PHPOffice/PHPWord · error · PhpOffice\PhpWord\Exception\Exception

Could not set values for the given XSL style sheet…

Error message

Could not set values for the given XSL style sheet parameters.

What it means

TemplateProcessor::applyXslStyleSheet creates an XSLTProcessor, imports the given XSL stylesheet, and calls setParameter to register $xslOptions; if setParameter returns false it throws 'Could not set values for the given XSL style sheet parameters.' before any transformation runs.

Solutions

Pass a flat associative array of string keys to string values: ['paramName' => 'value']
Ensure parameter names are valid XSL names (no spaces/special characters)
Cast values to string before passing
Check the stylesheet expects those params (xsl:param) with matching names

Example fix

// before
$processor->applyXslStyleSheet($xsl, [['a','b']]); // indexed array
// after
$processor->applyXslStyleSheet($xsl, ['a' => 'b']);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function validXslOptions(array $opts): bool {
    foreach ($opts as $k => $v) {
        if (!is_string($k) || !preg_match('/^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_.-]*$/', $k) || !is_scalar($v)) return false;
    }
    return true;
}
// use: if (!validXslOptions($xslOptions)) { $xslOptions = []; }

Type guard

function isStringMap($v): bool {
    return is_array($v) && array_is_list($v) === false
        && count(array_filter($v, 'is_scalar')) === count($v);
}

Try / catch

try {
    $processor->applyXslStyleSheet($xslDom, $opts);
} catch (\PhpOffice\PhpWord\Exception\Exception $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), 'XSL style sheet parameters')) {
        $processor->applyXslStyleSheet($xslDom, []); // retry without params
    }
}

Prevention

Pass a flat string-keyed => scalar-valued array
Cast all option values to string
Ensure parameter names match <xsl:param name="..."> in the stylesheet

When it happens

Trigger: Passing $xslOptions that is not a valid key/value array (e.g. indexed array, nested arrays, non-string values), causing XSLTProcessor::setParameter to reject it.

Common situations: Passing an associative array with mixed-type values, numerically indexed arrays, or options read from JSON/config in unexpected shape; forgetting that keys become XSL parameter names which must be valid names.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of PHPOffice/PHPWord@aef95c0415 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a1045eb329774719. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/PhpWord/TemplateProcessor.php:246

    }

    /**
     * Applies XSL style sheet to template's parts.
     *
     * Note: since the method doesn't make any guess on logic of the provided XSL style sheet,
     * make sure that output is correctly escaped. Otherwise you may get broken document.
     *
     * @param DOMDocument $xslDomDocument
     * @param array $xslOptions
     * @param string $xslOptionsUri
     */
    public function applyXslStyleSheet($xslDomDocument, $xslOptions = [], $xslOptionsUri = ''): void
    {
        $xsltProcessor = new XSLTProcessor();

        $xsltProcessor->importStylesheet($xslDomDocument);
        if (false === $xsltProcessor->setParameter($xslOptionsUri, $xslOptions)) {
            throw new Exception('Could not set values for the given XSL style sheet parameters.');
        }

        $this->tempDocumentHeaders = $this->transformXml($this->tempDocumentHeaders, $xsltProcessor);
        $this->tempDocumentMainPart = $this->transformXml($this->tempDocumentMainPart, $xsltProcessor);
        $this->tempDocumentFooters = $this->transformXml($this->tempDocumentFooters, $xsltProcessor);
    }

    /**
     * @param string $macro
     *
     * @return string
     */
    protected static function ensureMacroCompleted($macro)
    {
        if (substr($macro, 0, 2) !== self::$macroOpeningChars && substr($macro, -1) !== self::$macroClosingChars) {
            $macro = self::$macroOpeningChars . $macro . self::$macroClosingChars;
        }

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