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List:       koffice
Subject:    Re: another suggestion for writing new filters
From:       Nicolas Goutte <nicog () snafu ! de>
Date:       2002-07-08 20:10:59
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On Sonntag, 7. Juli 2002 23:17, Marco Zanon wrote:
> Hi,
>
> since KOffice 1.3 is going to move towards OpenOffice format at
> least for KWord, I tell you all an idea that I already exposed to
> David Faure some weeks ago (he didn't like it very much :).
>
> Since we would have to rewrite the filters from scratch or the
> like, why not changing the idea behind them and create simple
> command-line programs, instead of libraries?
> We could have, for instance:
> word97-2-openwriter
> rtf-2-openwriter
> wp-2-openwriter
> and so on... Those filters would return the converted file to
> stdout, and that would be read by KWord.

I do not think that using stdin and stdout are good, as for some formats 
you need to be able to seek.

>
> My idea is to group those filters into an external project
> (hosted by Sourceforge?).
>
> The advantages:
> a) filters made this way would be simpler to create, even for
> beginners (like I am: I'm not saying that creating an actual
> KWord filter is impossible, but a simple command line application
> is better :)

I do not think that it would help beginners. A command line application will 
not be much easier than the current KOffice filter system.

What is hard is mostly the documentation of the foreign format. And even if it 
is well documented, you still have to understand the file format (and the 
KOffice file format that you plan to use too.)

> b) therefore, there would be more programmers (->manpower)
> interested in writing filters made this way, because

> c) not only this project would be useful for KOffice, but also
> for other apps (OpenOffice, AbiWord, etc.), and also

Yes, that is what we hope for! ;-)

> d) the application themselves would be quicker to load (for
> example, OpenOffice would not have to load the filters).

Well, a library or a program has still to be loaded. (I suppose that I do not 
understand your argument here.)

Ah! You mean KWord for example. Well, KWord loads the filters on demand only, 
as far as I know, therefore not at start.

>
> (Obviously, everything I said before could be done gradually,
> first with KWord - which is the most used app.)
>
> bye :)

Have a nice day/evening/night!

>
> Marco Zanon [http://www.marcozanon.com]
>
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