PHPExcel setting date format without writing every single value - php

Question

My current version of code for outputting to an Excel file is as follows:
I have an array of the column names and an array of all of the data:
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setTitle($titleArr[$i]);
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($headersArr[$i], NULL, 'A1');
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($dataArr[$i], NULL, 'A2');
The only other thing I've been doing is to autosize the columns
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()
->getColumnDimension($col)
->setAutoSize(true);
Is there any way to let the sheet be filled with data from the array and just tell excel that certain columns are actually in a specific format?
The following creates a custom field in Excel, rather than a date field. It sorts but I have to manually tell it to treat it like a number.
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle($col . '2:' . $col. '500')->getNumberFormat()->setFormatCode('yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss');
Is there any way to get it to treat it like a date without having to write each cell manually with statements like:
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->SetCellValueByColumnAndRow(3, $currentrow, PHPExcel_Shared_Date::PHPToExcel($timestamp));
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyleByColumnAndRow(3, $currentrow)->getNumberFormat()->setFormatCode('dd/mm/yyyy');

Answer 1

If a whole column is filled with only date values, you can use getStyle() instead of getStyleByColumnAndRow() to get the whole column. Like this:
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('C:C')->getNumberFormat()->setFormatCode('dd/mm/yyyy');
A coordinate in the format A:A is converted to A1:A1048576. The same works for 1:1 which translates to A1:XFD1. See setSelectedCells() in Worksheet.php for the different conversions.

Answer 2

There isn't any such thing as a date field in Excel.... a date is nothing more than a number with a format mask.
But you could try using a cell binder: the cell binder is called whenever you set a value in a cell (unless you set the value explicit). The advanced value binder provided as an option with PHPExcel that recognises most date and time formats and will automatically convert and set a format mask accordingly.

Answer 3

I put after $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray to set date time in columns as shown below:
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($row, null, "A".$red);
// Again set row values
$dateValuerr = PHPExcel_Shared_Date::PHPToExcel(strtotime($row[NasDatumPrijemaPredmeti]));
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue("D".$red."", $dateValuerr);
$dateValuerr = PHPExcel_Shared_Date::PHPToExcel(strtotime($row[NjihovDatumPrijemaPredmeti]));
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue("E".$red."", $dateValuerr);
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle("A".$red.":AF".$red)->applyFromArray($table_style);
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle("A".$red.":AF".$red)->getFont()->setBold(true);
$red++;
};
and then set column
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('D2:E1000')->getNumberFormat()->setFormatCode(exportdatum);
My date is : define('exportdatum', 'dd.mm.yyyy'); // Date
This is date in my MySql DB
MySql Date : 2015-05-01
But I convert in query to
DATE_FORMAT(predmeti.NasDatumPrijemaPredmeti, '%d.%m.%Y') AS NasDatumPrijemaPredmeti