Can't get the PHPExcel and CodeIgniter integration to work - codeigniter

Question

This has been confusing me for days, I can't get the code below to work:
public function index (){
//load our new PHPExcel library
$this->load->library('excel');
$objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
//activate worksheet number 1
$this->excel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
//name the worksheet
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->setTitle('test worksheet');
//set cell A1 content with some text
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue('A1', 'This is just some text value');
//change the font size
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('A1')->getFont()->setSize(20);
//make the font become bold
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('A1')->getFont()->setBold(true);
//merge cell A1 until D1
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('A1:D1');
//set aligment to center for that merged cell (A1 to D1)
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('A1')->getAlignment()->setHorizontal(PHPExcel_Style_Alignment::HORIZONTAL_CENTER);
$filename='just_some_random_name.xls'; //save our workbook as this file name
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel'); //mime type
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="'.$filename.'"'); //tell browser what's the file name
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0'); //no cache
//save it to Excel5 format (excel 2003 .XLS file), change this to 'Excel2007' (and adjust the filename extension, also the header mime type)
//if you want to save it as .XLSX Excel 2007 format
$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($this->excel, 'Excel5');
//force user to download the Excel file without writing it to server's HD
$objWriter->save('php://output');
}
}
All I get is a blank page. I tried tracing the codes to determine why it won't work and the line $this->load->library('excel');
is causing it.
I have created the excel.php file in /libraries, pasted the code from the example on the web.
Can someone help me on this one please?
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

The problem is how you install PHPExcel with CodeIgniter.
See you answer here:
PHPExcel error in CodeIgniter "Unable to load the requested class: iofactory"
Drop the phpexcel folder into application/third-party and create a library.
(for library use the class proviced by #devrooms in his answer)
Then do the following in controllers:
$this->load->library("excel");
$this->excel->load("/path/to/input.xls");
$this->excel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->SetCellValue('B2', "whatever");
$this->excel->save("/path/to/output.xls");
If the above is not working see this answer to deactivate the php safe mode on your server
phpexel and codeigniter getting error