Codeigniter. extract XLS file to array or similar

I'm using CI 2.0.2 and am trying to import a simple XLS file for my site. Eventually, I'll be inserting that data into a DB, but for now, I just need an array of the data. (I'm going to be running checks on the data first)..

I've never written a plugin for CI and am greatly confused by all the dependancies of these suggestions found in other posts: Reading an XLS file with codeigniter 2.0 Perhaps this I should be asking 'how to write a plugin'?

Anyhoo, if there's a definative XLS -> array for CI tutorial out there, I can't find it..

I've tried a few methods, but am fearful of over paddi开发者_开发百科ng my CI directories with 'useless' files.

Feel free to flame me... I'm just tearing out my hair...

Handling XLS files is an utter nightmare... I've tried lots of libraries (both CI and native PHP) and found nothing that works.

Is saving as a CSV a possibility?