Chapter Assumptions

As with the preceding Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) primer, this chapter assumes not only that this may be the first time you’ve ever seen a line of programming code, but also that you’re an advanced Microsoft Office user and comfortable with the features covered throughout this book.

Though this primer is written for Microsoft Office users and not for programmers, you might have noticed that I’ve already specified advanced users more than once. That’s because incorrectly editing a document’s XML can break a document faster than you ? can blink.

That statement isn’t meant to scare you away. If you’re an advanced user, learning to edit your documents’ XML can be easy, and you can just as easily learn to quickly fix anything you may inadvertently break. Rather, I mention this primarily for the trainers or tech support professionals among you who might consider sending basic or intermediate users into a document’s XML.

You’ll gain tremendous power and flexibility by being able to edit a document’s XML, but please don’t consider it just another method for accomplishing document tasks- such as just one more option you’d teach in a Microsoft Word course for how to edit the definition of a paragraph style. This is an avenue for those with the skill to take document production and troubleshooting to a new level.

Consider this: If a document were a car, then the document’s XML would be the tools of an auto mechanic. Before you can begin to understand what’s going on under the hood, you need to know how to drive. That said, experienced drivers are going to have a great time with the tools in this chapter.

Note 

As with the VBA primer in this book, much of what you’ll learn in this chapter can be applied to any program that uses the Office Open XML Formats. However, because I assume that you’re new to any use of XML, all examples in this chapter use Microsoft Office Word 2007 documents and tasks for consistency.