PHPExcel - colspan the subject name

Question

• Table name: subject
  

• My Expected output
  

• My code
  

  <?php
      //dbconnection
  
      $q = "SELECT name FROM subject";
      $r = mysqli_query($dbc, $q);
  
      while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($r, MYSQLI_ASSOC))
      {
          $name[] = $row['name'];
      }
  
      $objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
      $objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
  
      $headers = array('School Name');
      $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($headers, null, 'A1');
      $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->fromArray($name, null, 'B1');
  
      $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('B1:C1');
      $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('D1:E1');
      $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('F1:G1');
      $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('H1:I1');
  ?>
  

• I want to set colspan = 2 for each subject. I don't want to write 4 individual lines of code. I try with for loop as below:

  $objWorksheet = $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet();
  
  $row = 1;
  $highestColumn = $objWorksheet -> getHighestColumn();
  $highestColumn++;
  
  for($column = 'A'; $column != $highestColumn; $column++)
  {
      if($column <= 'C')
      {
          //[HERE]
      }
  }
  

• After I write the for loop, I am stuck. I have no ideas on how to control the column name and set the colspan. Can someone help me?

Answer 1

Probably a lot easier to do this in a loop over the subject list:

$objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();
$objPHPExcel->setActiveSheetIndex(0);
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue('A1', 'School Name');
$objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells('A1:A2');

$column = 'B';
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($r, MYSQLI_ASSOC))
{
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue($column.'1', $row['name']);
    $mergeRange = $column.'1:';
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue($column.'2', 'Student Name');
    $column++;
    $mergeRange .= $column.'1';
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue($column.'2', 'Grade');
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->mergeCells($mergeRange);
    $column++;
}