Transforming the Excel table into XML

The transformation of the Excel-structure into XML is generic. Here is an explanation of how the Excel-fields are translated into XML.

File name

The file name is the name of the Excel file except for its extension xml.

Structure of the XML-document

The XML document has a clear structure. First Excel describes itself:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<content>
  <creator>
    <program>ExcelXmlDump v1.0.0</program>
    <date>2003-03-13 15:15:33</date>
    <excel_filename>zulu_structure.xls</excel_filename>
    <excel_path>C:\Data\Projekte auf Falbala\Project Zulu\Zulu Version 2\Python Samples\zulu_2003-03-12a_v2.0.0b\current\zulu_templates</excel_path>
  </creator>
  <----------- The code fragments (lines and tables) are inserted here.
</content>

Lines

The keyword is always in the second column of the Excel-table. if the text in this second column ends with a colon ':', then the line is written into the XML-file. Tag, a, b und c must stand in the columns 3, 4, 5, 6. The cell colors are ignored.

dummy

This line is represented in the XML-file as following:

  <Comment>
     <tag>Template</tag>
     <a>&lt;!--Zulu:Comment:Begin--&gt;</a>
     <b>&lt;!--Zulu:Comment:End--&gt;</b>
  </Comment>

Tables

If the text in the second column ends with a '>', then it marks the beginning of a new table. The table consists of all following lines which cell in the second column ends with a colon ':'.

dummy

This table is represented in the XML-file as following:

  <Navigation type="table">
    <Page>
       <Title>Home</Title>
       <Page>home</Page>
       <Folder></Folder>
       <Link>&lt;!--Zulu:Root--&gt;index.html</Link>
       <MetaDescription>Zulu by Positron and Maerki Informatik</MetaDescription>
       <MetaKeywords>Zulu Website Assembler Positron Maerki Informatik Schweiz Switzerland</MetaKeywords>
    </Page>
    <Page>
       <Title>Was ist Zulu?</Title>
       <Page>zulu</Page>
       <Folder>-</Folder>
       <Link>&lt;!--Zulu:Root--&gt;zulu/einfuehrung/index.html</Link>
       <MetaDescription></MetaDescription>
       <MetaKeywords></MetaKeywords>
    </Page>
    <Page>
       <Title>Einführung</Title>
       <Page>zulu/einfuehrung</Page>
       <Folder>zulu/einfuehrung</Folder>
       <Link>&lt;!--Zulu:Root--&gt;zulu/einfuehrung/index.html</Link>
       <MetaDescription></MetaDescription>
       <MetaKeywords></MetaKeywords>
    </Page>
    ...
  </Navigation>