title: Generating large Excel files from MySQL data with PHP from corporate applications
body: <p>We're developing and maintaining a couple of systems, which need to export reports in Excel format to the end user. The reports are gathered from a MySQL database with some trivial processing and usually result in ~40000 rows of data with 10-15 columns, we're expecting the amount of data to grow steadily. </p>
  
  <p>At the moment we're using PHPExcel for the Excel generation, but it's not working for us anymore. After we go above 5000 rows, the memory consumption and loading times become untolerable, and can't be solved by indefinitely increasing PHP's maximum limits for memory usage and script execution times. Processing of the data is as lean as possible, and the entire problem is with PHPExcel being a memory hog. CSV generation would be lighter, but unfortunately we're required to export Excel (and Excel alone) from our services due to user demands. This is due to formatting requirements etc., so CSV isn't an option.</p>
  
  <p>Any ideas/recommendations for a third party application/module/service/what ever for generating large excels? Doesn't matter if it's a commercial licence, as long as it fits our needs, can be integrated to existing PHP applications and does its job. Our services are generally running on linux/php/mysql and we can do just about whatever we need to do with the servers. </p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>