computer science

Office Open XML file formats

Office Open XML file formats is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Office Open XML file formats rather than just read about it. In short: The Office Open XML file formats are a set of file formats that can be used to represent electronic office documents. There are formats for word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations as well as specific formats for material such as mathematical formulas, graphics, bibliographies etc.

Key takeaways

Office Open XML file formats belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Office Open XML file formats to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Office Open XML file formats from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Office Open XML file formats are a set of file formats that can be used to represent electronic office documents. There are formats for word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations as well as specific formats for material such as mathematical formulas, graphics, bibliographies etc. The formats were developed by Microsoft and first appeared in Microsoft Office 2007. They were standardized between December 2006 and November 2008, first by the Ecma International consortium, where they became ECMA-376, and subsequently, after a contentious standardization process, by the ISO/IEC's Joint Technical Committee 1, where they became ISO/IEC 29500:2008.

Container

Office Open XML documents are stored in Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) packages, which are ZIP files containing XML and other data files, along with a specification of the relationships between them. Depending on the type of the document, the packages have different internal directory structures and names. An application will use the relationships files to locate individual sections (files), with each having accompanying metadata, in particular MIME metadata. A basic package contains an XML file called [Content_Types].xml at the root, along with three directories: _rels, docProps, and a directory specific for the document type (for example, in a .docx word processing package, there would be a word directory). The word directory contains the document.xml file which is the core content of the document.

[Content_Types].xml This file provided MIME type information for parts of the package, using defaults for certain file extensions and overrides for parts specified by IRI. _rels This directory contains relationships for the files within the package. To find the relationships for a specific file, look for the _rels directory that is a sibling of the file, and then for a file that has the original file name with a .rels appended to it. For example, if the content types file had any relationships, there would be a file called [Content_Types].xml.rels inside the _rels directory. _rels/.rels This file is where the package relationships are located. Applications look here first. Viewing in a text editor, one will see it outlines each relationship for that section. In a minimal document containing only the basic document.xml file, the relationships detailed are metadata and document.xml. docProps/core.xml This file contains the core properties for any Office Open XML document. word/document.xml This file is the main part for any Word document.

Relationships An example relationship file (word/_rels/document.xml.rels), is:

As such, images referenced in the document can be found in the relationship file by looking for all relationships that are of type http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/relationships/image. To change the used image, edit the relationship. The following code shows an example of inline markup for a hyperlink:

In this example, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is in the Target attribute of the Relationship referenced through the relationship Id, "rId2" in this case. Linked images, templates, and other items are referenced in the same way. Pictures can be embedded or linked using a tag:

This is the reference to the image file. All references are managed via relationships. For example, a document.xml has a relationship to the image. There is a _rels directory in the same directory as document.xml, inside _rels is a file called document.xml.rels. In this file there will be a relationship definition that contains type, ID and location. The ID is the referenced ID used in the XML document. The type will be a reference schema definition for the media type and the location will be an internal location within the ZIP package or an external location defined with a URL.

Document properties Office Open XML uses the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set and DCMI Metadata Terms to store document properties. Dublin Core is a standard for cross-domain information resource description and is defined in ISO 15836:2003. An example document properties file (docProps/core.xml) that uses Dublin Core metadata, is:

Document markup languages An Office Open XML file may contain several documents encoded in specialized markup languages corresponding to applications within the Microsoft Office product line. Office Open XML defines multiple vocabularies using 27 namespaces and 89 schema modules. The primary markup languages are:

WordprocessingML for word-processing SpreadsheetML for spreadsheets PresentationML for presentations Shared markup language materials include:

Office Math Markup Language (OMML) DrawingML used for vector drawing, charts, and for example, text art (additionally, though deprecated, VML is supported for drawing) Extended properties Custom properties Variant Types Custom XML data properties Bibliography In addition to the above markup languages custom XML schemas can be used to extend Office Open XML.

Design approach Patrick Durusau, the editor of ODF, has viewed the markup style of OOXML and ODF as representing two sides of a debate: the "element side" and the "attribute side". He notes that OOXML represents "the element side of this approach" and singles out the KeepNext element as an example:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Office Open XML file formats

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Office Open XML file formats claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Office Open XML file formats before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Office Open XML file formats ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Office Open XML file formats

In research: Office Open XML file formats appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Office Open XML file formats in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Office Open XML file formats is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computer-related introductions in 2006, Computer file formats, Document-centric XML-based standards, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Office Open XML file formats outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Office Open XML file formats in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Office Open XML file formats means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Office Open XML file formats out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Office Open XML file formats in simple terms?

Why does Office Open XML file formats matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Office Open XML file formats?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Office Open XML file formats.