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Export Excel to XML in VBA

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3 May 2004CPOL2 min read 457.2K   28.7K   52   54
VBA to generate a clean XML file from an Excel table provided with nested nodes support
Sample Image - xls2xml.jpg

Introduction

In Excel XP, there is a new export option for XML. However, what I get is many rubbish tags (I'm so disappointed...). Then, after searching on the Google (our nice search engine) for some time about "Converting Excel to XML", what I get are conversion tools that simply make a Rational table to XML. However, what I want is the support of nested structures (e.g. <data><field1>....</field1><data>). As a result, I decided to write my own using VBA... (don't ask me why VBA... may be I will port it to my favorite C++ platform later. :)

Using the Code

The source code contains 2 functions GenerateXMLDOM() and fGenerateXML(). They are actually doing the same thing in a different approach.

GenerateXMLDOM -- Gives a Microsoft XMLDOM object which you can play with or serialize into an XML at any time using the "Save" method.

fGenerateXML -- Generates a long string which is ready for output as file (more readable, as proper newline is added).

Both functions have the same parameters. The first one is rngData, which is the selected table area in the Excel Sheet for conversion. The second (rootNodeName) is the first/root node's name used in the XML.

In the selected range, the first row is expected to be the field (or node) names. One thing that is worth noticing is that we can use the node name to define the level it belongs to. Started and separated by the node delimiter "/", the node name is one level deeper than the previous one. e.g. /data/field1 is equivalent to <data><field1>....</field1><data>, /student/name/surname is equivalent to <student><name><surname>.... </surname></name></student>:

VB.NET
'
' rngData : The selected region on Excel sheet, with the first row as field name,
' and data rows below
'  For the field name, use the node delimiter "/" to build the hierarchy of data
'  e.g. /data/field1 is equivalent to <DATA><FIELD1>....</FIELD1><DATA>
'
' rootNodeName : The XML document root node tag name

Function GenerateXMLDOM(rngData As Range, rootNodeName As String)
...


Function fGenerateXML(rngData As Range, rootNodeName As String) As String
...

Limitation and Notes

The ordering of fields may affect the generated XML, fields that have to be placed inside the same sub-node should be placed next to each other. For example, if /student/id and /student/name are placed next to each other, it will generate:

XML
<student><id>..</id><name>...</name></student> 

However, if not, the result will be:

XML
<student><id>..</id></student> <somebrabra...> ... </somebrabra...>
<student><name>..</name></student> 

The reason is that it only checks with the last field instead of all before deciding where the node should be created.

Finally I would like to thank Hasler Thomas, the author of A Filebrowser for VBA, who provided the code for file browse. Hope this code will be useful for you. Please let me know if there are any bugs.

History

  • 4 May 2004 -- First release 0.8 version

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Web Developer
Hong Kong Hong Kong
I am fond of programming especially in C++ (but unluckily I know many other different lang.). My special interest is on Graphics and image processing.

After graduated from Chinese University of Hong Kong with a research degree about graphics, I starts my career on web programming and games. Please Visit http://www.raybase.com which has software and game projects done by me.

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionNeed help creating repeating group nodes using this tool Pin
Dan Gruber1-Sep-11 5:12
Dan Gruber1-Sep-11 5:12 
AnswerRe: Need help creating repeating group nodes using this tool Pin
Member 138830129-Jul-18 2:57
Member 138830129-Jul-18 2:57 
Questionloop through all worksheets in a workbook t Pin
ushasharma198425-Jul-11 0:08
ushasharma198425-Jul-11 0:08 
GeneralStill helpful in 2011 Pin
Eelze13-Apr-11 23:28
Eelze13-Apr-11 23:28 
GeneralEXCEL HELP!!!! Pin
MRMIG14-Jul-10 20:09
MRMIG14-Jul-10 20:09 
GeneralThanks Pin
ajalilqarshi6-May-09 23:36
ajalilqarshi6-May-09 23:36 
QuestionChange the default value for rootNodeName [modified] Pin
tasmaniac28-Apr-08 13:46
tasmaniac28-Apr-08 13:46 
GeneralHelp with VB Pin
dommydee@hotmail.com19-Oct-07 2:36
dommydee@hotmail.com19-Oct-07 2:36 
I am wondering if anyone can help me with something very similar to this article in the sense that i am required to capture information in excel then produce an xml file in a pre-defined schema. To capture this information in a pretty form possibly with simple validation with the option to click a publish button then creating the xml file. The xml file would then be fed into a swf file allowing for an offline preview solution based on the users input. This seems a realistic solution but any guidance on this would be much appreciated.

Dom
Questionxml conforming to DTD Pin
meghz8-May-07 0:09
meghz8-May-07 0:09 
Generalgeneralized conversion to XML Pin
rkapl7-Jan-07 10:35
rkapl7-Jan-07 10:35 
GeneralNot support xsd Pin
PerlDev6-Oct-06 2:39
PerlDev6-Oct-06 2:39 
Generalexcel project deployment Pin
fatih isikhan11-Apr-06 3:59
fatih isikhan11-Apr-06 3:59 
GeneralRe: excel project deployment Pin
PerlDev6-Oct-06 2:34
PerlDev6-Oct-06 2:34 
GeneralRe: excel project deployment Pin
fatih isikhan6-Oct-06 3:21
fatih isikhan6-Oct-06 3:21 
GeneralCompile Error Pin
slefever1-Dec-05 8:07
slefever1-Dec-05 8:07 
GeneralRe: Compile Error Pin
Raymond Pang6-Dec-05 5:10
Raymond Pang6-Dec-05 5:10 
GeneralRe: Compile Error Pin
David Daltonhurst1-Jul-09 9:30
David Daltonhurst1-Jul-09 9:30 
Generalexport txt to xls Pin
Aunalisiraj12-Oct-05 22:07
Aunalisiraj12-Oct-05 22:07 
QuestionAttributes? Pin
Mani Shankar25-Aug-05 23:42
Mani Shankar25-Aug-05 23:42 
AnswerRe: Attributes? Pin
Raymond Pang27-Aug-05 21:20
Raymond Pang27-Aug-05 21:20 
GeneralAttributes! Pin
Mani Shankar29-Aug-05 0:33
Mani Shankar29-Aug-05 0:33 
GeneralRe: Attributes! Pin
thaylin7928-Nov-06 4:40
thaylin7928-Nov-06 4:40 
AnswerRe: Attributes? Pin
kevingreiner10-Jan-06 2:02
kevingreiner10-Jan-06 2:02 
GeneralRe: Attributes? Pin
KevinGreiner25611-Aug-11 11:28
KevinGreiner25611-Aug-11 11:28 
GeneralRe: Attributes? Pin
Member 87030618-Mar-12 8:52
Member 87030618-Mar-12 8:52 

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