This element specifies the particular set of data that a source or merged WordprocessingML document shall be connected to within an external data source containing multiple data sets. In other words, when connecting to a WordprocessingML document to an external data source that may have more than one repository of data within it, such as a database with multiple tables or a spreadsheet with multiple worksheets, this element is used to distinguish the specific table or spreadsheet from which data will be imported from within the external data source.

[Example: Consider a WordprocessingML document that has been connected to database containing two tables named Table One and Table Two, respectively. To specify that the mail merge shall import data from Table One into the WordprocessingML document, this requirement would be specified using the following WordprocessingML:

<w:odso>
…
<w:table w:val="Table One" />
…
</w:odso>

The table element with a value of Table One specifies that the external data shall be retrieved from this table in the data source. end example]

Parent Elements

odso (§2.14.25)

Attributes

Description

val (String Value)

Specifies that its contents will contain a string.

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

[Example: Consider the following WordprocessingML fragment:

<w:pPr>

<w:pStyle w:val="heading1" />

</w:pPr>

The value of the val attribute is the ID of the associated paragraph style's styleId.

However, consider the following fragment:

<w:sdtPr>

<w:alias w:val="SDT Title Example" />

...

</w:sdtPr>

In this case, the decimal number in the val attribute is the caption of the parent structured document tag. In each case, the value is interpreted in the context of the parent element. end example]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_String simple type (§2.18.89).

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

</complexType>