Hi Andrew and thanks for the detailed response ! Actually we've implemented a major part of the "named range record" in an internal implementation of our company - when we discovered POI :)
Currently I'm mainly interested in the integration of our ready code into the POI project. We've implemented using the MDSN documentation which specifies the record structure. How do we submit enhancements to the project ? What is the start point ? A lead would be highly appreciated . Regards, Tal BTW: Are you a member of the openoffice.org development team ? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew C. Oliver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 4:53 PM Subject: Re: Excel named range contribution > Hi and welcome. We discuss everything here. I've actually started on > the feature you mention, however its largely undocumented. > > Some work has been done on the low level binary record but its not > committed. I've not yet figured out what all the fields mean. > > Although this particular record is not documented you might find the > "Excel 97 Developer's Kit" (out of print, Microsoft Press, no > restrictive covenants, available on Amazon.com) helpful for > understanding the file format. > > You can also use org.apache.poi.dev.BiffViewer which displays > information about all of the records we've implemented up until now. It > identified "UNKNOWN" records and prints out hex dumps. By creating a > basic spreadsheet, saving, adding a named range, running BiffViewer on > both of them and then using the UNIX diff command you can see what gets > added to the sheet. Some of it makes immediate sense (row/col and or > row/col-row/col), other parts of it seem to change based on various > factors and you'll have to reach for the inference. > > (note to self: add this to the HSSF docs as a committer how/to) > > Investigate the generate-records target of our build. We use XML > descriptors to generate the Java code (which sure beats the heck out of > my original PERL scripts I used ;-) for low level records. The > generator is kinda alpha-ish right now and could use some enhancement, > so you may find that to be about 1/2 of the work. Notice I put this in > org.apache.poi.hssf.record.definitions. For new records I plan to > generate the basic stub in "definitions" and extend it in the "records" > package. > > One thing to note: ensure any participants in this process have never > signed a "Non Disclosure Agreement" with Microsoft, and have not > received any information covered by such an agreement. If they have > they'll not be able to participate in the POI project. > > Hows that for starters? Feel free to ask questions! > > Thanks, > > Andy > > PS - Here is the record definition so far (it currently reflects the > structure of a garden variety single named cell -- ranges have two > col/row pairs instead of one) > > <record id="0x18" name="NamedCell" package="org.apache.poi.hssf.record.definitions"> > <suffix>Record</suffix> > <extends>Record</extends> > <description>The NamedCell record describes defined names in the workbook > (p330 - Excel 97 Developer's Kit) > </description> > <author>Andrew C. Oliver</author> > <fields> > <field type="int" size="2" name="zero" description="this field is always 0"/> > <field type="int" size="2" name="strlen" description="the length of the name >string"/> > <field type="int" size="2" name="options" description="options"/> > <field type="int" size="8" name="unknown" description="so far 0'd > unknonwn bytes"/> > <field type="int" size="1" name="unicode" description="purely a guess > but there is probably a unicode flag here"/> > <field type="string" size="var" name="NameString" description="value > string"/> > <field type="int" size="1" name="rangetype" description="0x3a for a cell > and 0x3b for a range of cells"/> > <field type="int" size="2" name="zero2" description="unknown short thats > always 0"/> > <field type="int" size="2" name="column" description="column"/> > <field type="int" size="2" name="row" description="row"/> > </fields> > </record> > > > > On Sun, 2002-04-07 at 09:29, Tal Moshaiov wrote: > > Greetings Group ! > > > > My name is Tal Moshaiov and I'm a Java Team Leader in Vista Portal Software Inc. > > Currently we're considering integrating the HSSF implementation in one of our >future products. > > I must say I enjoy this effort. The work you guys have done is great - and we'd >like to join and help. > > Mainly we're interested in the named range support. > > Is there any work done/planned on this issue ? > > If not, how can we start developing ? Is there a common design group in which we >can discuss design and implemention issues ? > > > > We're looking forward to start the fun :-) > > > > Tal > > > > ---------------------------------- > > Tal Moshaiov > > Applications Development > > VistaPortal Software, Inc. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Phone: 972-3-6126188 > > Fax: 972-3-6126189 > > www.vistaoprtal.com > > > -- > http://www.superlinksoftware.com > http://jakarta.apache.org/poi - port of Excel/Word/OLE 2 Compound > Document > format to java > http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/bugs/4487555.html > - fix java generics! > The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to > vote. > -Ambassador Kosh >
