VML - Office Drawing

It is possible to include graphical VML objects in Office Open XML documents. The elements describing the core graphical objects are defined in the VML namespace. Additional elements that describe certain advanced shape effects, metadata and relationships are defined in this namespace.

[Note: The VML format is a legacy format originally introduced with Office 2000 and is included and fully defined in this Standard for backwards compatibility reasons. The DrawingML format is a newer and richer format created with the goal of eventually replacing any uses of VML in the Office Open XML formats. VML should be considered a deprecated format included in Office Open XML for legacy reasons only and new applications that need a file format for drawings are strongly encouraged to use preferentially DrawingML .end note]

[Example: Assume the following shape exists in a document:

The basic speech bubble shape is defined using VML. The 3-D effect is defined using the extrusion element in this namespace. The specularity attribute defines the subtle sharp reflection on the edge of the shape. The color attribute sets the extrusion to a different color than the face of the shape. The rotationangle attribute sets the shape's rotation about the X- and Y-axes. The lightposition and lightposition2 attributes set the positions of the light sources that illuminate the shape.

<o:extrusion v:ext="view" specularity="80000f" color="#c4bc96 [2414]" on="t"

rotationangle="-5,15" lightposition="0,-50000" lightposition2="0,50000"

type="perspective"/>

This element is a child of the primary shape definition:

<v:shape id="_x0000_s1030" type="#_x0000_t62"

style="position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:35.25pt;

margin-top:60pt;width:69pt;height:57pt;z-index:251658240" adj="1675,27171"

fillcolor="#ddd8c2 [2894]">

<o:extrusion ... />

</v:shape>

end example]

Note that, throughout VML, numeric values that are allowed to take units may be specified in: cm (centimeters), mm (millimeters), in (inches), pt (points), pc (picas), px (pixels).