This element specifies the zero-based index of the column within a given external data source which shall be mapped to the local name of a specific MERGEFIELD field (§2.16.5.42) specified by the parent field mapping data. The val attribute specifies this index value, which is used to look up the appropriate column in the data source.

If this element is omitted, or its value exceeds the number of columns in the associated data source, then the index of the referenced column shall be assumed to be 0.

[Example: Consider a source document that is connected to an external data source with three columns. Within this external data source, these are three columns are ordered and titled as follows: first, middle, and last, respectively. The following WordprocessingML specifies that when this document was connected to the data source, these columns were ordered in this manner:

<w:fieldMapData>
…
<w:name w:val="first" />
<w:column w:val="0" />
</w:fieldMapData>
<w:fieldMapData>
…
<w:name w:val="middle" />
<w:column w:val="1" />
</w:fieldMapData>
<w:fieldMapData>
…
<w:name w:val="last" />
<w:column w:val="2" />
</w:fieldMapData>

The WordprocessingML above demonstrates that the column titled first shall be associated with the first column in the external database by specifying a column element with its val attribute equal to 0. In addition, the column titled middle shall be associated with the second column in the external database by specifying a column element with its val attribute equal to 1. Finally, the column titled last shall be associated with the third column in the external database by specifying a column element with its val attribute equal to 2. end example]

It is important to realize that the name element's values are a cache of the last time the document was connected to the database, and the indices specified shall be used to connect the field mappings with the columns in the data source. end example]

Parent Elements

fieldMapData (§2.14.15)

Attributes

Description

val (Decimal Number Value)

Specifies that the contents of this attribute will contain a decimal number.

The contents of this decimal number are interpreted based on the context of the parent XML element.

[Example: Consider the following numeric WordprocessingML property of type ST_DecimalNumber:

<w:… w:val="1512645511" />

The value of the val attribute is a decimal number whose value must be interpreted in the context of the parent element. end example]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_DecimalNumber simple type (§2.18.16).

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

</complexType>