Using OpenOffice API to parse MS word on server

[Guest]

Hi all,

Recently I am seeking a java-base solution to reading and merging MS word documents into one on the server side. I've checked that there's the POI project which is exactly what we need but there are still no stable releases so far.

I'm also trying to look at if OpenOffice APIs can be a solution for this issue. Could anybody kindly let me know whether it is possible to perform the following tasks with OpenOffice java API (installing on a unix server, probably solaris).

(Sorry that I'm not familiar with the development tools with OpenOffice, would you mind giving me some directions so that i can be more familiar with OO with regard to my problem)

The actual scenario is as follows:
1. We need to break down a word file with a hierachy into different word files. The level in the hierachy is characterised by its style (whether it's "heading 1", "heading 2", etc)

For example

===========================================

The word document would somewhat look like this:

---------------------------------------
Heading 1
some text under the top level

Heading 2
some text under the second level

Heading 3
....
Heading 2
....
---------------------------------------

The broken down version would be like

---------------------------------------
Heading 1
some text under the top level
---------------------------------------

---------------------------------------
Heading 2
some text under the second level
---------------------------------------

etc...

==========================================

2. We'll need to merge some word files into one single file.

I really hope you could kindly give me some comments and suggestions on this. Actually this is quite (frankly, it's "very") urgent, I hope you could give me a response asap. Thank you so much!

Best Regards,
Jack Cheng

[AJesse]

I cannot give you a solution to your problem...
but a hint: in the server environment you have to be aware that ooo (or its API's) are not thread-save. So you cannot process requests in parallel...

POI no stable release. Those projects are most often in productive use from the first alpha release on... Best sample ist Struts which drove productive mission critical apps with the struts-version 0.5... If the POI API that is there, fullfills your needs: use it. You are not obbliged to migrate as soon as another release comes out...( This ain't Win$ ). Nobody will bother you with "upgrade first before asking" unless you want a bug fixed urgently... Being it opensource you have all the control you want...
_________________
====================================
Alexander
visit http://www.carcassonne-online.info

[edv]

Does anybody know if there are other products to edit/convert MS Office files except POI? As I recognized OO does not support MS Office meta data, at least OO does not assume it when I save a .doc file as another .doc file.
So if anyone knows another product / solution, please let me know, it may even be commercial... Thanks!