17.3.1.27 pStyle

This element specifies the style ID of the paragraph style which shall be used to format the contents of this paragraph.

This formatting is applied at the following location in the

style hierarchy:

• Document defaults

• Table styles

• Numbering styles

• Paragraph styles (this element)

• Character styles

• Direct Formatting

This means that all properties specified in the style element (17.7.4.17) with a styleId which corresponds to the value in this element’s val attribute are applied to the paragraph at the appropriate level in the hierarchy.

If this element is omitted, or it references a style which does not exist, then no paragraph style shall be applied to the current paragraph. As well, this property is ignored if the paragraph properties are part of a paragraph style.

[Example: Consider the following WordprocessingML fragment:

<w:pPr>
  <w:pStyle w:val="TestParagraphStyle" />
  <w:ind w:start="1440" />
</w:pPr>

This paragraph specifies that it inherits all of the paragraph properties specified by the paragraph style with a styleId of TestParagraphStyle, which then has any indentation properties overridden with a start indentation of 1440 twentieths of a point, and no indentation for any other value. end example]

Attributes

val (String Value)

Specifies that its contents contain a string.

The contents of this string are interpreted based on the context of the parent XML element.

[Example: Consider the following WordprocessingML fragment:

  <w:pPr>
    <w:pStyle w:val="Heading1" />
  </w:pPr>

The value of the val attribute is the ID of the associated paragraph style’s styleId.

However, consider the following fragment:

  <w:sdtPr>
    <w:alias w:val="SDT Title Example" />
    …
  </w:sdtPr>

In this case, the decimal number in the val attribute is the caption of the nearest

ancestor structured document tag. In each case, the value is interpreted in the context of the parent element. end example]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_String simple type (22.9.2.13).

[Note: The W3C XML Schema definition of this element’s content model (CT_String) is located in A.1. end note]