Chapter 1. Introduction
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## Chapter 1. Introduction

This feature is available only in XMLmind XML Editor Professional Edition, where it is hidden by default. You need to enable it by checking "Enable the Integrated Spreadsheet Engine" in Options → Preferences, Features section.

An easy to use and yet extremely powerful integrated spreadsheet engine is built into XMLmind XML Editor. This engine may be described as follows:

- It does not work by embedding an external spreadsheet component in the document. The XML document is the spreadsheet. That is, a formula can address any part of the XML document using XPath. (More information in Section 6, “XPath escapes”.)

- When an XML element is rendered on screen as a table, a formula can address table cells using the usual ``A1 notation'' (example: `"table1"!$A$1:$C$3`). If the formula is itself inside a table cell, it can even use relative cell references (example: `A1:C3`).

- The formula language and the predefined functions are very similar to those found in other spreadsheet software (Microsoft Office Excel, OpenOffice.org Calc, etc). Example: `"sum is " & SUM(A1:A3)`. More than 80 predefined functions are provided.

- A formula is represented by processing instruction `<?xxe-formula>`. Using such specific processing instructions is allowed by the XML standard. `<?xxe-formula>`s are ignored by XML software other than XXE.

You'll find a demo you can play with in ``XXE_install_dir`/demo/spreadsheet-demo.xhtml`.

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