def _style_to_xlwt(cls, item, firstlevel=True, field_sep=',',
                       line_sep=';'):
        """helper which recursively generate an xlwt easy style string
        for example:

            hstyle = {"font": {"bold": True},
            "border": {"top": "thin",
                    "right": "thin",
                    "bottom": "thin",
                    "left": "thin"},
            "align": {"horiz": "center"}}
            will be converted to
            font: bold on; \
                    border: top thin, right thin, bottom thin, left thin; \
                    align: horiz center;
        """
        if hasattr(item, 'items'):
            if firstlevel:
                it = ["{key}: {val}"
                      .format(key=key, val=cls._style_to_xlwt(value, False))
                      for key, value in item.items()]
                out = "{sep} ".format(sep=(line_sep).join(it))
                return out
            else:
                it = ["{key} {val}"
                      .format(key=key, val=cls._style_to_xlwt(value, False))
                      for key, value in item.items()]
                out = "{sep} ".format(sep=(field_sep).join(it))
                return out
        else:
            item = "{item}".format(item=item)
            item = item.replace("True", "on")
            item = item.replace("False", "off")
            return item