PivotTable Reports

When a range or workbook containing a PivotTable report is saved or published to a Web page, the report and its data are specified in the worksheet HTML table. The edit time data is stored in XML elements and is not displayed in Web browsers. This table and its associated CSS styles are used to display the report in a Web browser. For more information about cell and worksheet formatting, see the Cell Formatting and Worksheets topics.

A worksheet can contain one or more PivotTable reports. Each report is defined by an XML PivotTable element within the definition of the worksheet.

When a PivotTable report or a range containing a report is saved as a static Web page, only the visible data contained in the selection is saved using an HTML table. The PivotTable schema and cache data is not saved, and therefore when the page is opened in Microsoft Excel, the report cannot be updated and refreshed. Saving a static view of the report is useful, for example, if the data is intended for viewing only, and if maintaining small file sizes is a concern.

When a PivotTable report or a range containing a report is published using the PivotList component, only the XML elements are saved to the Web page. The component allows data to be manipulated when the page is viewed in a Web browser.

The PivotTable cache schema and data are stored using XML elements in a separate file. If the cache definition is missing or invalid, a PivotTable report that uses the cache must be refreshed before the report is modified. If a worksheet containing more than one PivotTable report is saved, the cache file contains a cache definition for each report. The PivotTable cache XML schema is based on the XML-Data Specification.

The XML-Data Specification does not allow mixed data types within a column schema. For example, a PivotTable based on a worksheet data source can have a field containing a mix of dates, numbers, and strings. When the page is saved, cache records are not stored, and the PivotTable report must be refreshed before the report is modified. If the page is published using the PivotList component, the mixed data is saved as strings. A common situation when mixed data types exist is when some entries are blank. To avoid saving mixed data, blank values are saved as nulls.