developerWorks: Introducing OpenDocument
Stuart McIntyre 23 April 2008 07:40:39
A fascinating introductory tutorial from Uche Ogbuji has been posted over on developerWorks:The OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF) is an XML standard that lets you store and exchange office application documents, including word-processor, spreadsheet, and presentation files. Whether you try to perform special tasks on files saved from such applications or work on applications to process such files, you should become familiar with this important format. Learn about the two possible forms of OpenDocument files, as multipart packages and as single XML documents, and learn how to structure text and tabular information in OpenDocument.If you're a new Lotus Symphony user or developer and are interested in ODF and its heritage and applications, this is a really good place to start...In this tutorial
Even from the early days of computers in the office, word processors, spreadsheets, presentation software were the giants among applications. From Lotus® 1-2-3 and WordStar to today's behemoth integrated office suites, much of the information valuable to computer users is maintained in the saved files of office apps. Recently people and organizations are more conscious about the importance of open data formats. You don't entirely own your data if the only way to use it is through the interface of a proprietary application. With the acceptance of XML as lingua franca for semi-structured data, users inevitably began to demand open formats for their office apps, preferably in XML. Users want to be able to make some sense of what's in their saved files, and to use a variety of tools on them.
Responding to such demands In 2002, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) began an effort to create a standard for office application files, formally called OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications and popularly abbreviated ODF. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) followed up with acceptance of ODF as an international standard (ISO/IEC 26300). After years of overall development, ODF nears version 1.2 and covers spreadsheets, word processor documents, presentation files, drawings, and more. You've probably come across files with extensions such as .odt, .ods, .odp, or .odd. Obviously you can process such files by running an office application suite. But sometimes you need more control, or you need to do things that are not the typical role for office applications. Suppose you wanted to develop a system that automatically generated open document files from a Web form, or perhaps a search engine for office documents. In such cases you need a good understanding of the storage format, and this tutorial offers an easy start.
- Comments [1]