1. A computer-implemented method comprising: at a database server, receiving a request from a spreadsheet application to open a file with spreadsheet data; wherein the spreadsheet data is stored in one or more relational tables in one or more relational databases that are managed by the database server; the database server generating the file in response to the request, wherein generating the file comprises retrieving the spreadsheet data from an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) view that is defined by an XML Query Language (XQuery) query, wherein the XQuery query when executed returns the spreadsheet data in an XML spreadsheet format that is understood by the spreadsheet application; and the database server providing the file with the spreadsheet data directly to the spreadsheet application, wherein the spreadsheet data retrieved from the XML view is formatted according to the XML spreadsheet format.