Textboxes, shape are not visible when using mergefields in file that contains image (Excel)

[MarekPolok]

This is:

- [x] a bug report

What is the expected behavior?

Textboxes, Shapes etc should be visible after using merging of fields

What is the current behavior?

Textboxes, Shapes are gone when there is a image in excel.
When Image is removed everything works as expected - shapes, textboxes are not removed
As you can see [[documents_Description]] is changed to merge excel.xslx

Screenshots showing what is the problem:
Orginal file before merging fields:

File after merging fields:

Sample file which is failing:
merge excel.xlsx

What are the steps to reproduce?

We are taking a file and using regex to match merge field inserted in excel and fill it with data from our system.
So we are taking file, process fields and save the document

<?php

public static function Load(File $file): static {
	$fileFullPath = $file->GetFullPath();

	$reader = IOFactory::createReaderForFile($fileFullPath);
	$document = $reader->load($fileFullPath);

	$res = new static;
	$res->spreadsheet = $document;

	return $res;
}

public function MergeToFile(File $sourceFile, IFile $file): void {
	$excelDoc = ExcelDocument::Load($sourceFile);
	$excelDoc->CellSearchReplace(new Regex('/\[\[([\w\/_]+)]]/'), function(string $value, array $matches) {
		$key = $matches[1];
		return $this->fieldValues[$key] ?? $this->getFieldValueFromFunction($key) ?? '';
	});
	$excelDoc->SaveToFile($file);
}

Which versions of PhpSpreadsheet and PHP are affected?

PhpSpreadsheet version: 2.1.0
PHP version: 8.3.2

[oleibman]

Limited support for form controls was added by PR #3130. The keyword in this case is "limited". We can read them and write them (at least some of the time), but can't actually do anything in the code with them. I agree that we aren't reading your file correctly. I will see if we can do anything about that.

[xiongmao-p]

This is:

- [x] a bug report

What is the expected behavior?

Textboxes, Shapes etc should be visible after using merging of fields

What is the current behavior?

Textboxes, Shapes are gone when there is a image in excel. When Image is removed everything works as expected - shapes, textboxes are not removed As you can see [[documents_Description]] is changed to merge excel.xslx

Screenshots showing what is the problem: Orginal file before merging fields: File after merging fields:

Sample file which is failing: merge excel.xlsx

What are the steps to reproduce?

We are taking a file and using regex to match merge field inserted in excel and fill it with data from our system. So we are taking file, process fields and save the document

<?php

public static function Load(File $file): static {
	$fileFullPath = $file->GetFullPath();

	$reader = IOFactory::createReaderForFile($fileFullPath);
	$document = $reader->load($fileFullPath);

	$res = new static;
	$res->spreadsheet = $document;

	return $res;
}

public function MergeToFile(File $sourceFile, IFile $file): void {
	$excelDoc = ExcelDocument::Load($sourceFile);
	$excelDoc->CellSearchReplace(new Regex('/\[\[([\w\/_]+)]]/'), function(string $value, array $matches) {
		$key = $matches[1];
		return $this->fieldValues[$key] ?? $this->getFieldValueFromFunction($key) ?? '';
	});
	$excelDoc->SaveToFile($file);
}

Which versions of PhpSpreadsheet and PHP are affected?

PhpSpreadsheet version: 2.1.0 PHP version: 8.3.2

I also encounter the same problem, is there a solution?

[oleibman]

No progress to report.

[rpg600]

Hello, I’m experiencing the same issue. Has there been any update over the past year ?

[oleibman]

Sorry, no update.

[rpg600]

I've implemented an opt-in pass-through mechanism that preserves these elements by storing and reusing the original XML. It's backward compatible (disabled by default) and requires minimal changes to the codebase.

Usage:

$reader = IOFactory::createReader('Xlsx');
$reader->setEnableDrawingPassThrough(true);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('file_with_shapes.xlsx');
// Modify cells, shapes are preserved on save

The PR is in draft here #4712
WDYT ?

[oleibman]

Just guessing, but perhaps your PR is failing because you need an equivalent flag for the writer as well.