I think its a great idea. There is definite need for for other formats besides MS Office. PDF especially. There are a ton for writing pdfs but very few good ones that read pdfs. I like http://pdfbox.org.
One of my responsibilities at work is to handle text extraction from different file formats using java, This was how I got started with HDF now HWPF. We looked around for libraries in java, there is hardly anything out there. The big three are Word, Excel, and Acrobat. Then you have the CAD formats that are important Autocad and Microstation. This would be great because I eventually want to do an open-source document collaboration/workflow server. Sign me up Ryan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew C. Oliver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "POI Developers List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 4:29 PM Subject: Top level project After talking with someone about something I've been thinking about a top level project.... formats.apache.org for file formats. POI (and maybe TNEF) would be the first code base of course. I want POI to keep a tight focus that�s what has let it succeed. However, there is a need for other formats. There's of course some overlap with FOP, but I don't see that as a problem. We're not XML-centric. The idea would be to give us a platform for allowing other folks to contribute other formats. I can even see a general API emerging based on POI: 1. Archive -> abstract whether things are GZIPPED, ZIPPED or OLE2CDF'd 2. Workbook -> abstract whether things are Excel, Lotus, OpenOffice, etc 3. Document ... However, I'd rather see these things take place At Apache but Outside of POI. Such that common APIs for similar file formats evolve. XML interfaces can be created for FOP/others wherever it makes sense to do so... Thoughts? -Andy -- Andrew C. Oliver http://www.superlinksoftware.com/poi.jsp Custom enhancements and Commercial Implementation for Jakarta POI http://jakarta.apache.org/poi For Java and Excel, Got POI? --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
