xlsform_outline: Outline of an XLSForm

In convertxlsform: Convert an 'XLSForm' to a 'Word' or PDF Document

Outline of an XLSForm

Description

Parses an XLSForm and returns one row for each item that would appear on the paper form: sections, questions, notes and the end of repeat groups. It shows the question numbers, the answer type, the number of choices, and the skip logic and constraints in plain language, so a form can be checked before it is converted.

Usage

xlsform_outline(xlsform, lang = NULL, ...)

Arguments

xlsform	Path to an XLSForm (.xlsx or .xls).
lang	Language to use: a code ("fr"), a name ("French") or the full header suffix ("French (fr)"). NULL uses the default_language of the settings sheet, or the first language found. See xlsform_languages().
...	Further options: nested_serial_numbers, include_relevants, include_constraints, include_hints, include_hidden, media_root, max_choices (lists longer than this get a code box layout), strings, show_variable_names, title and the other conversion options. Page and font options are accepted and have no effect here.

Value

A data.frame with one row per block and columns row (Excel row of the form), serial (question number, NA when unnumbered), depth (number of enclosing groups), block ("section", "section_end", "note" or "question"), kind (the question kind, for example "select_one", or "begin_group", "begin_repeat", "end_repeat", "note"), name, label, required, n_choices (all choices of a select or rank question, not counting an "other" row), relevant_text, constraint_text (the constraint message when the form has one, else the humanized expression) and layout (for select and rank questions: "list", "columns" or "code_box", from the number of choices and max_choices; NA otherwise). A label may contain line breaks (⁠\n⁠).

Examples

path <- system.file("extdata", "minimal", "minimal.xlsx",
                    package = "convertxlsform")
out <- xlsform_outline(path)
out[, c("serial", "block", "kind", "name", "relevant_text")]


# A multilingual form: another language, with flat question numbers
path_ml <- system.file("extdata", "multilang", "multilang.xlsx",
                       package = "convertxlsform")
out <- xlsform_outline(path_ml, lang = "bn", nested_serial_numbers = FALSE)
head(out[, c("serial", "name")], 5)

convertxlsform documentation built on Oct. 22, 2026, 1:07 a.m.