xml-to-xlsx

Convert XML definitions into styled Excel .xlsx workbooks using openpyxl.

xml-to-xlsx is a Python library for teams that want template-driven spreadsheet generation (reports, exports, scheduled jobs) without manual cell-by-cell workbook code.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• API
• XML Reference
• Styling Reference
• Values and Type Coercion
• Troubleshooting

Features

• Build an in-memory openpyxl.Workbook directly from XML.
• Write workbooks to disk in one call.
• Apply CSS-like style declarations (font, fill, alignment, border, number-format).
• Merge cells using merge, rowspan, and colspan.
• Configure sheet behavior (tab color, freeze panes, gridlines, default row/column sizing).
• Use XML strings, file paths, Path objects, or file-like streams as input.

Installation

Install from PyPI:

pip install xml-to-xlsx

Or install from source:

pip install .

Quick Start

from xml_to_xlsx import write_workbook_from_xml

xml = """
<workbook>
    <sheet name="Overview">
        <row index="1">
            <cell column="A" style="font-weight:bold">Title</cell>
            <cell column="B">Value</cell>
        </row>
        <row index="2">
            <cell column="A">Revenue</cell>
            <cell column="B" type="float" style="number-format:$#,##0.00">15230.5</cell>
        </row>
    </sheet>
</workbook>
"""

write_workbook_from_xml(xml, save_to="overview.xlsx")

Supported xml_source values:

1. XML text string.
2. Path, str, or file-like object pointing to XML content.
3. A path-like string (auto-detected and loaded if the file exists).

API

generate_workbook_from_xml(xml_source)

Builds and returns an in-memory openpyxl.Workbook.

Typical uses:

• Unit tests.
• In-process post-processing before save.
• Integration with Django/Celery/report workers.

write_workbook_from_xml(xml_source, save_to=PathLike)

Builds a workbook, saves it to disk, and returns the workbook instance.

Typical uses:

• File export endpoints.
• Scheduled artifact generation.
• One-step transformation jobs.

XML Reference

<workbook>

• Required root element.
• Contains one or more <sheet> elements.
• If no sheets are provided, a blank workbook is returned.

---

<sheet>

Attribute	Description
name	Worksheet title. Defaults to Sheet{index}.
style	Default CSS-like style inherited by descendants unless overridden.
tab-color	Sheet tab color (#hex, CSS name, rgb()).
freeze	Freeze panes coordinate (example: B2).
gridlines	true/false/1/0/on/off/yes/no.
default-column-width	Default width for newly used columns.
default-row-height	Default height for newly used rows.

Allowed children:

• <column>
• <row>
• <cell>
• <merge>
• <style>

Example:

<sheet
  name="Summary"
  tab-color="green"
  freeze="B2"
  gridlines="false"
  default-column-width="18"
  default-row-height="20"
  style="font-family:'Calibri';color:#333">
  <!-- descendants inherit default style -->
</sheet>

---

<column>

• Use column="C" or column="3".
• Use range="B:D" or range="2:5" for multiple columns.
• width is currently supported.

<column column="B" width="30" />
<column column="4" width="12.5" />
<column range="C:E" width="18" />

---

<row>

Attribute	Description
index	Required row number.
height	Row height.
style	Default style for row cells.
start-column	Starting column index used for cells without explicit column. Defaults to 1.

When start-column is set, cells without explicit column references are auto-positioned from left to right.

<row index="5" height="24" start-column="2" style="text-align:center">
  <cell>West</cell>
  <cell>East</cell>
</row>

---

<cell>

Attribute	Description
row, column	Explicit coordinates.
ref	Combined coordinate (example: B4). Overrides row/column.
style	Inline style overrides.
value	Literal value; if missing, body text is used.
type	string, int, float, bool, date, datetime.
formula	Formula with or without = prefix.
hyperlink	External or internal link.
comment	Comment body text.
comment-author	Comment author (default: XML).
merge	Explicit merge range (example: A1:C1).
rowspan	Merge span across rows (supports positive/negative values).
colspan	Merge span across columns (supports positive/negative values).

Examples:

<cell row="7" column="A" value="42" type="int" />
<cell ref="C9" formula="SUM(A1:A8)" style="number-format:#,##0.00" />
<cell row="10" column="B" hyperlink="https://example.com" comment="Click me">
  Friendly link text
</cell>
<cell row="12" column="A" rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="text-align:center">
  Spans two rows and three columns
</cell>

---

<merge>

• Use when merge ranges are easier to describe separately from cell declarations.

<merge range="A1:D1" />

Note: <merge> only applies geometry. If you need border/fill consistency across the merged region, define styles on the participating cells.

---

<style>

• Wrapper element that cascades its style attribute to descendants.
• Supports nesting.
• Useful for reducing repetitive inline style declarations.

<sheet name="Receivables">
  <style style="font-weight:bold;color:#003366">
    <row index="2">
      <cell column="A">Client</cell>
      <cell column="B">Amount</cell>
    </row>
  </style>
</sheet>

Styling Reference

Styles use CSS-like declarations in the format prop:value;.

Precedence:

1. Sheet style defaults.
2. Row style defaults.
3. Cell style overrides.

Text and font

• font-weight: bold, 600, 700
• font-style: italic
• text-decoration or text-decoration-line: underline, line-through, strike
• font-size: 12, 12px, 12pt
• font-family: supports quoted names and comma lists (first family is used)
• color / font-color

Fill, alignment, formatting

• background-color, bg-color, fill
• text-align, align: left, right, center, justify, distributed
• vertical-align, valign: top, middle|center, bottom, justify, distributed
• wrap-text, white-space: supports boolean-like values; wrap and pre-wrap are accepted
• shrink-to-fit: boolean-like values
• text-rotation, rotation: integer degrees (clamped to -90..90)
• number-format, format: native Excel format string

Borders

• border applies to all edges.
• border-left, border-right, border-top, border-bottom apply per edge.
• Keywords: hair, thin, medium, thick, double, dotted, dashed, dashdot, dashdotdot, slantdashdot.
• Width values map automatically (1px -> thin, 2px -> medium, 3px -> thick).

Colors

Color-aware attributes accept:

• Hex: #abc, #aabbcc
• CSS names (example: orange, navy, silver)
• rgb(r,g,b) / rgba(r,g,b,a) (alpha is ignored)
• none / transparent to disable fill or color

Values and Type Coercion

• Empty body + missing value results in None.
• Without type, content is preserved as text.
• Boolean parsing accepts true/false/1/0/on/off/yes/no.
• date expects ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD).
• datetime expects ISO datetime (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS).
• Formulas are always written with a leading =.

Troubleshooting

• Missing <row index="..."> or unresolved cell coordinates raise ValueError.
• If borders look faint, prefer 2px (medium) or 3px (thick) over 1px (thin).
• For color issues, confirm # prefix and RGB values in the 0..255 range.
• Use explicit gridlines="false" for export-ready templates.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. If you plan a larger change, open an issue first so API changes and XML schema updates can be discussed before implementation.