vMerge value is Empty in MS Word 2021

[kernusr]

Describe the Bug

In MS Word 2021 docx files save with empty w:val of w:vMerge when expected value "continue".

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create new document in MS Word 2021
2. Create table in document
3. Merge multiple cells vertically
4. Save the document and check word\document.xml

I tried saving:

• as Word Document (*.docx)
• as Strickt Open XML Document (*.docx)

In both cases I get the described problem

When I save in Libre Office the problem doesn't reproduce

What does this have to do with phpword?
When I want to save a file in html or pdf I get incorrect markup

Context

Please fill in your environment information:

• PHPWord Version: 1.0

[kernusr]

I can suggest a solution.

In method readStyleDefs for argument styleDefs add fifth parameter "default value"

PHPWord/src/PhpWord/Reader/Word2007/AbstractPart.php

Lines 624 to 653 in 0af4ca1

	protected function readStyleDefs(XMLReader $xmlReader, ?DOMElement $parentNode = null, $styleDefs = [])
	{
	$styles = [];
	foreach ($styleDefs as $styleProp => $styleVal) {
	[$method, $element, $attribute, $expected] = array_pad($styleVal, 4, null);
	$element = $this->findPossibleElement($xmlReader, $parentNode, $element);
	if ($element === null) {
	continue;
	}
	if ($xmlReader->elementExists($element, $parentNode)) {
	$node = $xmlReader->getElement($element, $parentNode);
	$attribute = $this->findPossibleAttribute($xmlReader, $node, $attribute);
	// Use w:val as default if no attribute assigned
	$attribute = ($attribute === null) ? 'w:val' : $attribute;
	$attributeValue = $xmlReader->getAttribute($attribute, $node);
	$styleValue = $this->readStyleDef($method, $attributeValue, $expected);
	if ($styleValue !== null) {
	$styles[$styleProp] = $styleValue;
	}
	}
	}
	return $styles;
	}

Modify the code as follows

    protected function readStyleDefs(XMLReader $xmlReader, ?DOMElement $parentNode = null, $styleDefs = [])
    {
        $styles = [];

        foreach ($styleDefs as $styleProp => $styleVal) {
            [$method, $element, $attribute, $expected, $default] = array_pad($styleVal, 4, null);

            $element = $this->findPossibleElement($xmlReader, $parentNode, $element);
            if ($element === null) {
                continue;
            }

            if ($xmlReader->elementExists($element, $parentNode)) {
                $node = $xmlReader->getElement($element, $parentNode);

                $attribute = $this->findPossibleAttribute($xmlReader, $node, $attribute);

                // Use w:val as default if no attribute assigned
                $attribute = ($attribute === null) ? 'w:val' : $attribute;
                $attributeValue = $xmlReader->getAttribute($attribute, $node) ?? $default;

                $styleValue = $this->readStyleDef($method, $attributeValue, $expected);
                if ($styleValue !== null) {
                    $styles[$styleProp] = $styleValue;
                }
            }
        }

        return $styles;
    }

This will allow default values to be passed for empty attributes. For example in a cell styles

PHPWord/src/PhpWord/Reader/Word2007/AbstractPart.php

Line 561 in 0af4ca1

'vMerge' => [self::READ_VALUE, 'w:vMerge'],

The code will look like this

'vMerge' => [self::READ_VALUE, 'w:vMerge', null, null, 'continue'],

[Progi1984]

Fixed by @kernusr in #2336