; only supported in IE.)