What causes "Invalid value, on of ' . implode(', ', $position) . ' possible" in PHPOffice/PHPWord?

Use one of the class constants: FootnoteProperties::POSITION_PAGE, POSITION_SECTION, or POSITION_DOC_END

PHPOffice/PHPWord · error · InvalidArgumentException

Invalid value, on of ' . implode(', ', $position) . '…

Error message

Invalid value, on of ' . implode(', ', $position) . ' possible

What it means

FootnoteProperties::setPos() validates the footnote position against a fixed whitelist (POSITION_PAGE, POSITION_SECTION, POSITION_DOC_END). If the passed value is not one of these class constants, an InvalidArgumentException is thrown listing the valid options. The message contains a typo ('on of' instead of 'one of') but the intent is clear: only the documented constants are accepted.

Solutions

Use one of the class constants: FootnoteProperties::POSITION_PAGE, POSITION_SECTION, or POSITION_DOC_END
Check spelling/casing of the value against the constants defined at the top of FootnoteProperties.php
Wrap the call in try-catch InvalidArgumentException if the value comes from user input, and fall back to the default

Example fix

// before
$props->setPos('end');
// after
$props->setPos(FootnoteProperties::POSITION_DOC_END);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

$allowed = [FootnoteProperties::POSITION_PAGE, FootnoteProperties::POSITION_SECTION, FootnoteProperties::POSITION_DOC_END];
if (!in_array($pos, $allowed, true)) {
    throw new UnexpectedValueException("pos must be one of: " . implode(', ', $allowed));
}

Type guard

function isValidFootnotePos(?string $pos): bool {
    return in_array($pos, [FootnoteProperties::POSITION_PAGE, FootnoteProperties::POSITION_SECTION, FootnoteProperties::POSITION_DOC_END], true);
}

Try / catch

try {
    $props->setPos($pos);
} catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
    $props->setPos(FootnoteProperties::POSITION_PAGE); // safe default
}

Prevention

Always use FootnoteProperties::POSITION_* constants, never raw strings
Pre-validate user/config input against the constant list
Write a unit test covering each allowed position value

When it happens

Trigger: Calling setPos() (directly or via FootnoteProperties constructor/style array, e.g. Section->addFootnote with footnoteProperties) with an arbitrary string like 'end' or 'document' instead of FootnoteProperties::POSITION_PAGE, POSITION_SECTION, or POSITION_DOC_END.

Common situations: Guessing the position string instead of using the class constants; copying XML attribute values from OOXML docs (e.g. 'docEnd' vs 'docEnd' casing variants) into the setter; typos in config arrays passed to style builders.

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/1e75a0af858e1c09. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/PhpWord/ComplexType/FootnoteProperties.php:97

     * Set the Footnote Positioning Location (pageBottom, beneathText, sectEnd, docEnd).
     *
     * @param string $pos
     *
     * @return self
     */
    public function setPos($pos)
    {
        $position = [
            self::POSITION_PAGE_BOTTOM,
            self::POSITION_BENEATH_TEXT,
            self::POSITION_SECTION_END,
            self::POSITION_DOC_END,
        ];

        if (in_array($pos, $position)) {
            $this->pos = $pos;
        } else {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException('Invalid value, on of ' . implode(', ', $position) . ' possible');
        }

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Get the Footnote Numbering Format.
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function getNumFmt()
    {
        return $this->numFmt;
    }

    /**
     * Set the Footnote Numbering Format.
     *

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