Create XLS file from MySQL database using PHP script - php

Question

I want to generate XLS files with a PHP script from a MySQL database. The big problem here is that when I open the new exported .xls file, I see the values OK (i.e. it is correctly formatted) but the colour of the field changed to white. However, I need the colour unchanged, as is by default in Excel.
Here is the PHP script that I use to extract data from my database.
<?php
include 'connect.php';
$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM projects2');
?>
<center><h1>Lista valorilor din tabela</h1>
<h2>Exporta lista Clienti</h2></center>
<?php
include_once 'tabel_clientipm.php';
?>
The PHP file used to generate the XLS file is:
<?php
include 'connect.php';
$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM projects2');
if (isset($_GET['exporta_lista_clienti'])) {
$filename = 'raportnou.xls';
header("Content-type: application/ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$filename");
include_once 'tabel_clientipm.php';
exit();
}
?>
I added the tabel_clientipm.php:
<center>
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th>surname</th>
<th>name</th>
<th>age</th>
</tr>
<?php
while ($client = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
?>
<tr>
<td><?php echo $client['surname'];?></td>
<td><?php echo $client['name'];?></td>
<td><?php echo $client['age'];?></td>
</tr>
<?php
}
?>
</table>
</center>

Answer 1

If you want to create real .xls file NOT csv or html hidden in .xls extension use PHPExcel or
It supports the following formats.
BIFF 8 (.xls) Excel 95 and above
Office Open XML (.xlsx) Excel 2007 and above
If PHPExcel is slow for you check these alternatives (provided by an author of PHPExcel. All of them are faster than PHPExcel

Answer 2

If you export as a csv, you can probably import the data as colorless.