PHP to Excel, not allowing more than 255 characters?

Question

Hi all, I'm using the following code to create an xls file from php.

http://www.appservnetwork.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8

However, for some reason if the row "comments" is more than 255 characters, it doesn't output anything..

The code which writes the String to the XLS file is:

function xlsWriteString( $Row, $Col, $Value ) {
    $L = strlen( $Value );
    echo pack( "ssssss", 0x204, 8 + $L, $Row, $Col, 0x0, $L );
    echo $Value;
return;
};

Could someone help me get this to display the field regardless of how many characters are in the string?

Thanks

EDIT: I found this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/213841 but not sure how to implement the work around into php..

ANOTHER EDIT: Even if anyone knows how to merge cells? That would also work?? :)

Answer 1

Sounds like it may be related to this issue.