XML schema constructs that are not supported by Excel 2003

You can use a user-defined map of the XML data that is in a Microsoft Excel file to open, to edit, and to save any XML data that is in any predefined XML schema. However, there are some XML schema constructs that Excel 2003 does not support.

This article describes the XML schema constructs that are not supported by Excel 2003.

The following XML schema constructs cannot be imported in Excel 2003:

• <any> - The <any> element permits you to include elements that are not declared by the schema.
• <anyAttribute> - The <anyAttribute> element permits you to include attributes that are not declared by the schema.
• Recursive structures - Microsoft Excel does not support recursive structures that are more than one level deep.
• Abstract elements - Abstract elements are meant to be declared in the schema, but they are never used as elements. Abstract elements depend on other elements that are being substituted for the abstract element.

Excel 2003 cannot export data from XML mappings that contain any of the previously mentioned constructs. Additionally, Excel 2003 cannot export data from the following XML schema constructs:

• List of lists - This is one list of items that contains a second list of items.
• Denormalized data - This is an XML list that contains an element that has been defined in the schema to occur only one time. The maxoccurs attribute is set to 1. When you add such an element to an XML list, Excel fills the list column with multiple instances of the element.