Andy, You make a lot of good points about the state of Apache HWPF in this email. That is why I am pleased to announce that SoftArtisans will be releasing WordWriter v3 shortly. It is a fully-featured Java API for reading and writing Microsoft Word documents. I feel like it is a better choice than HWPF because it is the realization of what I wanted for HWPF. It addresses all of your bullet points below. Including the ones about Junit tests, Javadoc, and Documentation ;) In addition to that, we have taken it so much farther in terms of features. Please check it out at http://officewriter.softartisans.com/officewriter-312.aspx
-Ryan > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:01 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: State of the Union for HWPF > > So it looks like if I create a new document or even use one > of the word office templates, I can add all the text I like > and can even style it like existing text. > > However, it looks at the moment like: > > * Delete is horribly broken, this needs to be fixed > * You can do things with HWPF that are really structurally unsound > * The usage patterns for when to create a Section, > Paragraph and CharacterRun isn't very well defined > * WHOA MOMMMA there are a lot of methods and constants that > you can set on any given "thing" > * Ryan apparently did not believe in JavaDoc, Junit (very > few tests), or Documentation (which is why I continually > refused to let HWPF out of scratchpad, which is why the > project floundered up until now -- gee Ryan...maybe thats why > its hard to use). > > That being said: > * It seems to be fairly functional even for somewhat > complex documents especially in *reading* > * SuperLink and its clients may put significant investment > into HWPF in the near future to get it up to spec. > > The API needs several refinements: > > * add "cloneProperties" methods to Paragraph and > CharacterRun - (done but not committed) > * Why can't a characterRun be added to a paragraph? > * Why can't a characterRun be deleted from a paragraph? > * Groupings of similar properties should be broken down > into compositions of objects rather than just one big Mega > properties object. > * Weird word structural abbreviations shouldn't be exposed > to the usermodel > * Unicode support. > > Question: > * There are a couple of people here with some good Word knowledge.. > Can anyone give me some pointers on the difference between > unicode text storage and non unicode text storage? > > Glen, Avik and Rainer are scared...commit messages directly > from me again ;-) > > -Andy > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Mailing List: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail2.html#poi > The Apache Jakarta POI Project: http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/ > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing List: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail2.html#poi The Apache Jakarta POI Project: http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/
