{"id":1985,"date":"2026-04-06T07:46:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:56:10","slug":"how-to-use-applicationdisplayxmlsourcepane-in-the-xlwings-api-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/how-to-use-applicationdisplayxmlsourcepane-in-the-xlwings-api-way\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use Application.DisplayXMLSourcePane in the xlwings API way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <code>DisplayXMLSourcePane<\/code> member of the <code>Application<\/code> object in Excel is a property that controls the visibility of the XML Source task pane. This pane is used when working with XML maps in Excel, allowing users to view and manage XML elements mapped to cells or ranges in a workbook. It is particularly useful for developers and advanced users who handle XML data integration, enabling them to see the structure of XML data and its mappings directly within the Excel interface. In xlwings, this property can be accessed and manipulated to programmatically show or hide the XML Source pane, enhancing automation in workflows involving XML data processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In terms of syntax, the <code>DisplayXMLSourcePane<\/code> property is accessed through the <code>Application<\/code> object in xlwings. The xlwings API provides a Pythonic way to interact with Excel&#8217;s object model. The property is a boolean value, where <code>True<\/code> indicates that the XML Source pane is visible, and <code>False<\/code> indicates it is hidden. The xlwings call format is straightforward: you reference the <code>Application<\/code> object and set or get the <code>DisplayXMLSourcePane<\/code> property. For example, to retrieve the current state, you use <code>app.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane<\/code>, and to change it, you assign a boolean value like <code>app.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane = True<\/code>. Note that in xlwings, the <code>api<\/code> attribute is used to access the underlying Excel object model properties and methods directly, ensuring compatibility with Excel&#8217;s native functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are some code examples demonstrating the use of <code>DisplayXMLSourcePane<\/code> with xlwings. First, ensure you have xlwings installed and an Excel instance running. You can use the following snippets in a Python script or interactive environment. In the first example, we check if the XML Source pane is currently visible and print its status:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>import xlwings as xw\n\n# Connect to the active Excel instance\napp = xw.apps.active\n\n# Get the current state of the DisplayXMLSourcePane property\nis_visible = app.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane\nprint(f\"The XML Source pane is visible: {is_visible}\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To show the XML Source pane, set the property to <code>True<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code># Show the XML Source pane\napp.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane = True\nprint(\"XML Source pane is now visible.\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To hide it, set the property to <code>False<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code># Hide the XML Source pane\napp.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane = False\nprint(\"XML Source pane is now hidden.\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also toggle the visibility based on its current state. This is useful in automation scripts where you might need to ensure the pane is visible before performing XML-related operations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code># Toggle the visibility of the XML Source pane\ncurrent_state = app.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane\napp.api.DisplayXMLSourcePane = not current_state\nprint(f\"Toggled XML Source pane visibility to: {not current_state}\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The `DisplayXMLSourcePane` member of the `Application` object in Excel is a property that controls t&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-xlwings-api-reference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3024,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions\/3024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}