Hi,
Sorry for not jumping in earlier.
Indeed, you are not alone
pm me, and I can put you in contact with a project that I helped with doing just this.
now, as far as xml: indeed you can with my XmlMaker ( used on the above project)
https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W1133csv: I worked on a csv to xml parser as well, but nothing I can distribute, so yes, that would need some work to become usable outside experimentation.
but, I strongly recommand using xml, it's several order of magnitude more flexible and readable, and you it can evolved gracefully, by adding new attributes etc etc.
bye,
Jean