updating from xls -> [filter] -> mysql

Hi, I'm thinking ahead to something I'll need to tackle in the future. My current system is Filemaker based and I can import straight from Excel spreadsheets - but with no checking available. Now that I'm re-writing into php/mysql(pear:dB)/smarty, If I can, I'd like the user to be able to select the file (I can do that bit), check that the column positions match a predefined format (?), and then update records in my db table. Does this look doable? Any hints on how? I don't want to use ODBC as the filename will be constantly changing so there'll be no dsn set up. George in Oxford