OpenOffice.org

Introduction to OpenOffice

OpenOffice.org is an open source community working to build the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format.

OpenOffice.org Overview

Seneca students are working alongside Seneca professor Fardad Soleimanloo within the OpenOffice.org. This work is centered in the OSD600 and DPS909 courses.

OpenOffice Extensions

What are extensions

Extensions in OpenOffice extends the capability of the OpenOffice program. Extension can be for OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Presentation, Database or for the core OpenOffice. For OpenOffice writer, there may be extensions that extends the dictionary feature of OpenOffice so that user can use a French dictionary. Similarly there may be extensions that adds extra grammar features. An extension for Calc might do a complex calculation like mortgage calculation or filter data in certain way. A popular extension might become part of the core program in a future release. Extensions for OpenOffice can downloaded at http://extensions.services.openoffice.org

How to install extensions

To install an extension

• First download an extension from http://extensions.services.openoffice.org
• Then open OpenOffice Writer or Calc. On the top menu, click Tools->Extension Manager...

Installing an Extension

• Click Add... and select the .oxt file (extension file) you downloaded.

Installing an Extension

Usually, you should see a new button or menu item related to the extension you install. Since extension can do different things, sometimes you might not see any button or menu item. That extension might only appear and work on context menu. So if you cannot find it, check the extension's read-me file or manual.

Developing OpenOffice.org extensions

Checklist for Writing Extensions

Checklist for Writing Extensions

Preparing development environment

Linux

Install OpenOffice.org and SDK

OpenOffice.org program and SDK can be installed through package manager program, such as apt-get, yum, merge and pacman. Also, several GUI font-end for package manager programs are available to make installation easier. On Ubuntu, Synaptic is good choice. YumEx is the best option on Fedora.

• Ubuntu:
  • With aptitude: launch a terminal and enter following command

  sudo aptitude install openoffice.org openoffice.org-dev

  If you want SDK examples and documentations, install openoffice.org-dev-doc as well.

  sudo aptitude install openoffice.org-dev-doc

  • With Synaptic: Go to menu: System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Search openoffice, and click openoffice.org, openoffice.org-dev, openoffice.org-dev packages, then click Mark for Installation and hit Apply on toolbar.
• Fedora:
  • With Yum:

  sudo yum install {package name}

  To-Do: replace {package name} with real package names under Fedora

  • With YumEx:

  YumEx does not come with distribution. You needed to be installed manually.

  sudo yum install yumex

  After installation, launch YumEx, search openoffice, select those packages and install.

Note: On Fedora, sudo is not set by default. You can add you account to wheel user group so that you can use sudo. Also, you may use su to change to root, and run yum to install packages.
Note: On Ubuntu, if you use OpenOffice.org program that comes with distribution, and try to install SDK that is downloaded from OpenOffice.org website, you may encounter dependency issue. You should the SDK that come with distribution.

Install NetBean, and OpenOffice.org Extension Development Plugin

NetBean can be installed through package manager as well. Package name is netbeans. Ubuntu:

sudo aptitude install netbeans

Fedora:

sudo yum install netbeans

To-Do: need someone check if the packages name for Netbeans on Fedora is netbeans. After installation, you can install development plugin in NetBean. Lunch NetBean, select Plugins under Tool menu. Then switch to Available Plugins tab, and install OOo API plugin. Finally, select Options under Tool menu, and go to Miscellaneous -> OOo API Plugins tab. Fill in the path to OpenOffice.org program and SDK. Path is provide in following section.

Install Eclipse and OpenOffice.org Extension Development Plugin

To-Do: guild on install setup Eclipse for OOo Extension Dev

Path to OpenOffice.org Program and SDK

• Ubuntu:
  • Program: /usr/lib/openoffice
  • SDK: /usr/lib/openoffice/basis3.2/sdk
  • Examples: /usr/lib/openoffice/basis3.2/sdk/example
• Mint:
  • Program: /usr/lib/openoffice
  • SDK: /usr/lib/openoffice/basis3.1/sdk
  • Examples: /usr/lib/openoffice/basis3.1/sdk/example

To-Do: need path on Fedora and others major distros.

Windows

This is tutorial is to set up a Java development platform on Windows. You will need the following software: OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org SDK Netbeans Make sure you install OpenOffice and the SDK before running Netbeans. First Open Netbeans and go to: Tools -> Plugins Go the Available Plugins tab and look for OpenOffice.org API Plugin and check the box beside it. It will prompt you to install and click the Install button on the bottom of the list. The plugin will install. To change the setting for the plugin go to: Tools -> Options -> Miscellaneous -> OOo API Plugin There you will see the directory path to the installation of both OO and The SDK. If you need to change it then you can make the corrections here.

Programming languages for developing an extension

CLI

.Net Resources

OpenOffice.org API (Application Programming Interface)

http://api.openoffice.org/

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OpenOffice.org objects and methods, such as paragraphs, spreadsheets, and fonts, are accessible to OpenOffice.org Basic through the OpenOffice.org application programming interface, or API. Through the API, for example, documents can be created, opened, modified and printed. The API can be used not only by OpenOffice.org Basic, but also by other programming languages, such as Java and C++. The interface between the API and various programming languages is provided by something called Universal Network Objects (UNO).

UNO (Universal Network Objects)

Introduction

Understanding UNO

UNO Concepts

UNO Concepts Developers Guide

1. Introduction
2. First Steps
3. Professional UNO
4. Writing UNO Components
5. Extensions
6. Advanced UNO
7. Office Development
8. Text Documents
9. Spreadsheet Documents
10. Drawing and Presentation
11. Charts
12. OOo Basic and Dialogs
13. Database Access
14. Forms
15. Universal Control Broker
16. Configuration Management
17. Java Beans for Office Componets
18. Accessibility
19. Scripting Framework
20. GUI
21. Design Guidelines
22. IDL Documentation Guidelines
23. Universal Content Providers
24. UNOIDL Syntax/Grammer

Related technologies/ frameworks

Design Patterns

Tutorials

Creating a simple extension for OpenOffice.org Calc

Calc programming API and sample code:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Calc/API/Programming

Sample codes

Some example source codes can be found in the OpenOffice sdk folder. For Ubuntu distribution: /usr/lib/openoffice/basis3.1/sdk/examples

API Samples

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/API/Samples

OpenOffice UX (User Experience)

OpenOffice User Experience

OpenOffice UI (User Interface)

under construction...

OpenOffice Smart Tags

Smart Tag Resources Smart Tag Presentation

Resources / Links

Development Resources

OpenOffice.org API site
OpenOffice.org SDK site
OpenOfice.org Wiki Projects

Other Resources

Wiki Markup

Syntax highlighting in WikiMedia

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