excel - Create xls file using PL/SQL without going through xml

Question

My system is developed in APEX/Oracle 11g, and I want to create an xls file directly without having to create an xml file. The system currently creates an xml file which can then be saved to xls format, but the user, who is very picky, does not like the Windows 7 warning when one tries to open the xml file (Excel warning that the format of the file does not match its extension). Is there any way to use Oracle PL/SQL from within APEX to accomplish this?

Answer 1

Morten Braten has put together a great PLSQL resource page: http://code.google.com/p/plsql-utils/

Specifically Anton Scheffer has shared his package AS_XLSX which would meet your APEX needs: http://technology.amis.nl/2011/02/19/create-an-excel-file-with-plsql/

Very simple to use with good examples in the package header.