PHPExcel writer returns empty file - php

Question

Im currently writing a data export using PHPExcel and keep getting an empty file.
I've made a test script that should give me an excel file with 3 test cells filled but it also gives me an empty excel file.
When i print_r the $objphpexcel it still shows that the cells are filled.
But when i print_r the writer, it only has the header data available and no cell content..
<?php
include_once 'models/PHPExcel.php';
include_once 'models/PHPExcel/IOFactory.php';
$objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
// Set document properties
$objPHPExcel->getProperties()->setCreator('Company')
->setLastModifiedBy('User')
->setTitle('Sample_title');
// Add header (first row) data
$objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0)
->setCellValue('A1', 'EXCEL EXPORT')
->setCellValue('B1', 'TEST')
->setCellValue('C1', 'CEL');
$next_excelrow=2;
//ITERATION TROUGH DATA HERE
// Rename worksheet
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setTitle('A');
// Set active sheet index to the first sheet, so Excel opens this as the first sheet
$objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
//echo'<pre>'.print_r($objPHPExcel,true).'</pre>';exit; <-- this print_r still has the data
// Redirect output to a client’s web browser (Excel5)
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="sample_export.xls"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');
// If you're serving to IE 9, then the following may be needed
header('Cache-Control: max-age=1');
// If you're serving to IE over SSL, then the following may be needed
header ('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT'); // Date in the past
header ('Last-Modified: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT'); // always modified
header ('Cache-Control: cache, must-revalidate'); // HTTP/1.1
header ('Pragma: public'); // HTTP/1.0
//header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8');
$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5');
$objWriter->save('php://output');
As you can see I've already narrowed it down to a simple export and still an empty corrupt file is what i get served as a download..
Can anyone help?
Thanks!

Answer 1

try to change $objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5');
to $objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel2007');

Answer 2

header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="file.xlsx"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=1');
header ('Expires: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT');
header ('Last-Modified: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT');
header ('Cache-Control: cache, must-revalidate');
header ('Pragma: public');
$objWriter = \PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel2007');
$objWriter->save('file.xlsx');
try to save it to file like example, not to php://output. Works for me.

Answer 3

Since PHPExcel is deprecated I'm moving to PHPSpreadsheet