You are here: Popular Formats > Microsoft Excel (XLSXR/XLSXW) Reader/Writer > Feature Representation

Feature Representation

Features read from an Excel spreadsheet consist of a series of attribute values. By default, there is no geometry produced but points can be created by identifying x, y and optionally z coordinate types for particular columns.

The attribute names are as defined in the workspace. If attribute names are not defined, then default attribute names will be created which correspond to the column index. Features being returned may not respect their schema attribute types.

If the Read Formulas (.formula) parameter (OUTPUT_FORMULAS reader directive) has been selected, then an <attrName>.formula attribute may also be added.

If the Read Hyperlinks (.hyperlink) parameter (OUTPUT_LINKS reader directive) has been selected, then an <attrName>.hyperlink attribute may also be added.

Features written to the database have the destination table as their feature type, and attributes as defined on the DEF line.

In addition to the generic FME feature attributes that FME Workbench adds to all features (see About Feature Attributes), this format adds the format-specific attributes described in this section.

Attribute Name Contents
xlsx_type

The type of geometric entity stored within the feature (Reader only).The valid values are:

XLSX_NONE

XLSX_POINT

xlsx_row_id

Row number within the file starting at 1. Produced automatically on features from the Reader. Auto exposed on the writer. The xlsx_row_id is automatically set to this value on the writer when in UPDATE or DELETE mode, unless another attribute is explicitly chosen.

XLSX_NONE

Features with no coordinates are tagged with this value when reading from Microsoft Excel.

XLSX_POINT

Features with valid x and y coordinates have a Point geometry added and are tagged with this value. There is no support for multi-points or point collections in XLSX. Points can also have a z-coordinate if one is specified in the schema.

Note: Geometry will be created only on the reader, and only if both an x_coordinate and a y_coordinate attribute exists. Geometry on features entering the writer will be dropped.