toXML is a project created to enable a comprehensive transfer of spreadsheet data to XML files. The user once defines the XML format (and redefines it later if they need to), then organizes as many datasets in various sheets as they want and converts them to files in the XML format they defined.

The project is a continuation of the xls2kml script which enabled Google Earth users to convert their data to KML files.

The project is designed in a way so that it is loose on the user's end but strict on the script's end. In other words, there are multiple ways of usage the user may prefer to go with but finding out the practical potentials in their preferences in the Documentation is highly recommended.

As a foreknowledge for a clear understanding of the Documentation, below are descriptions of the 3 components the project is composed of and points to consider about updates:

1. The Spreadsheet: The user is expected to clone the sample spreadsheet to their Drive.

The spreadsheet is to include 5 types of information:

1. The attached script: The user is expected to be sure the attached script is also copied to their Drive together with the sample spreadsheet.

It includes the linkage to the toXML library and a few code lines. The user can set the values of several constants—highlighted at the top of the page—if they wish.

2. The "toXML" menu that enables the user to run the modules

3. One or more data sheets where the dataset(s) and sub-dataset(s) to be converted to XML file(s) are to be organized by the user

4. An options sheet to be used to set options for the conversion process, whose name is set with the "appOptnSheetName" constant in the attached script

5. A settings sheet to be used to provide XML-related entries for defining the XML format, whose name is set with the "appSettSheetName" constant in the attached script

The options sheet and the settings sheet can be combined into one single sheet if desired.

The options sheet and the settings sheet can contain sub-datasets and the user's calculation cells, as well, if desired.

2. The Instructor: This is a script file created by the library in order to store the required information, functions, classes and algorithms specific to the XML format the user has defined.

3. The toXML Library: The library is the main container of the whole bulk of the script of the project and is not open code.

Updates: Updates will not affect the previous works of the user and can be traced directly on this website—also accessible via the "toXML" menu in the spreadsheet. The "toXML" menu also allows checking the versions of the spreadsheet, of the instructor and of the library that are active in the session.

1. When there is an update with the spreadsheet and the user thinks they better go with the updated version, they may need to (1) either edit their options and settings sheet(s) and copy the attached script of the new version (2) or move their datasets to the new spreadsheet version.

2. When there is an update with the library, the library silently runs on its new course.

3. There can be cases when a modified or corrected structure for instructors is erected by a new library version. In such cases, the library will again keep silent and continue working with the existing instructors as before. But yet the new features will not apply to the final XML file to be created until the user recreates the instructor.

This is identified by the term "compatibility version". Each instructor is marked with the compatibility version of the library by which it is created. When the compatibility version of the instructor being used does not match that of the latest library in operation would create, it is time for the user to decide on whether to recreate the instructor—or instructors if they have multiple toXML spreadsheets.

If, somehow, the standard KML instructor is set as the instructor for the spreadsheet in question, there is no reason to worry about this type of update—the standard KML instructor is always up-to-date.

The standard KML instructor: The standard KML instructor is the ready-to-use instructor located in toXML's main folder which is not public.

If the user does not define any XML format or in cases as explained in the Documentation such as when the spreadsheet does not contain the settings sheet where the definition of the XML format is expected to be found, the library assumes the user wants to create KML files and loads the standard KML instructor.

The user still can make their own KML definitions, possibly to keep it minimal to let the library run faster.