Hi, We are actually using the .doc extraction functionality rather than .xls at the moment. We are building a document management system for legal firms. The .docs are a mixture of system generated .docs from our templates and arbitrary files added by clients that we have no control over. We need to extract text from .docs so we can index them for searching. We noticed that the existing text filter which uses an older version of poi was failing when docs had formatting fields in such as indexes. I then used poi 3.0 aplha to build a new text filter which seems to work fine so far.
Yep I think a lot of testing is the way forward and maybe getting my hands into the poi code if nec. I think he will come round given that it's the easiest, cheapest and so far best solution we have looked at. Cheers,Thomas -----Original Message----- From: David Fisher [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 19 May 2006 17:15 To: POI Developers List Subject: Re: New alpha release Thomas. I'm a project manager who is using the most alpha - alpha possible. Perhaps, I can ask you some general questions about your project to see if your Project manager's concerns are justified. Then I'll tell you how I have alleviated mine - to the extent possible. Does he need to read an arbitrary and untested XLS file sourced from a client? If so, then he is concerned that with an alpha there are unimplemented parts of the format. Since the format is only documented "completely" by Microsoft, and you have to sign yourself out of POI development to get it. There is a reasonable cause for concern. Does he have control over the format and requirements of the XLS being generated? Can he accept whatever the limits of the feature set that there might be? If yes to these then you should be able to easily persuade him. If yes to the first and no to the second then you will need to do as Nick suggests - contribute! If he is concerned about future arbitrary inputs, and I know I am, then you must become his expert in POI and make sure that any of these issues are fixed. You will need to convince him that there is a community for support. His product development cycle may make it hard to accept that there may be trouble with an arbitrary file, if you continue in that path you will need the most complete test set possible from your product manager. In the past year I am very happy with what my developer has been able to accomplish generating both XLS and PPT for our website. He is contributing the work back to POI, and we have received benefit from our involvement. All of those with a vote should vote for this alpha! Cheers to all POI Developers! Regards, Dave On May 19, 2006, at 5:27 AM, Gascoigne Thomas wrote: > Cheers, easier said than done though. It passes all my initial > tests but > haven't had the go-ahead for full tests yet. I'll keep working on him! > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nick Burch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 19 May 2006 11:19 > To: POI Developers List > Subject: RE: New alpha release > > On Fri, 19 May 2006, Gascoigne Thomas wrote: >> Does that mean that 3.0 will become a final release or does it go >> beta > >> first? > > I'm suggesting 3.0-alpha2 > > >> A final release of 3.0 would be great (and save a lot of work) as my >> project leader won't let me use it until then. > > I think you need to educate your project leader then. > > * Does the code work for you? > * Does it pass all of its tests? > * Does it pass all your tests? (You are writing tests of your code > that > uses POI, aren't you?) > > If it satisfies all 3 of those, then you're fine to use it. If not, > contribute bug fixes and patches until it does! > > Nick > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Mailing List: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail2.html#poi > The Apache Jakarta POI Project: http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/ > > > ********************************************************************** > The information in this e-mail and any attachment is confidential. > It is intended only for the named recipient(s). If you are not a > named recipient please notify the sender immediately and do not > disclose the contents to another person or take copies. Although > Axxia Systems has taken every reasonable precaution to ensure > that any attachment to this e-mail has been checked for viruses, > it is strongly recommended that you carry out your own virus > check before opening any attachment, as we cannot accept > liability for any damage sustained as a result of software virus > infection. Axxia Systems reserves the right and senders of > messages shall be taken to consent to the monitoring and > recording of e-mails addressed to axxia.com. > ********************************************************************** > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Mailing List: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail2.html#poi > The Apache Jakarta POI Project: http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/ > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing List: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail2.html#poi The Apache Jakarta POI Project: http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing List: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail2.html#poi The Apache Jakarta POI Project: http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/
