OpenXML Developer

Open XML SDK V2 CTP available

ecullins — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:27:00 GMT

Open XML SDK V2. The first CTP of V2 of the Open XML SDK is now available for download.

This release includes a high-level DOM (document object model) for Open XML development, as well as several tools to streamline Open XML development:

The OpenXmlDiff utility identifies differences in the markup in two Open XML documents.
The Open XML Class Explorer helps you determine which strongly typed class to use for a specific task, and includes the text of the relevant section of the ECMA-376 spec for each class.
The Open XML Document Reflector takes a target document as input, and with a few clicks it shows you the C# code needed to generate that document (or a section of it) with the Open XML SDK.

See Eric White's blog post for more details.

Open XML Power Tools released

dmahugh — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:49:00 GMT

The Open XML Power Tools, an open source project on Codeplex to create PowerShell cmdlets for automating Open XML document management tasks, has been released on Codeplex at http://www.codeplex.com/PowerTools. Non-developers can use these cmdlets to build PowerShell scripts that automate processes such as adding a digital signature or watermark to documents, removing metadata, or updating Custom XML parts. The first release includes these cmdlets:

Accept-OpenXmlChange
Add-OpenXmlContent
Add-OpenXmlDigitalSignature
Add-OpenXmlDocumentIndex
Add-OpenXmlDocumentTOA
Add-OpenXmlDocumentTOC
Add-OpenXmlDocumentTOF
Add-OpenXmlPicture
Export-OpenXmlSpreadsheet
Export-OpenXmlToHtml
Export-OpenXmlWordprocessing
Get-OpenXmlBackground
Get-OpenXmlComment
Get-OpenXmlCustomXmlData
Get-OpenXmlDigitalSignature
Get-OpenXmlDocument
Get-OpenXmlFooter
Get-OpenXmlHeader
Get-OpenXmlStyle
Get-OpenXmlTheme
Get-OpenXmlWatermark
Lock-OpenXmlDocument
Remove-OpenXmlComment
Remove-OpenXmlDigitalSignature
Set-OpenXmlBackground
Set-OpenXmlContentFormat
Set-OpenXmlContentStyle
Set-OpenXmlCustomXmlData
Set-OpenXmlFooter
Set-OpenXmlHeader
Set-OpenXmlStyle
Set-OpenXmlTheme
Set-OpenXmlWatermark

Open XML developers will find these cmdlets useful as source-code samples for all of the above topics, and also as samples of how to use Microsoft's Open XML Formats SDK (which was used for the development of the power tools). For detailed information about the Open XML Power Tools see Eric White's blog post "Processing Open XML documents server-side using PowerShell.

Open XML Formats SDK Version 1 released

dmahugh — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:16:00 GMT

Microsoft announced this week the release of Version 1 of the Open XML Formats SDK, an API that allows .NET developers to read, write, and modify Open XML documents. Follow these links to download the API or get more information:

Open XML Formats SDK download link:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120908
Open XML Formats SDK documentation:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb448854.aspx
MSDN Forum: Open XML Format SDK:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1647&SiteID=1
What's New in the Open XML Format SDK 1.0:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc471858.aspx

Additional information is available in blog posts by Erika Ehrli and Doug Mahugh.

Microsoft announces Open XML SDK roadmap

dmahugh — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:08:00 GMT

Microsoft unveiled today the roadmap for the Open XML SDK that was released last June as a CTP (Community Technology Preview) version. After collecting developer feedback through the CTP release, they've put together a two-phased release plan to get developers a released version of the API quickly (May of this year) and then build on that with additional functionality for a final version in the Office 14 timeframe.

Links to resources for this article:

The Open XML API will be released in two versions. Version 1.0 will include an updated version of the CTP that was released in June 2007, to be released in April 2008 with a final release of Version 1.0 in May 2008. Version 2.0 will be available as a CTP version this summer, and the final release will be part of the Office 14 wave of products and technologies. (Office "14" is the next major release of Microsoft Office.)

Both versions will be free downloads on MSDN, available at the Open XML SDK page. Version 1.0 will include the following functionality:

Strongly typed access to parts within Open XML documents (a few typical examples: classes for the main body part or style part of a word-processing document, the workbook and worksheet parts in a spreadsheet document, or the presentation and slide parts in a presentation document)
Simple access to the parts within an Open XML document, relative to other existing APIs (example: one line of code to retrieve or replace a part)
“Linq-friendly” annotation capabilities, to allow developers to use the SDK with emerging Linq to XML technology (Eric White's blog has a code sample demonstrating this capability)
Consistency and naming changes per feedback from the developer community since the June 2007 CTP version, including adherence to .NET naming conventions
The May 2008 RTW (released to web) version will be ready to go live, and developers can build shipping products on it

Version 2.0 will add the following capabilities:

Content object model including additional classes and methods for simplifying developer work within parts (example: methods for retrieving or modifying a specific paragraph, style, cell, or shape within a part)
Search functionality, for simple searching of content in all document types
Validation functionality, to verify that modified or created documents are compliant with the Open XML standard
High-level “scenario-based” functionality (examples: creating a document from a template, accepting all revisions in a document)
Shared ML functionality (example: classes for DrawingML chart parts and other parts that can appear in multiple document types)

The functionality in this roadmap was driven by feedback received from developers since the CTP release last June. A recurring theme was that developers want more tools to help edit and manipulate the underlying XML within the parts, and this is reflected in new methods that will be included in the content object model, as well as Linq-related changes as mentioned above.

For more detailed information about what's coming in the Open XML SDK, see Jean-Christophe Cimetiere's video interview with Zeyad Rajabi and Eric White where they discuss the changes in the SDK and show some of the details of how it will work.

To download the latest version of the SDK or for links to more information, see the Open XML SDK page on MSDN.

Release of Open XML to Daisy translator

Sheela E N — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:23:00 GMT

Open XML to Daisy translator (Office Open XML WordProcessingML document to Daisy DTBook document) V1 Alpha is now available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/openxml-daisy/ for download.

This release has covered 13 important features of Daisy. To know more about this release, refer this link

http://blogs.technet.com/reedblog/archive/2008/01/25/open-xml-to-daisy-v1-is-live.aspx

Accessibility Experts Guidelines for Ecma-376 Open XML (DIS29500)

dmahugh — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:46:00 GMT

Accessibility experts reviewed Ecma-376 Open XML (DIS29500) and created Accessibility Guidelines that must be followed to ensure that Open XML implementations are accessible. This is a working draft and the authors welcome additional feedback and comments.

Open XML to Daisy Translator

Sheela E N — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:15:00 GMT

Sonata Software Limited based out of Bangalooru, India, in collaboration with Microsoft and the Daisy Consortium, is developing an open source converter to convert Word documents to Daisy DTBook documents. Please find the press release of the same at http://openxml-daisy.wiki.sourceforge.net/.

Keep looking to the Open XML Developer web site for more information and project updates.

Office Developer Conference 2008

dmahugh — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:14:00 GMT

Microsoft has announced the next Office Developer Conference, to be held February 10-13, 2008, in San Jose, California. This event covers Microsoft Office System technologies from a developer perspective, and will include a variety of sessions and hands-on labs regarding Open XML development. The OpenXMLDeveloper web site was announced by Bill Gates at the last Office Developer Conference, held in Redmond in March of 2006.

The final details of the sessions for the 2008 conference will be posted soon on the conference web site, so check there for more information. Early bird registration is open through November 30.

Developer workshop videos

dmahugh — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:04:00 GMT

MSDN has published a comprehensive set of videos of a 2-day Open XML developer workshop. These videos cover the content that was posted on OpenXMLDeveloper recently here.

The instructors for this workshop were Doug Mahugh of Microsoft and Chris Predeek of the Ted Pattison Group, and the workshop was sponsored by Mindjet and took place at their office in San Francisco on June 18-19, 2007.

UPDATED: Accessibility of Open XML

Gray_Knowlton — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:37:00 GMT

Open XML Formats support accessibility in a number of ways. In explaining this support to its customers, partners and assistive technology vendors, Microsoft has created a preliminary draft report describing how Open XML compares to W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and W3C XML Accessibility guidelines....(read more)

Microsoft SDK for Open XML Formats Technology Preview

dmahugh — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:19:00 GMT

Microsoft has announced a new .NET API for working with the Open XML file formats. The SDK for Open XML is a free download, and provides a set of typed parts that correspond to the parts in an Open XML document, as well as classes for the package itself and the various document types. The diagram below shows some examples of the types of classes provided in the API:

Documentation for the new API is available on MSDN, including a variety of code samples. More information about the samples can be found on Erika Ehrli's blog.

Microsoft released the technology preview version of this API to get feedback from developers to help guide the future direction of Microsoft's Open XML development tools. You can provide feedback, and also get questions answered, at the MSDN support forum for the SDK. (That's Microsoft's official support forum, but you can also post questions in the Forums section of OpenXmlDeveloper.)

XMLSpy now supports Open XML formats

dmahugh — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:59:00 GMT

Altova has announced Open XML support for their flagship product, XMLSpy. As covered in their announcement this week, XMLSpy 2007 Release 3 provides full validation of Open XML documents, intelligent entry helpers, and support for the development of XSLT and XQuery transformations for working with Open XML data.

XMLSpy is a best-selling XML editor that provides functionality for working with many W3C standards related to XML, including XSLT, Xquery, XPath, XML Schema, and more. It also integrates with the Visual Studio and Eclipse development environments.

For more information on XMLSpy's support of Open XML formats, see Altova's features page for the new functionality.

Office Open XML File Format library for Java

dmahugh — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:43:00 GMT

OpenXML4J is an open-source library for Java developers that provides classes for Open XML development. It offers a pure-Java approach, and was started by Julien Chable of Wygwam.

The project home page went live in May at www.openxml4j.org, and includes links to a project roadmap, the download links, and other related information. Julien Chable has a blog post (in French) that covers news of the project as of last week, and Brian Jones describes the project on his blog as well (in English).

Open XML development videos

dmahugh — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:14:00 GMT

Several of the most active contributors to OpenXmlDeveloper were in Redmond last week for the MVP Summit and an Open XML workshop, so Doug Mahugh interviewed them on some Open XML development topics. The videos are up on Channel 9 at the links included below.

Open-source Open XML API for Java
Julien Chable demonstrates his OPENXML4J project, which is a continuation of the work described in his article on OpenXmlDeveloper here.

Package Explorer for Open XML
Wouter Van Vugt talks about the latest release of his Package Explorer tool, which was originally covered on OpenXmlDeveloper here.

Linux/Java interoperability with Open XML
Sanjay Kumar and Datta Kulkarni of Sonata Software describe how Open XML can be used from a Linux environment, building on the techniques covered on OpenXmlDeveloper here.

Novell announces Open XML support

dmahugh — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:12:00 GMT

Novell has announced support for the Open XML file formats in their version of OpenOffice. Word-processing documents are supported now, and spreadsheet/presentation support is coming next.

Here are some links for more information:

Novell's download page for the OpenOffice Open XML Translator: http://download.novell.com/SummaryFree.jsp?buildid=ESrjfdE4U58~
Novell's download page for OpenOffice: http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/features/ooo.html
Additional information on Novell's site: http://www.novell.com/prblogs/?p=299
LinuxWorld's coverage of the announcement: http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/030507-novell-translator.html
Brian Jones's comments about the announcement: http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2007/03/02/openoffice-support-for-the-openxml-formats.aspx
Stephen McGibbon's screen shots of the translation in action: http://notes2self.net/archive/2007/03/05/OpenOffice-OpenXML-support-_2D00_-screenshots.aspx