Migrate from PHPExcel to PHP 8

Install the modern package#

composer require mnb/mnb-phpexcel:^2.0

Replace workbook loading and worksheet iteration#

$objPHPExcel = PHPExcel_IOFactory::load('orders.xlsx');
$worksheet = $objPHPExcel->getSheetByName('Orders');

foreach ($worksheet->getRowIterator() as $row) {
    // Read cell iterators manually.
}

use Mnb\PHPExcel\MnbExcel;

$session = MnbExcel::read('orders.xlsx')
    ->sheet('Orders')
    ->withHeaderRow(1);

foreach ($session->rows() as $row) {
    echo $row['Order ID'] . PHP_EOL;
}

Replace workbook creation from arrays#

$excel = new PHPExcel();
$sheet = $excel->getActiveSheet();
$sheet->fromArray($rows, null, 'A1');
$writer = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($excel, 'Excel2007');
$writer->save('report.xlsx');

use Mnb\PHPExcel\MnbExcel;

MnbExcel::fromArray($rows)
    ->withHeader()
    ->autoWidth()
    ->save('report.xlsx');

Migration contract#

Installation

Composer package and Composer autoloading.

Reading model

ReadSession with chainable configuration and explicit terminal methods.

Writing model

WorkbookBuilder with chainable workbook configuration and save().

Return types

Generators, native arrays, structured arrays, scalar values, and builder objects are documented explicitly.

Large files

Use row streaming and chunks instead of materializing a complete workbook object when the job is record-oriented.

Migration strategy

Move one workflow at a time and verify generated workbooks in Excel or LibreOffice.

Legacy loader → MnbExcel::read()
Worksheet iteration → rows()
fromArray + writer → MnbExcel::fromArray()->save()

Continue the migration#