[php] How to export data to an excel file using PHPExcel

I have taken the source code from limesurvey and have added the PHPExcel library to my limesurvey code to export data to an excel file after you click a link. Currently the excel file opens with some dummy data in it with no problems. I need to be able to add data dynamically from the web server after a user types in survey information. I have looked into some sites I have found but I havent had much luck. Can anyone help me out?

EDIT

<?php 
$dbhost= "mysql"; //your MySQL Server 
$dbuser = "survey"; //your MySQL User Name 
$dbpass = "password"; //your MySQL Password 
$dbname = "database"; 
//your MySQL Database Name of which database to use this 
$tablename = "questions"; //your MySQL Table Name which one you have to create excel file 
// your mysql query here , we can edit this for your requirement 
$sql = "Select * from $table "; 
//create  code for connecting to mysql 
$Connect = @mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) 
or die("Couldn't connect to MySQL:<br>" . mysql_error() . "<br>" . mysql_errno()); 
//select database 
$Db = @mysql_select_db($dbname, $Connect) 
or die("Couldn't select database:<br>" . mysql_error(). "<br>" . mysql_errno()); 
//execute query 
$result = @mysql_query($sql,$Connect) 
or die("Couldn't execute query:<br>" . mysql_error(). "<br>" . mysql_errno()); 

error_reporting(E_ALL);

 require_once '../Classes/PHPExcel.php';
 $objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();

 // Set the active Excel worksheet to sheet 0 

$objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);  

// Initialise the Excel row number 

$rowCount = 1;  


//start of printing column names as names of MySQL fields  

 $column = 'A';

for ($i = 1; $i < mysql_num_fields($result); $i++)  

{
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue($column.$rowCount, mysql_field_name($result,$i));
    $column++;
}

//end of adding column names  
//start while loop to get data  

$rowCount = 2;  

while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result))  

{  
    $column = 'A';

   for($j=1; $j<mysql_num_fields($result);$j++)  
    {  
        if(!isset($row[$j]))  

            $value = NULL;  

        elseif ($row[$j] != "")  

            $value = strip_tags($row[$j]);  

        else  

            $value = "";  


        $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue($column.$rowCount, $value);
        $column++;
    }  

    $rowCount++;
} 

// Redirect output to a client’s web browser (Excel5) 
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel'); 
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="results.xls"'); 
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0'); 
$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5'); 
$objWriter->save('php://output');

Work 100%. maybe not relation to creator answer but i share it for users have a problem with export mysql query to excel with phpexcel. Good Luck.

require('../phpexcel/PHPExcel.php');

require('../phpexcel/PHPExcel/Writer/Excel5.php');

$filename = 'userReport'; //your file name

    $objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
    /*********************Add column headings START**********************/
    $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0)
                ->setCellValue('A1', 'username')
                ->setCellValue('B1', 'city_name');

    /*********************Add data entries START**********************/
//get_result_array_from_class**You can replace your sql code with this line.
$result = $get_report_clas->get_user_report();
//set variable for count table fields.
$num_row = 1;
foreach ($result as $value) {
  $user_name = $value['username'];
  $c_code = $value['city_name'];
  $num_row++;
        $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0)
                ->setCellValue('A'.$num_row, $user_name )
                ->setCellValue('B'.$num_row, $c_code );
}

    /*********************Autoresize column width depending upon contents START**********************/
    foreach(range('A','B') as $columnID) {
        $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getColumnDimension($columnID)->setAutoSize(true);
    }
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('A1:B1')->getFont()->setBold(true);



//Make heading font bold

        /*********************Add color to heading START**********************/
        $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()
                    ->getStyle('A1:B1')
                    ->getFill()
                    ->setFillType(PHPExcel_Style_Fill::FILL_SOLID)
                    ->getStartColor()
                    ->setARGB('99ff99');

        $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setTitle('userReport'); //give title to sheet
        $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
        header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
        header("Content-Disposition: attachment;Filename=$filename.xls");
        header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');
        $objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5');
        $objWriter->save('php://output');

Try the below complete example for the same

<?php
  $objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
  $query1 = "SELECT * FROM employee";
  $exec1 = mysql_query($query1) or die ("Error in Query1".mysql_error());
  $serialnumber=0;
  //Set header with temp array
  $tmparray =array("Sr.Number","Employee Login","Employee Name");
  //take new main array and set header array in it.
  $sheet =array($tmparray);

  while ($res1 = mysql_fetch_array($exec1))
  {
    $tmparray =array();
    $serialnumber = $serialnumber + 1;
    array_push($tmparray,$serialnumber);
    $employeelogin = $res1['employeelogin'];
    array_push($tmparray,$employeelogin);
    $employeename = $res1['employeename'];
    array_push($tmparray,$employeename);   
    array_push($sheet,$tmparray);
  }
   header('Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
   header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="name.xlsx"');
  $worksheet = $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet();
  foreach($sheet as $row => $columns) {
    foreach($columns as $column => $data) {
        $worksheet->setCellValueByColumnAndRow($column, $row + 1, $data);
    }
  }

  //make first row bold
  $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle("A1:I1")->getFont()->setBold(true);
  $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
  $objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel2007');
  $objWriter->save(str_replace('.php', '.xlsx', __FILE__));
?>

$this->load->library('excel');
$file_name = 'Demo';
$arrHeader = array('Name', 'Mobile');
$arrRows = array(0=>array('Name'=>'Jayant','Mobile'=>54545), 1=>array('Name'=>'Jayant1', 'Mobile'=>44454), 2=>array('Name'=>'Jayant2','Mobile'=>111222), 3=>array('Name'=>'Jayant3', 'Mobile'=>99999));
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($arrHeader,'','A1');
$this->excel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($arrRows);
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel'); //mime type
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="'.$file_name.'"'); //tell browser what's the file name
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0'); //no cache
$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($this->excel, 'Excel5');  
$objWriter->save('php://output');

I currently use this function in my project after a series of googling to download excel file from sql statement

    // $sql = sql query e.g "select * from mytablename"
    // $filename = name of the file to download 
        function queryToExcel($sql, $fileName = 'name.xlsx') {
                // initialise excel column name
                // currently limited to queries with less than 27 columns
        $columnArray = array("A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z");
                // Execute the database query
                $result =  mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());

                // Instantiate a new PHPExcel object
                $objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
                // Set the active Excel worksheet to sheet 0
                $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
                // Initialise the Excel row number
                $rowCount = 1;
    // fetch result set column information
                $finfo = mysqli_fetch_fields($result);
// initialise columnlenght counter                
$columnlenght = 0;
                foreach ($finfo as $val) {
// set column header values                   
  $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->SetCellValue($columnArray[$columnlenght++] . $rowCount, $val->name);
                }
// make the column headers bold
                $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle($columnArray[0]."1:".$columnArray[$columnlenght]."1")->getFont()->setBold(true);

                $rowCount++;
                // Iterate through each result from the SQL query in turn
                // We fetch each database result row into $row in turn

                while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_NUM)) {
                    for ($i = 0; $i < $columnLenght; $i++) {
                        $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->SetCellValue($columnArray[$i] . $rowCount, $row[$i]);
                    }
                    $rowCount++;
                }
// set header information to force download
                header('Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
                header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $fileName . '"');
                // Instantiate a Writer to create an OfficeOpenXML Excel .xlsx file        
                // Write the Excel file to filename some_excel_file.xlsx in the current directory                
                $objWriter = new PHPExcel_Writer_Excel2007($objPHPExcel); 
                // Write the Excel file to filename some_excel_file.xlsx in the current directory
                $objWriter->save('php://output');
            }