<metadataType> (Metadata Type Information)

This element represents information about metadata on cells - it defines a specific set of behaviors that the metadata shall adhere to when subject to other spreadsheet operations.

In general, many of these attributes represent operations that can be performed on a cell that allow the metadata to remain associated with the cell. Operations that are set to 0 or false, will cause the metadata to be disassociated from the cell when that operation is performed.

Parent Elements

<metadataTypes> (§3.9.11)

Attributes

Description

<adjust> (Adjust Metadata)

A Boolean flag indicating that metadata corresponding to a particular cell needs to be notified when that cell's location is changed.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<assign> (Metadata Formula Assignment)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is propagated by formula assignment operation. True when metadata should be propagated by assignment, false otherwise.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<cellMeta> (Cell Metadata)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is cell metadata. True when the metadata is cell metadata, false otherwise - in the false case it is considered to be value metadata.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<clearAll> (Metadata Clear All)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata survives a "Clear: All" operation. True if the metadata persists after a clear all, false otherwise.

The Clear operations can be implemented by the run time application to provide an easy way to allow users to delete everything from a cell (Clear: All), remove only comments (Clear: Comments), only remove formats (Clear: Formats), or only remove the contents but leave the comments and formatting (Clear: Contents). Note these operations can also be performed by the user manually deleting each item.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<clearComments> (Metadata Clear Comments)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata remains after comments have been cleared from the cell. True if the metadata persists after Clear:Comments, false otherwise.

The Clear operations can be implemented by the run time application to provide an easy way to allow users to delete everything from a cell (Clear: All), remove only comments (Clear: Comments), only remove formats (Clear: Formats), or only remove the contents but leave the comments and formatting (Clear: Contents). Note these operations can also be performed by the user manually deleting each item.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<clearContents> (Metadata Clear Contents)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata remains after the contents of a cell are removed. True if metadata persists after a "Clear: Contents" action, false otherwise.

The Clear operations can be implemented by the run time application to provide an easy way to allow users to delete everything from a cell (Clear: All), remove only comments (Clear: Comments), only remove formats (Clear: Formats), or only remove the contents but leave the comments and formatting (Clear: Contents). Note these operations can also be performed by the user manually deleting each item.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<clearFormats> (Metadata Clear Formats)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata remains after formatting is removed from a cell. True if metadata persists after a "Clear: Formats", false otherwise.

The Clear operations can be implemented by the run time application to provide an easy way to allow users to delete everything from a cell (Clear: All), remove only comments (Clear: Comments), only remove formats (Clear: Formats), or only remove the contents but leave the comments and formatting (Clear: Contents). Note these operations can also be performed by the user manually deleting each item.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<coerce> (Metadata Coercion)

A Boolean flag indicating whether value metadata can be removed when this metadata data type is coerced to another type. True if the value metadata is removed upon coercion, false otherwise.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<copy> (Metadata Copy)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is copied with a cell. True if the metadata is copied to other cells when this cell is copied, false otherwise.

This shall be set to true if the paste attributes for the metadataType are going to be used.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<delete> (Metadata Cell Value Delete)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata survives deletion of a cell value. True when the metadata persists after the deletion of a cell value, false otherwise.

This attribute is equivalent to the clearContents attribute.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<edit> (Metadata Edit)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata survives the editing of the cell's value. True if the metadata remains unchanged after the cell's value edit, false otherwise.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<ghostCol> (Metadata Ghost Column)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is copied to/from a ghost column. True when the metadata is copied to/from a ghost column, false otherwise.

A ghost column is a single column that exists for the row header. It is not displayed to the end user. It is used to store default formatting for an entire row (i.e. the row gets the formatting for the corresponding cell in the ghost column). For instance, when an entire row is selected and a cell color is applied, this is stored once for the cell in the ghost column instead of for each cell in the row.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<ghostRow> (Metadata Ghost Row)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is copied to/from a ghost row. True when the metadata is copied to/from a ghost row, false otherwise.

A ghost row is a single row that exists for the column header. It is not displayed to the end user. It is used to store default formatting for an entire column (i.e. the column gets the formatting for the corresponding cell in the ghost row). For instance, when an entire column is selected and a cell color is applied, this is stored once for the cell in the ghost row instead of for each cell in the column.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<merge> (Metadata Merge)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata survives cell merge. True if the metadata persists after a cell merge, false otherwise.

It is up to the spreadsheet application on how to deal with conflicts when two cells that each have metadata are merged. The guidance here is to treat it the same as a 'regular' cell merge with the default behavior being that the data in the upper left cell wins.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<minSupportedVersion> (Minimum Supported Version)

The earliest version of the spreadsheet application that supports this metadata type.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema unsignedInt datatype.

<name> (Metadata Type Name)

Represents the name of this particular metadata type. This name shall be unique amongst all other metadataTypes.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_Xstring simple type (§3.18.96).

<pasteAll> (Metadata Paste All)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated to a new cell by "Paste: All". True when the metadata is populated on a Paste:All, false otherwise. Paste:All and regular paste should be implemented so that they are equivalent by the spreadsheet application.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note: the spreadsheet application can implement special pasting behavior, such as pasting everything from a cell (paste all/normal paste), pasting only borders, pasting only comments, or pasting only any other specific cell property.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteBorders> (Metadata Paste Borders)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated with Paste: Borders. True when the metadata is populated when only borders are pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteColWidths> (Metadata Paste Column Widths)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated by Paste: Column Widths. True if the metadata is populated when only column widths are pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteComments> (Metadata Paste Comments)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated by Paste: Comments. True when metadata is populated when only comments are pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteDataValidation> (Metadata Paste Data Validation)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated by Paste: Validation. True when metadata is populated when only data validation is pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteFormats> (Metadata Paste Formats)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated by Paste Special: Formats. True when metadata is populated when only formatting is pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteFormulas> (Metadata Paste Formulas)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated by Paste: Formulas. True when the metadata is populated when only formulas are pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteNumberFormats> (Metadata Paste Number Formats)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated with Paste: Number Formats. True when metadata is populated when only number formatting is pasted, false otherwise.

The copy flag shall be set to true for this paste behavior to be respected.

Note:

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<pasteValues> (Metadata Paste Special Values)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata is populated by Paste: Values.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<rowColShift> (Metadata Insert Delete)

A Boolean flag indicating whether metadata survives shifting due to row/column insertion/deletion. True if the metadata persists after the cell has been shifted, false otherwise.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<splitAll> (Metadata Split All)

A Boolean flag indicating whether a merged cell split action has its metadata copied to all of the resulting cells. True if the metadata is copied to all new cells resulting from a split, false otherwise.

If splitFirst is also set to true, splitAll wins - that is all the cells shall have the metadata copied to them.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

<splitFirst> (Meatadata Split First)

A Boolean flag indicating whether when a merged cell is split its metadata is copied to only the first resulting cell. True when the metadata from a split cell is only copied to the first resulting cell, false otherwise.

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the XML Schema boolean datatype.

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

<complexType name="CT_MetadataType">
	<attribute name="name" type="ST_Xstring" use="required"/>
	<attribute name="minSupportedVersion" type="xsd:unsignedInt" use="required"/>
	<attribute name="ghostRow" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="ghostCol" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="edit" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="delete" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="copy" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteAll" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteFormulas" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteValues" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteFormats" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteComments" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteDataValidation" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteBorders" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteColWidths" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="pasteNumberFormats" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="merge" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="splitFirst" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="splitAll" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="rowColShift" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="clearAll" type="xsd:boolean" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="clearFormats" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="clearContents" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="clearComments" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="assign" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="coerce" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="adjust" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
	<attribute name="cellMeta" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional" default="false"/>
</complexType>