[Libreoffice] Rationale for replacing Java with anything but c++ (was Re: web based libre office)

[BRM]

----- Original Message ----

> From: Thorsten Guenther <thorsten.guenther at aposso.de>
> Hi Michael,
> Am 28.01.2011 14:58, schrieb Michael Meeks:
> >      Almost certainly you want to get involved with the existing  odf 
toolkit
> > project: http://odftoolkit.org/ they have a new Java API  that does this
> > - though not using LibreOffice.
> >
> No, they  created a stand alone lib. Great for running headless in your
> appserver. I  remember OOo was raped to do such things in the past. I
> want LO to, for  example, create an invoice or report from some backends
> data and present it  to the user for further editing. Some interaction
> with the user would be  desirable, to let him select some additional Data
> or  something.
> 

Why go through the effort of (i) scripting LO and (ii) enabling your application 
to do that, when you could simply
just make a UI to (a) show the existing document to the user in a view mode 
(read-only), (b) get the specific data you need in your application,
presenting controlled interfaces to do so, and (c) write the ODF document 
yourself?

While it may seem easier to incorporate an existing product like LO to do the 
document editing for you; it is likely far
easier to just do it yourself and use a tool like ODF Tool Kit to write the 
output document and load it for display - at the very least,
showing the user the output document with any kind of program (LO, OOo, 
Symphony, Calligra, etc.) would be very easy to do without having to enhance any 
of them for scripting.

$0.02

Ben