I don't see any documentation that says the order in app.xml is guaranteed to be the order of the sheets. It PROBABLY is, but not according to the OOXML specification.
The workbook.xml file, on the other hand, includes the sheetId attribute, which does determine the sequence - from 1 to the number of sheets. This is according to the OOXML specification. workbook.xml is described as the place where the sequence of the sheets is kept.
So reading workbook.xml after it is extracted form the XLSX would be my recommendation. NOT app.xml. Instead of docProps/app.xml, use xl/workbook.xml and look at the element, as shown here -
`
<workbook xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships">
<fileVersion appName="xl" lastEdited="5" lowestEdited="5" rupBuild="9303" />
<workbookPr defaultThemeVersion="124226" />
- <bookViews>
<workbookView xWindow="120" yWindow="135" windowWidth="19035" windowHeight="8445" />
</bookViews>
- <sheets>
<sheet name="By song" sheetId="1" r:id="rId1" />
<sheet name="By actors" sheetId="2" r:id="rId2" />
<sheet name="By pit" sheetId="3" r:id="rId3" />
</sheets>
- <definedNames>
<definedName name="_xlnm._FilterDatabase" localSheetId="0" hidden="1">'By song'!$A$1:$O$59</definedName>
</definedNames>
<calcPr calcId="145621" />
</workbook>
`