This element specifies the type of external data source to be connected to via the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) system (such as a spreadsheet or database), or the alternative method of data access if the Dynamic Data Exchange system is not used. This setting is purely a suggestion of the data source access mechanism which shall be used, and may be ignored in favor of an alternative mechanism if one is present.

[Example: Consider the following WordprocessingML fragment for a mail merge source or merged document:

<w:dataType w:val="odbc" />

The dataType element's val attribute is equal to odbc, specifying that the given merged WordprocessingML document has been connected to an external data source via the Open Database Connectivity interface. end example]

Parent Elements

mailMerge (§2.14.20)

Attributes

Description

val (Value)

Specifies the exact type of external data source to which a given merged WordprocessingML document is to be connected.

[Example: Consider the following WordprocessingML fragment for a mail merge document.

<w:dataType w:val="database" />

The val attribute is equal to database, specifying that the given WordprocessingML document has been connected to a database via the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) system. end example]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_MailMergeDataType simple type (§2.18.59).

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

</complexType>