Ariya Hidayat wrote:
> Hi Andrew and others,
>
> Here is my 2 cents: "every file format is unique".
>
> I doubt it's quite difficult to merge two libraries which handle two
> different file formats, unless the formats are very similar (e.g. WP 5
> and WP 6). Thus, you need to have two libraries which - at some point
> - will differ a lot, depending on the format that you would want to
> handle.
>
> So in your case, yes, copy-and-paste in the beginning can't be
> avoided. But I believe (I'm glad if I'm proven wrong here), soon you
> need to invent some data structures unique to WPS which do not have
> their counterpart in WPD or which are difficult to handle if they were
> to be merged.
>
> Years ago I tried to make "an interface which rules them all" for all
> major word processor file formats. Of course, this attempt failed
> miserably (too complicated and humanly unmanageable), and hence my
> theory above.
I suppose you are correct that it would be difficult as the libraries
handled more details of each format. However, my interest is limited to
supporting basic features of the format. The first phase includes:
* Text import with basic formatting (bold, underline, etc.)
* Page margins
* Font size changes
Then, I will gather and analyze a larger set of documents to see what is
left. I expect few documents use advanced features such as tables.
Also, the Works document formats appear limited: I have not noticed
metadata (such as author or dates) or CSS-like styles.
If you still believe it would be a waste of time or otherwise not
feasible to build Works support on top of both libwpd's API and internal
code, let me know.
> I have here also a preinstalled Works, so in case you need some help,
> I'd try to give my best. Have fun !
Great. Which version do you have? I'm concentrating on Microsoft
Works 4 format, then Works 7/8 format, then Works 2000 (v5) format.
Andrew
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