Structure of a SpreadsheetML Document

Applies to: Excel 2010 | Office 2010 | PowerPoint 2010 | Word 2010

In this article
Important Spreadsheet Parts
Minimum Workbook Scenario
Typical Workbook Scenario

The document structure of a SpreadsheetML document consists of the <workbook> element that contains <sheets> and <sheet> elements that reference the worksheets in the workbook. A separate XML file is created for each worksheet. These elements are the minimum elements required for a valid spreadsheet document. In addition, a spreadsheet document might contain <table>, <chartsheet>, <pivotTableDefinition>, or other spreadsheet related elements.

In This Section

Important Spreadsheet Parts

Minimum Workbook Scenario

Typical Workbook Scenario

Important Spreadsheet Parts

Using the Open XML SDK 2.0, you can create document structure and content that uses strongly-typed classes that correspond to SpreadsheetML elements. You can find these classes in the DocumentFormat.OpenXML.Spreadsheet namespace. The following table lists the class names of the classes that correspond to some of the important spreadsheet elements.

Minimum Workbook Scenario

The following text from the Standard ECMA-376 introduces the minimum workbook scenario.

The smallest possible (blank) workbook must contain the following:

    A single sheet

    A sheet ID

    A relationship Id that points to the location of the sheet definition

© Ecma International: December 2006.

Open XML SDK Code Example

This code example uses the classes in the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office to create a minimum, blank workbook.

public static void CreateSpreadsheetWorkbook(string filepath)
{
    // Create a spreadsheet document by supplying the filepath.
    // By default, AutoSave = true, Editable = true, and Type = xlsx.
    SpreadsheetDocument spreadsheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Create(filepath, SpreadsheetDocumentType.Workbook);

    // Add a WorkbookPart to the document.
    WorkbookPart workbookpart = spreadsheetDocument.AddWorkbookPart();
    workbookpart.Workbook = new Workbook();

    // Add a WorksheetPart to the WorkbookPart.
    WorksheetPart worksheetPart = workbookpart.AddNewPart<WorksheetPart>();
    worksheetPart.Worksheet = new Worksheet(new SheetData());

    // Add Sheets to the Workbook.
    Sheets sheets = spreadsheetDocument.WorkbookPart.Workbook.AppendChild<Sheets>(new Sheets());

    // Append a new worksheet and associate it with the workbook.
    Sheet sheet = new Sheet() { Id = spreadsheetDocument.WorkbookPart.GetIdOfPart(worksheetPart), SheetId = 1, Name = "mySheet" };
    sheets.Append(sheet);

    workbookpart.Workbook.Save();

    // Close the document.
    spreadsheetDocument.Close();
}

Public Sub CreateSpreadsheetWorkbook(ByVal filepath As String)
    ' Create a spreadsheet document by supplying the filepath.
    ' By default, AutoSave = true, Editable = true, and Type = xlsx.
    Dim spreadsheetDocument As SpreadsheetDocument = spreadsheetDocument.Create(filepath, SpreadsheetDocumentType.Workbook)

    ' Add a WorkbookPart to the document.
    Dim workbookpart As WorkbookPart = spreadsheetDocument.AddWorkbookPart
    workbookpart.Workbook = New Workbook

    ' Add a WorksheetPart to the WorkbookPart.
    Dim worksheetPart As WorksheetPart = workbookpart.AddNewPart(Of WorksheetPart)()
    worksheetPart.Worksheet = New Worksheet(New SheetData())

    ' Add Sheets to the Workbook.
    Dim sheets As Sheets = spreadsheetDocument.WorkbookPart.Workbook.AppendChild(Of Sheets)(New Sheets())

    ' Append a new worksheet and associate it with the workbook.
    Dim sheet As Sheet = New Sheet
    sheet.Id = spreadsheetDocument.WorkbookPart.GetIdOfPart(worksheetPart)
    sheet.SheetId = 1
    sheet.Name = "mySheet"

    sheets.Append(sheet)

    workbookpart.Workbook.Save()

    ' Close the document.
    spreadsheetDocument.Close()
End Sub

Generated SpreadsheetML

After you run the Open XML SDK 2.0 code to generate a minimum workbook, you can explore the contents of the .zip package to view the SpreadsheetML XML code. To view the .zip package, rename the extension on the minimum spreadsheet from .xlsx to .zip. Inside the .zip package, there are several parts that make up the minimum workbook.

The following figure shows the structure under the xl folder of the .zip package for a minimum workbook.

Figure 1. .zip folder structure

The workbook.xml file contains <sheet> elements that reference the worksheets in the workbook. Each worksheet is associated to the workbook via a Sheet ID and a relationship ID. The sheetID is the ID used within the package to identify a sheet and must be unique within the workbook. The id is the relationship ID that identifies the sheet part definition associated with a sheet.

The following XML code is the spreadsheetML that represents the workbook part of the spreadsheet document. This code is generated when you run the Open XML SDK 2.0 code to create a minimum workbook.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<x:workbook xmlns:x="https://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main">
    <x:sheets>
        <x:sheet name="mySheet" sheetId="1" r:id="Rddc7711f116045e5" xmlns:r="https://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" />
    </x:sheets>
</x:workbook>

The workbook.xml.rels file contains the <Relationship> elements that define the relationships between the workbook and the worksheets it contains.

The following XML code is the spreadsheetML that represents the relationship part of the spreadsheet document. This code is generated when you run the Open XML SDK 2.0 to create a minimum workbook.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Relationships xmlns="https://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships">
    <Relationship Type="https://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/worksheet" Target="/xl/worksheets/sheet.xml" Id="Rddc7711f116045e5" />
</Relationships>

The sheet.xml file contains the <sheetData> element that represents the cell table. In this example, the workbook is blank, so the <sheetData> element is empty. For more information about sheets, see Working with Sheets.

The following XML code is the spreadsheetML that represents the worksheet part of the spreadsheet document. This code is generated when you run the Open XML SDK 2.0 to create a minimum workbook.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<x:worksheet xmlns:x="https://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main">
    <x:sheetData />
</x:worksheet>

Typical Workbook Scenario

A typical workbook will not be a blank, minimum workbook. A typical workbook might contain numbers, text, charts, tables, and pivot tables. Each of these additional parts is contained within the .zip package of the spreadsheet document.

The following figure shows most of the elements that you would find in a typical spreadsheet.

Figure 2. Typical spreadsheet elements