XML forum?

[TrippyTom]

Hi,

I was wondering if we could start an XML forum so we could share examples of sharing data between Office programs and/or other programs. Office2003 allows XML features but I don't think many people know about it or think it's too complicated to bother with.

For a newbie like me, it does seem complicated, but that's probably because Microsoft didn't explain it very well. For such an advanced feature, one would think they would try to spend more time on it in their help files. In fact, this site explained it better than Microsoft did: http://www.mrexcel.com/tip064.shtml

Anyway, what do you think? Is there any interest in automation with XML? Or is this site specifically for Excel only?

 

[TrippyTom]

Apparently there's no interest in this at all?
58 views and no replies.

hmm...

 

[SydneyGeek]

Maybe the 58 views / no replies is because most people on this site haven't been impacted much by XML. I've seen enough around the edges to think it's worth knowing about, but until Office 2007 rolls out and gets a decent user base most people will probably just ignore it.

You touched on 2 reasons in the original post --
1. It's pretty intimidating when you see the tag soup
2. MS didn't do a great job of explaining it

But there are a number of other reasons too --
3. Unless you use 2003 Professional, most of the functionality just isn't there.
4. Repeat 1 and 2.

The MrExcel tut is one of the better ones I have seen, but until the complexity is handled using one or more cool tools (read, Wizards that work properly) -- that come with the Office installation -- people are probably going to ignore it.

Sad, but...

Denis