On opening an Excel5 file receiving 'Cell coordinate can not be zero-length string'

[AndHam89]

Trying to open the Excel file 'test_excel.xls' I receive the following stack trace. It seems that the graphics within the file might cause a problem. The Excel file 'test_excel.xls' can be provided but I don't know how to attach it to this issue.

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught exception 'PHPExcel_Exception' with message 'Cell coordinate can not be zero-length string' in /data/development/openDCIM/PHPExcel/Classes/PHPExcel/Cell.php:536
Stack trace:
#0 /data/development/openDCIM/PHPExcel/Classes/PHPExcel/Reader/Excel5.php(956): PHPExcel_Cell::coordinateFromString(NULL)
#1 /data/development/openDCIM/code/extras/test_read_excel.php(14): PHPExcel_Reader_Excel5->load('/var/tmp/test_e...')
#2 /data/development/openDCIM/code/extras/test_read_excel.php(19): import_excel('/var/tmp/test_e...')
#3 {main}
  thrown in /data/development/openDCIM/PHPExcel/Classes/PHPExcel/Cell.php on line 536

The code which produces the error is as follows.

set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR .
         __DIR__.'/../../PHPExcel/Classes');
require_once('PHPExcel/IOFactory.php');

function import_excel($file) {
  if (!file_exists($file)) {
    echo 'Could not open import file for reading';
    return false;
  }
  $objReader = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createReaderForFile($file);
  $xlsData = $objReader->load($file);
  return $lines;
}

$xls_content = import_excel('/var/tmp/test_excel.xls');

[MarkBaker]

Unfortunately, github doesn't provide any mechanism for uploading files to issues, so we have the old file attachments link on codeplex where you can upload files - http://phpexcel.codeplex.com/workitem/10749?ProjectName=phpexcel

[AndHam89]

Test file is uploaded to CodePlex with the title Test file for issue #153

description Attached is the test file 'test_excel.xls' for the issue #153 reported with the title

On opening an Excel5 file receiving 'Cell coordinate can not be zero-length string'

[tesmojones]

I have same problem. My file is Excel5 too..