Introduction to Excels XML Features

Introduction to Excel s XML Features

The first thing to note about the XML features described in this chapter is that most of them are only available in Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and the standalone Microsoft Office Excel 2003. If you work with other Office editions, such as Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003, Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003, or Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003, the XML features described in this chapter are not available.

Many of the XML features of Excel are accessed via Excel's XML Source task pane. To bring up the XML Source task pane, display the task pane if it is not already displayed by choosing Task Pane from Excel's View menu. The task pane has a drop-down menu from which XML Source can be selected, as shown in Figure 21-1.

Figure 21-1. Selecting XML Source from the task pane drop-down menu.

An alternative way of accessing the XML Source task pane is by using the XML menu in the Data menu. The XML menu has an XML Source command that will show the XML Source task pane. Figure 21-2 shows the XML menu. This chapter examines many of the commands in the XML menu.

Figure 21-2. Selecting XML Source from the XML menu in the Data menu.

After you have made the XML Source task pane visible using one of these two methods, the XML Source task pane will appear as shown in Figure 21-3.

Figure 21-3. The XML Source task pane.

The XML Source task pane refers to something called an XML map. An XML map is a mapping from an XML schema to cells and/or lists in the workbook. Before you create an XML map, you must first have an XML schema to work with. The following section examines how to create an XML schema using Visual Studio 2005.