Merging cells in Excel by rows and columns together using PHPExcel - php

Question

I need to merge cells in Excel (xlsx) by rows and again by columns using PHPExcel. I tried the following.
$sheet->mergeCells("G".($row_count+1).":G".($row_count+4));
$sheet->mergeCells("H".($row_count+1).":H".($row_count+4));
$sheet->mergeCells("I".($row_count+1).":I".($row_count+4));
Where the variable $row_count has some unpredictable dynamic value like 25, 50, 75 and so on (no regular pattern).
It merges the cells as shown in the preceding snap shot as can be seen immediately below the Note cell. After merging these cells by rows, I'm trying to merge them by columns as follows.
$sheet->mergeCells("G".($row_count+1).":I".($row_count+1));
but it doesn't work. When I try to open the excel file, it asks for a confirmation (with a confirmation box)
Excel found unreadable content in 'report.xlsx'. Do you want to
recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this
workbook, click Yes.
How to merge cells by rows and columns together in Excel then?

Answer 1

Merging simply requires a valid range of cells like A1:B2, so your
$sheet->mergeCells("G".($row_count+1).":I".($row_count+1));
should work without any problem.
Can you please experiment with a simple test case to prove that this is causing you a problem, and not something else in your script
EDIT
After rereading your question:
Your problem may be that you're trying to merge cells that are already part of a merge range, rather than merging each row, then trying to merge by column, try merging the full rangein one go.
$sheet->mergeCells("G".($row_count+1).":I".($row_count+4));

Answer 2

There is one more method for cell merging
/**
* Set merge on a cell range by using numeric cell coordinates
*
* #param int $pColumn1 Numeric column coordinate of the first cell
* #param int $pRow1 Numeric row coordinate of the first cell
* #param int $pColumn2 Numeric column coordinate of the last cell
* #param int $pRow2 Numeric row coordinate of the last cell
* #throws Exception
* #return PHPExcel_Worksheet
*/
public function mergeCellsByColumnAndRow($pColumn1 = 0, $pRow1 = 1, $pColumn2 = 0, $pRow2 = 1)

Answer 3

function cellsToMergeByColsRow($start = -1, $end = -1, $row = -1){
$merge = 'A1:A1';
if($start>=0 && $end>=0 && $row>=0){
$start = PHPExcel_Cell::stringFromColumnIndex($start);
$end = PHPExcel_Cell::stringFromColumnIndex($end);
$merge = "$start{$row}:$end{$row}";
}
return $merge;
}
Addition to the case:
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells(cellsToMergeByColsRow(0,2,3))

Answer 4

I make a simple function to calc cells to merge by cols and row.
function cellsToMergeByColsRow($start = NULL, $end = NULL, $row = NULL){
$merge = 'A1:A1';
if($start && $end && $row){
$start = PHPExcel_Cell::stringFromColumnIndex($start);
$end = PHPExcel_Cell::stringFromColumnIndex($end);
$merge = "$start{$row}:$end{$row}";
}
return $merge;
}
And call
$sheet->mergeCells(cellsToMergeByColsRow($col, $col+5, $row));
Thanks #Mark Baker

Answer 5

I was also looking solution for this question. where i want to merge cell and put content (value) on that. After few search i got some solution on this. but did not checked because i am using Maatawebsite for get Excel file.
But any one can try thing.. Solution is based on PHPExcel nit sure ,it will work on Maatawebsite.
Source Link
Merge from column A row 1 to column E row 1
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('A1:E1');
// add some text
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue('A1','The quick brown fox.');
Merge from column A row 1 to column E row 3
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('A1:E3');
// add some text
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue('A1','The quick brown fox.');
I checked maatawebsite document and they have same method mergeCells. so i think i would be work.
This Solution from Maatawebste.
$sheet->cells('A1:C1', function($cells) {
$cells->setBorder('thin', 'thin', 'thin', 'thin');
});
$sheet->mergeCells('A1:C1');
Solution 2nd
$sheet->setMergeColumn(array(
'columns' => array('A','B','C','D'),
'rows' => array(
array(2,3),
array(5,11),
)
));

Answer 6

$sheet -> mergeCellsByColumnAndRow($col1, $row1, col2, row2);
is the function.