NAME
    Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML - Parse Excel Spreadsheets using xlhtml

SYNOPSIS
            use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML;

            my $excel = new Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML;

            my $book = $excel->Parse('/some/excel/file.xls');

            # Cheesy CSV printer...
            for my $sheet (@{$book->{Worksheet}}) {
                    print STDERR "Worksheet: ", $sheet->{Name}, "\n";
                    for my $i ($sheet->{MinRow}..$sheet->{MaxRow}) {
                            print join ',', map { qq|"$_"| }
                                            map { defined $_ ? $_->Value : "" }
                                            @{$sheet->{Cells}[$i]};
                            print "\n";
                    }
            }

            # or...

            use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML qw/-install/;

            # Calls to Spreadsheet::ParseExcel's constructor will now be forwarded
            # to this module.
            my $excel = new Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;

            #...

DESCRIPTION
    This module follows the interface of the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module,
    except only the "Value" fields of cells are filled, there is no extra
    fancy stuff. The reason I wrote it was to have a faster way to parse
    Excel spreadsheets in Perl. This module parses around six times faster
    according to my own informal benchmarks then the original
    Spreadsheet::ParseExcel at the time of writing.

    To achieve this, it uses a program called "xlhtml" by Stev Grubb. You
    can find it here:

    <http://chicago.sourceforge.net/xlhtml/>

    It is also in Debian as the "xlhtml" package.

    Get the latest developer release. Once compiled, it needs to be in the
    PATH of your Perl program for this module to work correctly.

    You only need to use this module if you have a large volume of big Excel
    spreadsheets that you are parsing, or perhaps need to speed up a
    CGI/mod_perl handler. Otherwise stick to the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
    module.

    Now, someday we will have a nice C library with an XS interface, but
    this is not someday :)

COMPATIBILITY
    The workbook 'Author' attribute is supported, and the following
    worksheet attributes are supported: 'Name', 'MinRow', 'MaxRow',
    'MinCol', 'MaxCol'.

    In terms of behaviour, there is one other difference which may or may
    not affect you. Spreadsheet::ParseExcel will often create
    Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Cell objects with empty or whitespace-filled
    Value fields, while this module will only create Cell objects if a value
    exists; otherwise the Cells array will contain an "undef" for that cell.

    In other words, don't blindly call "$sheet->{Cells}[$i][$j]->Value",
    check if the cell is defined first.

OPTIONS
    When used with the "-install" (dash optional) option, it will install
    its own "new" and "Parse" methods into the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
    namespace, useful if you want to try using this module along with
    modules that depend on the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module, and/or
    minimize changes to your code for compatibility.

AUTHOR
    Rafael Kitover <rkitover@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
    This program is Copyright (c) 2001-2009 by Rafael Kitover. This program
    is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
    same terms as Perl itself.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    Thanks to the authors of Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and xlhtml for allowing
    us to deal with Excel files in the UNIX world.

    Thanks to my employer, Gradience, Inc., for allowing me to work on
    projects as free software.

BUGS
    are tasty!

TODO
    I'll take suggestions.

SEE ALSO
    Spreadsheet::ParseExcel, xlhtml

