New PowerPoint Import for KOffice
Since Nokia's takeover of Trolltech and the increased presence of Qt, the KOffice suite has been gaining prominence on mobile devices. Developers have been working on new import opportunities of Microsoft Office formats.
On September 17 Nokia's KOffice developer Thomas Zander announced in his blog that the document viewer for the next Maemo 5 platform will be based on KOffice2. At the same time the KOffice team released a new beta version with a vastly improved MS Word import filter.
Now Jos van den Oever has written some further software to improve importing MS Office documents to KOffice: a parser that converts PowerPoint format to XML. As he reports in his blog, the documentation describing the PPT format encompasses 663 pages, with the one on drawings, essential to presentations, encompassing 620 pages as a PDF file. To prevent from having to scroll through all the pages, van den Oever converted the documents to machine-readable format and developed a parser from it to convert PowerPoint files to XML format. The method allows large amounts of PowerPoint data to be read in to make it easier to find weaknessses and errors. The resulting XML files can then be used as a basis for an import filter.
The product is a Qt program called
pptotoxml
with a C++ and Java parser that is now available for download. Jos van den Oever encourages other project developers to write parsers in their favorite languages, requiring fewer than 700 lines of code.
Interested parties in Msoscheme for machine-readable MS Office files who want to participate in the project can access the source code as follows:
git clone git://gitorious.org/msoscheme/msoscheme.git mkdir msoscheme/cpp/build cd msoscheme/cpp/build cmake .. make ./ppttoxml myfile.ppt myfile.xml
A driving force behind the newest KOffice development is the KO GmbH open document company, where van den Oever is also a member.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.
-
Fedora 41 Released with New Features
If you're a Fedora fan or just looking for a Linux distribution to help you migrate from Windows, Fedora 41 might be just the ticket.
-
AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10 Gives Power Users a Sneak Preview
If you're looking to kick the tires of AlmaLinux's upstream version, the developers have a purrfect solution.
-
Gnome 47.1 Released with a Few Fixes
The latest release of the Gnome desktop is all about fixing a few nagging issues and not about bringing new features into the mix.
-
System76 Unveils an Ampere-Powered Thelio Desktop
If you're looking for a new desktop system for developing autonomous driving and software-defined vehicle solutions. System76 has you covered.
-
VirtualBox 7.1.4 Includes Initial Support for Linux kernel 6.12
The latest version of VirtualBox has arrived and it not only adds initial support for kernel 6.12 but another feature that will make using the virtual machine tool much easier.
-
New Slimbook EVO with Raw AMD Ryzen Power
If you're looking for serious power in a 14" ultrabook that is powered by Linux, Slimbook has just the thing for you.
-
The Gnome Foundation Struggling to Stay Afloat
The foundation behind the Gnome desktop environment is having to go through some serious belt-tightening due to continued financial problems.