Chapter 6: Working with XML in Excel 2003

Overview

In the previous chapter, you saw how to work with XML in Word 2003. I discussed why you might want to use Office 2003 to generate XML content. I also covered the data structures that are suitable for use in each of the Microsoft Office packages. Remember that Excel is most suitable for grid-like data. In this chapter, Ill show you how to use Excel to create and maintain XML documents.

Excel users have been able to work with XML since the release of Excel XP for Windows.. However, Excel 2003 extends the XML features available. The features discussed in this section are only available in the Professional or Enterprise edition of Excel 2003. There is limited support for XML in Excel 2004 for Macintosh users.

Excel 2003 includes an XML vocabulary called SpreadsheetML. This vocabulary allows you to describe anything within Excel using XML tags, including formatting and content. You can create SpreadsheetML documents in an XML editor or use Excel to generate a SpreadsheetML document.