Remove the x namespace using openxml

Question

I have found this question and I got somewhat the same question.

XLSX- how to get rid of the default namespace prefix x:?

I got a problem when generating an OpenXML Excel worksheet. Specially the style sheet part.

When the style sheet somehow got a style for a Timeline (Excel 2013 only) it is able to generate a excel-file. The style sheet then contains the right namespace (xmlns:x="..."). This makes it possible to open it in Excel 2010. But when saving the generated Excel file with Excel 2010 the x-namespace becomes the default namespace an is delete from all elements, except for the timeline extension element. When re-opening the file in excel, this will result in an error. When opening the same file in the OpenXml Productivity Tool it comes with the error that x is an unknown namespace.

So here's some xml-result code.

Fisrt after generating the excel file (stylesheet.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<x:styleSheet xmlns:x14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/main" xmlns:x15="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2010/11/main" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac" xmlns:x="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" mc:Ignorable="x14ac">
  <x:fonts count="3" x14ac:knownFonts="1">
    <x:font>
      <x:sz val="11"/>
      <x:color theme="1"/>
      <x:name val="Calibri"/>
      <x:family val="2"/>
      <x:scheme val="minor"/>
    </x:font>
    <!-- more fonts -->
  </x:fonts>
  <x:fills count="7">
    <x:fill>
      <x:patternFill patternType="none"/>
    </x:fill>
    <!-- more fills -->
  </x:fills>
  <x:borders count="1">
    <x:border>
      <x:left/>
      <x:right/>
      <x:top/>
      <x:bottom/>
      <x:diagonal/>
    </x:border>
  </x:borders>
  <x:cellStyleXfs count="1">
    <x:xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0"/>
  </x:cellStyleXfs>
  <x:cellXfs count="18">
    <x:xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0"/>
    <x:xf numFmtId="14" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" applyNumberFormat="1"/>
    <x:xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" applyNumberFormat="1"/>
    <x:xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" pivotButton="1"/>
    <x:xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" applyAlignment="1">
      <x:alignment horizontal="left"/>
    </x:xf>
    <!-- more cells -->
  </x:cellXfs>
  <x:cellStyles count="1">
    <x:cellStyle name="Standaard" xfId="0" builtinId="0"/>
  </x:cellStyles>
  <x:dxfs count="1">
    <x:dxf>
      <x:numFmt numFmtId="19" formatCode="m/d/yyyy"/>
    </x:dxf>
  </x:dxfs>
  <x:tableStyles count="0" defaultTableStyle="TableStyleMedium2" defaultPivotStyle="PivotStyleLight16"/>
  <x:extLst>
    <x:ext xmlns:x14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/main" uri="{EB79DEF2-80B8-43e5-95BD-54CBDDF9020C}">
      <x14:slicerStyles defaultSlicerStyle="SlicerStyleLight1"/>
    </x:ext>
    <x:ext xmlns:x15="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2010/11/main" uri="{9260A510-F301-46a8-8635-F512D64BE5F5}">
      <x15:timelineStyles defaultTimelineStyle="TimeSlicerStyleLight1"/>
    </x:ext>
  </x:extLst>
</x:styleSheet>

and after saving in Excel 2010

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<styleSheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac" mc:Ignorable="x14ac">
  <fonts count="3" x14ac:knownFonts="1">
    <font>
      <sz val="11"/>
      <color theme="1"/>
      <name val="Calibri"/>
      <family val="2"/>
      <scheme val="minor"/>
    </font>
    <!-- more fonts -->
  <fills count="7">
    <fill>
      <patternFill patternType="none"/>
    </fill>
    <!-- more fills -->
  </fills>
  <borders count="1">
    <border>
      <left/>
      <right/>
      <top/>
      <bottom/>
      <diagonal/>
    </border>
  </borders>
  <cellStyleXfs count="1">
    <xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0"/>
  </cellStyleXfs>
  <cellXfs count="18">
    <xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0"/>
    <xf numFmtId="14" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" applyNumberFormat="1"/>
    <xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" applyNumberFormat="1"/>
    <xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" pivotButton="1"/>
    <xf numFmtId="0" fontId="0" fillId="0" borderId="0" xfId="0" applyAlignment="1">
      <alignment horizontal="left"/>
    </xf>
    <!-- more cells -->
  </cellXfs>
  <cellStyles count="1">
    <cellStyle name="Standaard" xfId="0" builtinId="0"/>
  </cellStyles>
  <dxfs count="1">
    <dxf>
      <numFmt numFmtId="164" formatCode="m/d/yyyy"/>
    </dxf>
  </dxfs>
  <tableStyles count="0" defaultTableStyle="TableStyleMedium2" defaultPivotStyle="PivotStyleLight16"/>
  <extLst>
    <ext uri="{EB79DEF2-80B8-43e5-95BD-54CBDDF9020C}" xmlns:x14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/main">
      <x14:slicerStyles defaultSlicerStyle="SlicerStyleLight1"/>
    </ext>
    <x:ext uri="{9260A510-F301-46a8-8635-F512D64BE5F5}" xmlns:x15="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2010/11/main">
      <x15:timelineStyles defaultTimelineStyle="TimeSlicerStyleLight1"/>
    </x:ext>
  </extLst>
</styleSheet>

as you can see. The <x:ext uri="{9260A510-F301-46a8-8635-F512D64BE5F5}" part still contains the x namespace where it is removed from other elements.

Anyone know how to fix this? My first thought is making the x namespace the default namespace so it no longer requires the x: in the style sheet at all. But I wasn't able to find an way to tell the openXML SDK to do so.

Answer 1

I know this is an old question but just in case anyone else has the same issue, what I did is to remove the conflicting sections. Although is not the optimal solution, It allows the user to open the file in Excel 2010, re save it with another name and then re open the file just created without problems.

To remove the sections I used this code:

        if (Document.WorkbookPart.WorkbookStylesPart.Stylesheet.Descendants<StylesheetExtensionList>().Any())
        {
            Document.WorkbookPart.WorkbookStylesPart.Stylesheet.RemoveAllChildren<StylesheetExtensionList>();
        }

I din't use Document.WorkbookPart.WorkbookStylesPart.Stylesheet.Save() since I saved the changes in another place, but you might need to save it, it depends on your needs.

I opted to remove all the children, but maybe you can delete only the one that is causing the issue.

Hope this help you ;)