<dataSource> (Data Source File Path)

This element specifies the relationship whose target is the location of the external data source to be connected to a given WordprocessingML document to perform the mail merge (for a source document) or to find the associated field data (for a merged document).

If this element is omitted, then no file location is specified for the data source for the current mail merge. If no relationship exists with the given relationship ID, or this relationship is not of type http://schemas.openxmlformat.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/mailMergeSource then this document shall be considered non-conformant.

The data source location may also be ignored under the following conditions:

  • The <src> element (§2.14.30) is present within the mail merge data

  • The <dataType> element (§2.14.10) is set to native

  • The current application is able to use the information contained in the <odso> element (§2.14.25) to access the data source

[: In this case, using the data source file path in the <src> element will provide an equal or greater amount of information for the mail merge data source for clients which can consume it. ]

example: 
<w:mailMerge>
  …
  <w:dataSource r:id="rId1" />
  …
</w:mailMerge>

This mail merge's <dataSource> element specifies via its @r:id attribute value of rId1 that the external data source to be connected to the given WordprocessingML document is the data source targeted by the relationship whose @Id attribute is equal to rId1. If we examine the corresponding relationship part item for the setting part, as follows:

<Relationships>
  <Relationship Id="rId1" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/mailMergeSource" Target="file:///c:/example_file.mdb" TargetMode="External" />
</Relationships>

Since the relationship whose @Id attribute value is rId1 specifies the source file path for the data source, that data source effectively specifies a file path of c:\example_file.mdb. ]

Parent Elements

<mailMerge> (§2.14.20)

Attributes

Description

<id> (Relationship to Part)

Namespace: .../officeDocument/2006/relationships

Specifies the relationship ID to a specified part.

The specified relationship shall match the type required by the parent element:

  • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/footer for the <footerReference> element

  • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/header for the <headerReference> element

  • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/font for the <embedBold>, <embedBoldItalic>, <embedItalic>, or< embedRegular> elements

  • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/printerSettings for the <printerSettings> element

<… r:id="rId10" />

The markup specifies the associated relationship part with relationship ID rId1 contains the corresponding relationship information for the parent XML element. ]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_RelationshipId simple type (§7.8.2.1).

The following XML Schema fragment defines the contents of this element:

<complexType name="CT_Rel">
	<attribute ref="r:id" use="required"/>
</complexType>