What causes "Invalid style value: {$value}" in PHPOffice/PHPWord?

Use the class constants for the style (e.g. Cell::VALIGN_CENTER, Image::UNIT_PX) instead of free-form strings

PHPOffice/PHPWord · error · InvalidArgumentException

Invalid style value

Error message

Invalid style value: {$value}

What it means

AbstractElement::setEnumVal() is the shared enum validator for element style setters (setType, setVAlign, setTextDirection, setVMerge, setUnit, setLegendPosition). If a non-null, non-empty value is given that is not in the allowed enum array, it throws an InvalidArgumentException with 'Invalid style value: {value}'. Null/empty values fall back to the provided default instead of throwing.

Solutions

Use the class constants for the style (e.g. Cell::VALIGN_CENTER, Image::UNIT_PX) instead of free-form strings
Check the exact enum values accepted by the specific setter in the element class
Match casing exactly — the in_array check is case-sensitive
Let the value be null/empty to get the setter's default instead of guessing

Example fix

// before
$cell->setVAlign('middle');
// after
use PhpOffice\PhpWord\SimpleType\VerticalJc;
$cell->setVAlign(VerticalJc::CENTER);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

use PhpOffice\PhpWord\SimpleType\VerticalJc;
$allowed = [VerticalJc::TOP, VerticalJc::CENTER, VerticalJc::BOTTOM];
if ($value !== null && trim($value) !== '' && !in_array($value, $allowed, true)) {
    throw new UnexpectedValueException("vAlign must be one of: " . implode(', ', $allowed));
}

Type guard

function isEnumValue(?string $value, array $enum): bool {
    return $value === null || trim($value) === '' || in_array($value, $enum, true);
}

Try / catch

try {
    $cell->setVAlign($value);
} catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
    // leave unset so the library default applies
}

Prevention

Use the SimpleType constant classes (VerticalJc, TextDirection, etc.) instead of raw strings
Remember the check is case-sensitive — match constants exactly
Pass null/empty to accept the setter default rather than guessing a value
Keep a mapping layer between user-facing config keys and PhpWord constants

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a style setter like $table->setStyleByArgument / $image->setImageStyle or direct calls such as $cell->setVAlign('middle') when only 'center'/'top'/'bottom' etc. are allowed; setting setType('x') on ListRun/Table styles with wrong values; passing style arrays with invalid keys' values via constructor.

Common situations: Using CSS-like values ('middle' vs 'center') in vAlign; passing integers for Unit where string constants are expected (or vice versa); values ported from raw OOXML attributes with different casing; typo in a style array.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of PHPOffice/PHPWord@aef95c0415 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b2e2fc60ba311341. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/PhpWord/Element/AbstractElement.php:537

    {
        $this->trackChange = new TrackChange($type, $author, $date);
    }

    /**
     * Set enum value.
     *
     * @param null|string $value
     * @param string[] $enum
     * @param null|string $default
     *
     * @return null|string
     *
     * @todo Merge with the same method in AbstractStyle
     */
    protected function setEnumVal($value = null, $enum = [], $default = null)
    {
        if ($value !== null && trim($value) != '' && !empty($enum) && !in_array($value, $enum)) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException("Invalid style value: {$value}");
        } elseif ($value === null || trim($value) == '') {
            $value = $default;
        }

        return $value;
    }
}

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