PHPExcel issue with multidimensional array and creating grouped data

Question

My current array that is being looped dumps this structure

0 => array:11 [▼
  "category_code" => "123"
  "category_name" => "Testing"
  "category_description" => "This is a test category"
  19738 => array:5 [▼
    "identifier" => "720368842943"
    "description" => Test Description One
    "count" => 4
    "details" => array:2 [▼
      0 => array:3 [▼
        "detail_code" => "2751"
        "detail_code2" => "43"
        "detail_specifier" => "Detail One"
      ]
      1 => array:3 [▼
        "detail_code" => "2681"
        "detail_code2" => "9"
        "detail_specifier" => "Detail Two"
      ]
    ]
    "prices" => array:1 [▼
      "01" => "1129.00"
    ]
  ]
  19739 => array:5 [▼
    "identifier" => "720368844121"
    "description" => "Test Description Two"
    "count" => 4
    "details" => array:2 [▼
      0 => array:3 [▼
        "detail_code" => "2751"
        "detail_code2" => "43"
        "detail_specifier" => "Detail One"
      ]
      1 => array:3 [▼
        "detail_code" => "2681"
        "detail_code2" => "9"
        "detail_specifier" => "Detail Two"
      ]
    ]
    "prices" => array:1 [▼
      "01" => "1490.00"
    ]
  ]

But when I export to excel it only shows the three top level attributes

123  |  Testing  |  This is a test category

I'm trying to export this in a way so that those top 3 values are one row (like a header) and all related products are listed under it like so:

123  |  Testing  |  This is a test category
====================================================================================================================
19738  |  720368842943  |  Test Description One  |  4  |  2751  |  43  |  Detail One  |  2681  |  9  |  Detail Two  |  1129.00
19739  |  720368844121  |  Test Description Two  |  4  |  2751  |  43  |  Detail One  |  2681  |  9  |  Detail Two  |  1490.00

I'm using Laravel Excel by maatwebsite which is just a wrapper for PHPExcel in laravel, but all i want to do is simply take the category info as a row with the subsequent product info as rows below it.

Here's the excel code with the array I'm using, which is dumped above (item Code is the 19738,19739 values)

$allCategoryResult= array();

foreach($prices->categories as $category){ 
    $categoryItem = array(); 
    $categoryItem["category_code"] = $category->category_code;
    $categoryItem["category_name"] = $category->category_name; 
    $categoryItem["category_desc"] = $category->category_desc;

    foreach($category->skus as $sku){
        $skuItem = array(); 

        $skuItem["identifier"] = $sku->sku_info->identifier;
        $skuItem["description"] = $sku->sku_info->item->description;
        $skuItem["count"] = $sku->sku_info->item->item_type->count;

        $skuItem["details"] = array(); 
        foreach ($sku->sku_info->details as $details) {
            $detailsItem = array(); 
            $detailsItem["detail_code"] = $details->detail_code;
            $detailsItem["detail_code2"] = $details->detail_code2;
            $detailsItem["detail_specifier"] = $details->detail_specifier;
            $skuItem["details"][] = $detailsItem; 
        }

        $skuItem["prices"] = get_object_vars($sku->prices);


        $itemCode = $sku->sku_info->item->item_code;
        $categoryItem[$itemCode] = $skuItem; 
    }
    $allCategoryResult[] = $categoryItem; 
}


$name = 'Test Export';

$build = Excel::create($name, function ($excel) use ($allCategoryResult) {

    $excel->setTitle('Test Export');

    $excel->sheet('Test Export', function ($sheet) use ($allCategoryResult) {

        $sheet->fromArray($allCategoryResult);
})->download('xlsx');

Answer 1

The methodfromArray() expects a 2D array

$data=(
  array(2) (
    [0] => array(3) (
      [0] => 19738  
      [1] => ...
      [2] => ...
    )
    [1] => array(4) (
      [0] => 19739
      [1] => ...
      [2] => ...
      [3] => ...

Each element of the array $data is a row. Each sub element is the value of a column. Restructure the creation of your array to fit this structure and you will be in business.

This code is untested, just trying to give an example. I'm not sure what you're doing with the get_object_vars($sku->prices);. I'm sure this will have to change.

$excelRows = [];

foreach($prices->categories as $category){ 

    $excelRows[] = [
      $category->category_code,
      $category->category_name,
      $category->category_desc
    ]

    foreach($category->skus as $sku){

        $row = [
          $sku->sku_info->identifier,
          $sku->sku_info->item->description,
          $sku->sku_info->item->item_type->count
        ]

        foreach ($sku->sku_info->details as $details) {
          $row[] = $details->detail_code;
          $row[] = $details->detail_code2;
          $row[] = $details->detail_specifier; 
        }

        $row[] = get_object_vars($sku->prices);

        $row[] = $sku->sku_info->item->item_code;

        $excelRows[] = $row;
    }
}