In many application we want to convert one office format to another office format e.g doc to PDF , doc to html etc.We can import/export document using OpenOffice easily,but this is manual way.But standalone/Web based application we have to automate this functionality. JODConverter,the Java OpenDocument Converter, It converts documents between different office formats using OpenOffice.

JODConverter supports all conversion which is given by OpenOffice.More Info regarding format you can visit here.

Now,JODConverter is a java library so it can be used using java application,or using command line,or by making web service so any other language(RUBY,.NET,PHP,PYTHON) can used this conversion directly.
Convert Office is a ruby Wrapper of jodconverter .Which is used to convert office format to another office format.

Requirement

• JAVA to be installed in system.
• Open Office 2,3 or greater required
• Start Open Office in headless mode using following command.

Installation

• Start Open Office in headless mode using following command.

soffice -headless -accept=”socket,host=127.0.0.1,port=8100;urp;” -nofirststartwizard

• Install convert_office plugin.

ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/amardaxini/convert_office.git

• Configuration

Create configuration file convert_office.rb placed in a config/initializers/convert_office.rb

ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeConfig.options = {
   :java_bin => "java",          # java binary path
   :nailgun =>false,             # for nailgun support
   :soffice_port=>8100           # Open office port no
}

Document is converted using destination file name

   ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.new.convert(src path,dest path)

Above methods take src path which is src file,and dest path which is converted document path.
dest path contains file name with valid format extension.To know valid format is discuss later in this article.

e.g converting test.doc into converted.pdf

Document is converted using format

  ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.new.convert("test.doc","converted.pdf")

If destination file name is same as source file name except format.To do this
Pass (src path,””,valid format parameter)

   ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.new.convert(src_file,"",format)

eg.converting test.doc to test.html

   ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.new.convert("test.doc","","html")

Valid Format

Following methods display valid format

• By default it displays all valid format that are available
• By passing file name it will displays valid conversion format
• By passing format it will displays valid conversion format

  ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.display_valid_format
  ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.display_valid_format(input file name)
  ConvertOffice::ConvertOfficeFormat.display_valid_format(format)

convert_office also support for nailgun.

To speed up conversion speed we can use nailgun.In previous article i have shown how to start with nailgun and its basics.

After setting up nailgun do following steps.

 rake convert_office
 script/convert_office_nailgun

Now you are ready with nailgun.

If you have any issue you can mail me amardaxini[at]gmail[dot]com