Where to Start?

[Robert Paris <rp...@hotmail.com>]

I was working with HDF about 2-3 months ago and found it could not read any 
Word documents with tables. Unfortunately, I had to go to another problem 
but I'm getting back into this now. First, was this problem solved? I just 
downloaded all of the org.apache.poi.hdf.* files and compiled them and I get 
the same problem as before. However, I see there is now (in CVS viewing 
only) a new package "hwpf." Should I build that package? Will it work enough 
so I can start fooling around with it?

Thanks!

Robert

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Re: Where to Start?

[Ryan Ackley <sa...@cfl.rr.com>]

> I was working with HDF about 2-3 months ago and found it could not read
any
> Word documents with tables. Unfortunately, I had to go to another problem
> but I'm getting back into this now. First, was this problem solved?

No the problem hasn't been solved, I was aware of this problem since my
first version of the extractor library (pre-HDF). *Some* word documents with
table(s) I couldn't figure out how to read w/o blowing up. I don't know if
this is a problem with the spec or if it is my implementation. You need to
make sure these files are not fast-saved. If you are producing these files
yourself, go into Word, Tools->Options, Save tab. Make sure fast-saves are
not allowed. This is the default setting.

Right now tables support are almost at the bottom of my priority list
(they're in front of form fields and mail merge). I think the target date
for tables is September. I will be addressing this issue then.

>I just
> downloaded all of the org.apache.poi.hdf.* files and compiled them and I
get
> the same problem as before. However, I see there is now (in CVS viewing
> only) a new package "hwpf." Should I build that package? Will it work
enough
> so I can start fooling around with it?

HWPF is the latest version of HDF. We decided to rename it. I will be
uploading the latest HWPF stuff tonight. We can read in a Word doc into data
structures that exist in memory, then write it back out again. How does this
help you? It probably doesn't. It actually has a lot less functionality than
the HDF your familiar with. The difference is that this version has been
designed from the ground up to support reading and writing.

Ryan Ackley