fix regression in 1bf0068 when set_column() is called with $last_col==0

[sherrardb]

good day, there seems to have been a regression introduced in 1bf0068 when calling set_column() with $last_col set to zero.

  my $workbook = Excel::Writer::XLSX->new( $fh );
  $worksheet->set_column( 1, 0, 35 ); # does not work
  $worksheet->set_column( 'B:B', 35 ); # works
  $worksheet->set_column( 1, 1, 35 ); # probably works but did not check
  $workbook->close();

the docs indicate that this syntax should still work, even though the A1 syntax is suggested. this seems to be a fairly simply fix, but please forgive me if i am overlooking some context or intent.

sorry i could not find a relevant unit test to update as all of the ones i looked at in t/regression/set_column* and t/regression/xlsx_files/set_column* seem to use the A1 syntax.

My automatically generated system details are as follows:

Perl version   : 5.028001
OS name        : linux
Module versions: (not all are required)
                 Excel::Writer::XLSX        1.09
                 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel    (not installed)
                 Archive::Zip               1.68
                 XML::Writer                0.900
                 IO::File                   1.45
                 File::Temp                 0.2311

[jmcnamara]

$worksheet->set_column( 1, 0, 35 ); # does not work

That isn't valid syntax. It should really be like the other example with the same first and last column:

  $worksheet->set_column( 1, 1, 35 ); # probably works but did not check

However, I seemed to have put a fix in at some point (2010!) to stop people shooting themselves in the foot I presume because it could crash Excel. So it is probably best to use the correct syntax and not rely on that failsafe.

Nevertheless, there is a regression and your fix is valid so I will merge it. Thanks.

[sherrardb]

$worksheet->set_column( 1, 0, 35 ); # does not work

That isn't valid syntax. It should really be like the other example with the same first and last column:

i only discovered this when maintaining some in-house code written by another developer. i found the syntax non-intuitive, but then i confirmed in the perldoc that it is acceptable, or at least that was my interpretation of the following: https://github.com/jmcnamara/excel-writer-xlsx/blob/0b746a3bfd5ad78121ead38632d387b9d91a79fe/lib/Excel/Writer/XLSX.pm#L2284

thanks for getting to this so quickly.

[jmcnamara]

i found the syntax non-intuitive, but then i confirmed in the perldoc that it is acceptable, or at least that was my interpretation of the following

Wow. I can't believe I documented that exception. I really should have just converted it to an error. It seems that I ported it over from Spreadsheet::WriteExcel code from 2007!.

Anyway, if it is in the docs then I will let it stand even if it looks wrong. Thanks, for the debug and fix.

[sherrardb]

indeed, it is almost impossible to deprecate anything in open source code once it is in the wild. unless you want to take this as an opportunity to start the soft deprecation. :-) all the best