Controlled Terms or ISO Format

Controlled Terms or ISO Format

The usual misconception ...
What you see in the browser is NOT the define.xml (which is in ... XML), it is a VIEW of the define.xml through a stylesheet (XSLT).
The stylesheet takes care of visualization of the contents of the define.xml, and is the responsibility of the sponsor (though 90% of the people use the stylesheet published by CDISC).
So, if you want to change something in the VIEW, you will need to change the stylesheet. This has nothing to do with your spreadsheet ...

Most of the stylesheets "pull together" information from different parts of the define.xml into a single column (so, another misconception ..., no, the define.xml does not have columns, only the view has). In your sample of the VIEW, if the stylesheet finds the data type of an item to be one of date, datetime, partialdate, partialdatetime ...) it simply states "ISO8601" in the "Controlled Terms or ISO Format" column of the VIEW, and if it finds a reference to a CodeList in the define.xml (in XML), it puts information in the same column (which I think is unfortunate and confusing).

If you want to start understanding define.xml, open a define.xml with e.g. NotePad++, and then look into the specification as published by CDISC. Don't trust on the spreadsheet ...

"Codelist sheet of define spec excel" ... OMG ... there is so much better software to develop and generate define.xml (even before study start and without having any XPT files yet ...).

I also to urge you to take a CDISC define.xml training course. The next ones are in Berlin end of April for Europe, and Raleigh, North Carolina for the US early April.

For me, as one of the developers of the Define-XML standard and CDISC instructor, it is always sad to see that some people think that there is something like a "specification" for define.xml as a spreadsheet, or that what they see in the viewer IS the define.xml.