OpenDocument Format

2010-04-16

lpOD 0.9.1 has just been released, together with its documentation. You can download lpOD 0.9.1 here.

LpOD 0.9.1 codename "Granada"

lpod python library V0.91 released

lpOD -- languages & platforms OpenDocument. Definition of a Free Software API implementing the ISO/IEC 26300 standard. Development, for higher level use cases, in Python, Perl and Ruby languages. of a top-down oriented API.

This release has seen Restructured Text support much improved, and a Gentoo ebuild was contributed. Packaging of lpOD was a bit improved too and now it's publised on Pypi.

Low-level API

  • "get_style" and "get_style_list" callable from any element.
  • "odf_container.get_contents" renamed to "get_parts"
  • "odf_document.get_files" renamed to "get_parts"
  • "odf_document.get_file_data" renamed to "get_part"

High-level API

  • To get a style by its display name, call::
        context.get_style(family, display_name=u"My Style")
    It was previously a boolean flag.
  • In meta part, "(g|s)et_keyword" were renamed to "(g|s)et_keywords" to illustrate the possibility of assigning several keywords. ;-) But it still takes a single unicode string.
  • In meta part, added "(g|s)et_comments" as an alias to "(g|s)et_description" because some desktop applications call them like this.
  • Table cells gained a "(g|s)et_cell_formula" method. Yes, formulas begin to be taken into consideration!
2010-04-14

Representatives from multiple ODF implementations meet informally to discuss interoperability and test their applications in Barcelona in 2007 and in Beijing in 2008. Experience with these informal “interoperability workshops” lead to a more formal initiative, the ODF Plugfest, which first met in The Hague, June 15-16, 2009. The 2nd ODF Plugfest was held in Orvieto, Italy on November 2-3.

 

The Calendar for 2010

2010-02-17

lpOD 0.9.0 has just been released, together with its documentation. You can download lpOD 0.9 here.

LpOD 0.9.0 codename "Orvieto"

lpOD -- languages & platforms OpenDocument. Definition of a Free Software API implementing the ISO/IEC 26300 standard. Development, for higher level use cases, in Python, Perl and Ruby languages. of a top-down oriented API.

This release focuses on style and table support, and polishing the existing API. Command-line tools were greatly improved and enriched.

Low-level API

  • Default numeric types were added, targeting the French locale for now.
  • The text API is now richer.

High-level API

  • Started to implement a templating language in the content of ODF documents. Only setting values and "if" are implemented for now, and only on text.

    You can see an example template in "python/templates/test_template.ott" and an example script in "python/templates/test_template.py".

    Templating the metadata is left as an exercise to the interested reader.

  • Tables of content can now be filled with the titles found in the document.

  • Draw page can use transitions (fade by default).

  • Tables are quite faster and easier to use since you can access any row/column/cell without having to expand the table first.

  • Most high-level elements support outputting reStructuredText representation.

  • Medium-complexity reStructuredText documents can be converted to ODT, from scratch or appended to an existing document (docutils required).

Command-line Utilities

  • The lpod-show.py tool dumps a textual representation of the content (informal or reStructuredText). It can also dump the latter, images, style information and metadata list in a directory.
  • The lpod-style.py introspection tool shows the list of styles of the document, whether it is used, and is able to remove them all. It can also merge styles from one document to another.
  • The lpod-meta.py introspection tool can list and edit metadata of the document.
  • The lpod-merge.py tool can merge documents of the same type. ODT, ODS and CSV and supported for now. ODP to come.
  • The lpod-highlight.py tool can apply a style on a text pattern. The default style is overlining as if you were using a yellow highlighter pen.
  • The lpod-mm2odt.py tool converts XML mind-map files to ODT.
  • The lpod-rst2odt.py tool converts reStructuredText document to ODT.

Documentation

  • 80 % of the documentation is implemented. There is still much work on the styles part.

Packaging

  • PKGBUILD and ebuild packages contributed. Deb and RPM to come.

Statistics: from v0.8 to v0.9.0

2010-02-06

Jérôme Dumonteil spoke at the FOSDEM on the lpOD project and its technology. The presentation slides are available here.

2010-02-02

Since its beginning the lpOD project has provided regular snapshots of important milestones. Today we are happy to open the access to our Git repository! It is now possible for anyone to check out our developments live.

The repository is available here.

2009-12-04

lpOD 0.8 has just been released, together with its documentation. You can download lpOD 0.8 here.

lpOD -- languages & platforms OpenDocument.
Definition of a Free Software API implementing the ISO/IEC 26300 standard.
Development, for higher level use cases, in Python, Perl and Ruby languages.
of a top-down oriented API.

  • The architecture design is complete.
  • The functional lpOD coverage is 90% complete.
  • Only Python implementation is available (80% complete), and serves as the  reference implementation
  • This release starts providing command-line tools for introspection and manipulation.
  • The documentation is now online http://docs.lpod-project.org
  • Cookbooks provide ready-to-use examples of the API for ODT, ODS and ODP (tables, tocs, notes, images frames, slides transitions, shapes, ... )


Web : http://lpod-project.org
Documentation : http://docs.lpod-project.org
IRC : irc://irc.freenode.org/lpod

Python Implementation

Low-level API

  • All types of styles are supported in the low-level API.
  • Text search and replace API is added
  • Basic shapes can be created: ellipse and circle, rectangle and square, and line.
  • Adding non ODF resources (e.g. images, pdf, ...) in documents
  • A Virtual File System (VFS) layer handles grabbing document from HTTP and FTP.
  • After starting with the libxml2 Python wrapper, switched to lxml for both speed and ease of use.

High-level API

  • Template are provided, with empty body, i.e. the ODT template has no paragraph, the ODS template has no table and the ODP template has no draw page.
  • A document can grab styles from another document to merge them with its own ones.
  • A specific API is available on paragraphs to insert notes and annotation.
  • A specific API is available for tables to abstract the XML model, e.g. you can access cell "C3" without knowning the storage.
  • Tables can be created from and exported to CSV.
  • The full API to metadata is available. Only RDF would be missing.
  • The navigation API no longer use a context element. The element itself is the navigation API.

Command-line Utilities

  • The lpod-show.py tool dumps a textual representation of the content. It can also dump the latter, style information and metadata list in a directory.
  • The lpod-meta.py introspection tool can list and edit metadata of the document.
  • The lpod-merge.py tool can merge documents of the same type. ODT, ODP, ODS and CSV and supported for now.
  • The lpod-highlight.py tool can apply a style on a text pattern. The default style is overlining as if you were using a yellow highlighter pen.

Statistics: from v0.7 to v0.8

2009-12-03

The new documentation for the lpOD project is available online. This online documentation is available starting with our 0.8 release and covers pretty much all that is needed to understand and hack lpOD. This documentation covers only the Python implementation, however.

You can access the documentation here.

lpod documentation python ODF API

2009-11-10

lpOD has been officially introduced at the OpenOffice.org world conference to the members of the ODF ecosystem and to the Free Software office suite community.

Lots of interesting talks have taken place and the progressive integration of the project inside the ODF Toolkit Union has also been discussed.

2009-11-06

Itaapy has joined the ODF Toolkit Union. This announcement was made at the OOoCON 2009 at Orvieto and is part of the general movement of progressive integration of the lpOD project inside the ODF Toolkit Union. Bringing the lpOD platform inside the ODF Tookit will help its better integration inside the ODF ecosystem and maximize the reuse of its components by the ODF Toolkit.

2009-10-30

 

The v. 0.7 version of lpOD has just been released. This is the first public version our software. Others will be released in the near future.

We do not yet accept external code contributions. However we are open to any interesting idea! You can get the code here.

 

2009-10-23

The first public release of lpOD will be available during the week of the 26th of October.  lpOD is released under the GPL v3 and the Apache v2.0 licenses. Code repository and mailing lists will be progressively rolled out during the year.

Feel free to contact our team if you have any question.

2009-10-20

Le projet Lpod présenté lors des Rencontres COLLIBRI / Cap Digital / Silicon Sentier du 20 octobre 2009 à La Cantine

logo collibri

2009-10-15

The lpOD project has recently visited the Sun OpenOffice.org team. This team is also one of the main original authors of the ODF standard. This was a fruitful day allowing for real information sharing and future collaboration.

2009-06-23

Ars Aperta has joined the ODF Toolkit Union. This project acts as one of the main code repository in the ODF ecosystem. The lpOD project will progressively extend its cooperation to the ODF Toolkit Union.

2008-12-01

The lpOD project has been elected by the ANR for 2008 under "Contents and Interactions" and has officially started on the 1st of December.

2008-04-24

 

Le pôle de compétitivité Cap Digital a officiellement accordé sa labélisation  au projet lpOD le 24 avril 2008 dans la catégorie "intelligence et technologies collaboratives".

 

2007-02-01

A new version of ODF has been published. ODF 1.1, the new version of the ISO 26300 standard integrates features related to accessibility.

2006-05-03

The office file format OpenDocument has been developed by the OASIS Consortium. On the 3rd of May 2006 its version 1.0 has been standardized by the ISO.

Languages & Platforms on OpenDocument

Summary

Languages & Platforms on OpenDocument

Definition of a Free Software API implementing the ISO/IEC 26300 standard.

Development and validation of an ODF implementation for higher level use cases.

Why ODF?

Summary

Why ODF?

OpenDocument Format:

  • is the ISO standard for office documents
  • handles both semantics and presentation separately
  • avoids the lock-in of the format by specific tools
  • is an ideal pivot format for use cases extending far beyond office related scenarios.

Languages & Platforms on OpenDocument

The lpOD project contributes to the expansion of the OpenDocument Format ecosystem through its implementation of the ISO standard ISO/IEC 26300.

  • Defining a Free Software API for the ISO standard ISO/IEC 26300 (ODF)
  • Developing and validating an implementation for higher level use cases

The standardization of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) has shown the economical and technological importance of a common base for office file formats, especially in the european context.

This format benefits from the recognition and the recommendation by several major players in the software industry as well as several major I.T. users. Advantages of ODF include: openness of the standard (as defined by the EIF and LCEN legislations), clear separation between the semantical level and the representation of data, no tie in between the tool and the document, interoperability, accessibility and dependability for the long term. Its XML structure and its breadth of features (multidimensional tables, RDF, metadata) make ODF the natural pivot format for next generation, complex and multimedia data exchange beyond the traditional office use.