OpenOffice::OODoc::Document - Top level component for content and layout processing


NAME

OpenOffice::OODoc::Document - Top level component for content and layout processing


SYNOPSIS

        # get an OOo file handler
        my $oofile = ooFile("myfile.odt");
        # connect a content-focused document interface
        my $content = ooDocument
                        (
                        file => $oofile,
                        member => 'content'
                        );
        # connect a style-focused document interface
        my $styles = ooDocument
                        (
                        file => $oofile,
                        member => 'styles'
                        );
        # process any content and style element
        $content->appendParagraph
                        (
                        text => "An additional paragraph",
                        style => "BlueStyle"
                        );
        $styles->createStyle
                        (
                        "BlueStyle",
                        parent => 'Text body',
                        family => 'paragraph',
                        properties =>
                                {
                                area            => 'text',
                                'fo:color'      => rgb2oo('blue')
                                }
                        );
        # commit the changes using the file handler
        $oofile->save;


DESCRIPTION

This module defines the top level Document class, which is a connector allowing any kind of content and presentation processing. It inherits from OODoc::XPath, OODoc::Text, OODoc::Styles and OODoc::Image.

The most usual instruction to get access to any member of a document, with the exception if the metadata (meta.xml) should be something like:

        my $doc = ooDocument([options]);

This constructor, if successful, returns an object that can be used (according to its ``member'' option) to process styles, images and text.

This module is designed simply to create objects which include all the functionality of OODoc::Text, OODoc::Image, OODoc::Styles and OODoc::XPath (which should not be called directly by applications).

For example

        my $styles = ooDocument(file => "source.odt", member => "styles");

is generally better than

        my styles = ooStyles(file => "source.odt");

While OODoc::Document inherits all the methods and properties of these classes, its detailed documentation in essentially provided in the following manual pages:

        OpenOffice::OODoc::Text         -> text content
        OpenOffice::OODoc::Styles       -> style & layout
        OpenOffice::OODoc::Image        -> graphic objects
        OpenOffice::OODoc::XPath        -> common features & low-level API

For example, the appendParagraph() and createStyle() methods used in the synopsis above are respectively described in OpenOffice::OODoc::Text and OpenOffice::OODoc::Styles.

The present manual page only describes those methods (there are very few) which combine layout and content processing.

Methods

Constructor : OpenOffice::OODoc::Document->new(<parameters>)

        Short Form: ooDocument(<parameters>)
        
        See OpenOffice::OODoc::XPath->new (or ooXPath)
        
        Returns an OpenDocument connector, available for subsequent
        access to any element of a well-formed document.
        
        Knowing that the Document class is a derivative of the Text, Styles,
        Image, and XPath classes, ooDocument() implicitly executes the
        corresponding constructors. So all the options of these constuctors
        are available.
        
        If no "member" parameter is given, the member selected by default is
        "content" (see OODoc::XPath). The most generally used members are
        "content" and "styles".

createImageStyle(name [, options])

        Creates a graphics style which is immediately usable. With no
        options, this method applies to the new style a "reasonable" set of
        characteristics which match fairly closely the default image
        presentation style in OpenOffice.org before any manual changes made
        by the user. An application can set its own options in the same way
        as createStyle in OODoc::Styles.
        The aim of this method is to minimise the amount of work involved in
        setting up the style, especially when the default values are close
        enough, and bearing in mind that an image must always be associated
        with a style to be displayed in a document.
        The code below shows a simple method of inserting an image into a
        document, in this case linked to a given paragraph (see
        createImageElement in OODoc::Image):
            my $anchor  = $doc->getParagraph(4);
            my $style   = $doc->createImageStyle("Photo");
            my $image   = $doc->createImageElement
                (
                "Eiffel Tower",
                style           => "Photo",
                attachment      => $anchor,
                size            => "4cm, 12cm",
                import          => "eiffel_tower.jpg"
                );

createTextStyle(name [, options])

        Creates a text style which is immediately usable and whose default
        characteristics are the "Standard" style in the document, even if no
        options are given.
        If the "Standard" style does not exist, a "reasonable" style is
        still created (this can happen in a document created from code and
        not by an interactive office software).
        An application can still pass all the options it wants in the same
        way as createStyle in OODoc::Styles.

removePageBreak(paragraph)

        Removes the page break from the given paragraph (before or after).
        This method actually removes the page break attribute from the
        corresponding paragraph style. It does not remove paragraph styles
        which may have been created to carry page breaks, so its effects are
        not technically the reverse of setPageBreak(). Generally speaking,
        however, this should not be a problem. See setPageBreak() about the
        logic of handling page breaks.

setPageBreak(paragraph [, options])

        Places a page break at the position of the given paragraph. By
        default, the page break is placed before the paragraph and no
        changes are made to the page style.
        You can place the page break after the paragraph using the option
            position => 'after'
        To use this method properly every time, you must remember that a
        page break is not a text element, but a style applied before or
        after the paragraph concerned. Putting a page break in front of or
        behind a paragraph actually means adding a "page break before" or
        "page break after" attribute to the paragraph's style. As always, a
        page break cannot appear in the text in keeping with the principle
        of separation of content and presentation. This however adds a
        slight complication, in that all paragraphs which use the same style
        will have the page break. Otherwise, if the paragraph has a named
        style (i.e. defined in styles.xml) and we are working in the body of
        the document (i.e. in content.xml), then this method will not work
        as it cannot access both XML members at the same time. There is
        however a solution (the one used by OpenOffice.org) which consists
        simply of creating a special style for the paragraph which takes the
        old paragraph style as a parent and has only a page break attribute
        (the old paragraph style is not modified). To do this, all you need
        is the option:
            style => style_name
        This option forces the creation of an automatic style with the given
        name (make sure none other exists with the same name) and which will
        only be used to carry the page break. Later on, you can of course
        apply other characteristics to the style using the updateStyle
        method in OODoc::Styles, but this is not recommended. It is better
        not to use page break styles for other purposes. The nature of the
        existing paragraph style dictates whether or not you create a page
        break style. If the paragraph style is a named style (i.e. defined
        in styles.xml and visible to the user), you must create a page break
        style, but if it already has an automatic style you must not. The
        quite rare but most complicated scenario is where the paragraph has
        an automatic style shared by several paragraphs. In this case you
        must then make copies of the styles using the methods in
        OODoc::Styles.
        A page break can allow you to change a page's style. You can do this
        with the option:
            page => page style
        in which you give the following page's style (i.e. the logical name
        of a master page. See OODoc::Styles). Remember that if the "page"
        option is given, the page break is forced before the paragraph (the
        "position" option does not work in this case).

style(object [, style])

        Returns the style name of a text or graphics object. If the first
        argument is a "master page" (see OODoc::Styles), it even returns the
        associated "page layout".
        Replaces the object's style if a style name is given as the second
        argument.


AUTHOR/COPYRIGHT

Developer/Maintainer: Jean-Marie Gouarne http://jean.marie.gouarne.online.fr

Contact: jmgdoc@cpan.org

Copyright 2004-2006 by Genicorp, S.A. http://www.genicorp.com

Initial English version of the reference manual by Graeme A. Hunter (graeme.hunter@zen.co.uk)

License:

        - Licence Publique Generale Genicorp v1.0
        - GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1
 OpenOffice::OODoc::Document - Top level component for content and layout processing