Working with Office “open” XML - just how hard is it?

Question

I\'m considering replacing a (very) large body of Office-automation code with something that works with the Office XML format directly. I\'m just starting out, but already I\'m

Answer 1

Just for completeness, here are some libraries I found for working with Excel XML:

www.extremexml.com - a layer on top of the Open XML SDK classes; focusses on injecting data into an existing spreadsheet; handles many of the cross-reference problems I identified in my question. Open source but GPL2 not LGPL. Code looks nice, and documentation is excellent. Does not appear terribly active on codeplex though.

Closed XML - another layer on top of the Open XML SDK - again open source, but with a less restrictive license (MIT). Looks nice, and looks more "active" than the above.

SpreadsheetLight - from what I can tell, a closed-source library sitting atop the Open XML SDK classes. Targeted more at those looking to create a spreadsheet from scratch rather than making changes to existing spreadsheets.