Does LibreOffice/OpenOffice Support the COM Model

Question

Does LibreOffice/OpenOffice Support the COM Model (Component Object Model)?

Concelebrate

Answer 1

Not directly. The creators of OpenOffice/LibreOffice invented their own component framework which is called UNO.

From the limited insights into this framework (quite crappy documentation, but the official COM documentation is also crap [save Don Box'es book, but that is Addison Wesley]), it seems to me as if UNO is quite a match to COM (no fixed ABI, so that components from the same environment can talk to each other without having to translate their calls into a common ABI).

I have to admit that I have not used it (only my co-workers) while I have used COM automation for MS Office a lot (Visual C++/ATL). I suppose that there is a bridging framework that creates COM to UNO glueing components.

But if you want to automate OpenOffice, you could as well start to use UNO (it is not as if you could write COM code that addresses both MS Office as well as LO/OO). Else have a look at this link: http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=9815 (Googling for COM-related stuff is a PITA since com is also a top-level internet domain name. Guess what MS chose as name for the successor technology :-)

Regards, Stuart

PS: Would you mind keeping us informed about your experience with UNO or UNO to COM bridging? Thx in advance

Webbed

Hi Stuart, Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I will keep you updated if we do decide to use the UNO Framework. Regards, Joseph – Concelebrate

"Googling for COM-related stuff is a PITA since com is also a top-level internet domain name." totally true, same experience :) – Lieb

"Guess what MS chose as name for the successor technology", uhm ActiveX? – Poynter