Excel with xml -> source and guide for tags and attributes
excel, openxml, xml
Solution
To work with Excel spreadsheets, or any other Microsoft Office documents for that matter, I suggest that you investigate the newer Office Open XML (OOXML) rather than the earlier Microsoft Office XML format that you cite.
OOXML offers advantages over the earlier Microsoft Office XML formats:
- OOXML reigns in many of the versioning dependencies that plagued earlier Office XML formats.
- OOXML is defined by an international standard (ECMA-376).
- OOXML uses a more sensible packaging system (OPC); the earlier format embeds binary in a large, monolithic XML file.
- OOXML can represent full document fidelity, including VBA macros, graphic objects, outlines, custom views, etc.
Standard ECMA-376 Office Open XML File Formats defines the vocabularies for OOXML.
Non-Microsoft OOXML Resources:
Others have provided official Microsoft documentation. In addition to the ECMA and ISO/IEC standard organizations links I provided above, here are some helpful resources beyond what Microsoft provides:
- Eric White has an extensive collection of tutorials, screen-casts, and examples on OOXML. Eric was the developer relations evangelist at Microsoft during OOXML standardization and development period. His work from the period is a must read for developers wishing to work with OOXML.
- How much has Open XML caught on?
- open xml excel read cell value
- Creating Excel document with OpenXml sdk 2.0
- Simple OOXML is great for creating and modifying OOXML. It is open source.
You mentioned in your question wanting to find a "source on tags and attributes". You can download the reference XSDs (as well as non-normative RelaxNG schemas) here. There's also a Office Open XML fundamentals document that has plenty of examples and explanations.
Problem
Excel can directly open .xml files and render them properly. An example can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_XML_formats#Excel_XML_Spreadsheet_example I am trying to find a source on tags and attributes that are used and on general structure, but I could not find any. I am very unfamiliar with all this. I do not even know where to start from. Any help is appreciated. Where do I find documentation on what tags are supported?