The Perl Toolchain Summit needs more sponsors. If your company depends on Perl, please support this very important event.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

###############################################################################
#
# Example of how to add a user defined data handler to the Spreadsheet::
# WriteExcel write() method.
#
# The following example shows how to add a handler for a 7 digit ID number.
# It adds an additional constraint to the write_handler1.pl in that it only
# filters data that isn't in the third column.
#
#
# reverse('©'), September 2004, John McNamara, jmcnamara@cpan.org
#

use strict;
use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;


my $workbook    = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new("write_handler2.xls");
my $worksheet   = $workbook->add_worksheet();


###############################################################################
#
# Add a handler for 7 digit id numbers. This is useful when you want a string
# such as 0000001 written as a string instead of a number and thus preserve
# the leading zeroes.
#
# Note: you can get the same effect using the keep_leading_zeros() method but
# this serves as a simple example.
#
$worksheet->add_write_handler(qr[^\d{7}$], \&write_my_id);


###############################################################################
#
# The following function processes the data when a match is found. The handler
# is set up so that it only filters data if it is in the third column.
#
sub write_my_id {

    my $worksheet = shift;
    my $col       = $_[1];

    # col is zero based
    if ($col != 2) {
        return $worksheet->write_string(@_);
    }
    else {
        # Reject the match and return control to write()
        return undef;
    }

}


# This format maintains the cell as text even if it is edited.
my $id_format   = $workbook->add_format(num_format => '@');


# Write some numbers in the user defined format
$worksheet->write('A1', '0000000', $id_format);
$worksheet->write('B1', '0000001', $id_format);
$worksheet->write('C1', '0000002', $id_format);
$worksheet->write('D1', '0000003', $id_format);



__END__