OpenOffice.org BASIC Guide.pdf - OpenOffice.org wiki

OpenOffice.org BASIC Programming Guide 2
OpenOffice. org BASIC Programming
Guide
This guide provides an introduction to programming with OpenOffice.org Basic. To get the
most out of this book, you should be familiar with other programming languages. Extensive
examples are provided to help you quickly develop your own OpenOffice.org Basic
programs.
This guide divides information about OpenOffice.org administration into several chapters.
The first three chapters introduce you to OpenOffice.org Basic:
• → The Language of OpenOffice.org Basic
• Runtime Library
• Introduction to the API
These chapters provide an overview of OpenOffice.org Basic and should be read by anyone
who intends to write OpenOffice.org Basic programs. The remaining chapters describe the
individual components of the OpenOffice.org API in more detail and can be read selectively
as required:
• → Working with Documents
• → Text Documents
• → Spreadsheet Documents
• → Drawings and Presentations
• → Charts (Diagrams)
• → Databases
• → Dialogs
• → Forms
About OpenOffice. org Basic
The OpenOffice.org Basic programming language has been developed especially for
OpenOffice.org and is firmly integrated in the Office package.
As the name suggests, OpenOffice.org Basic is a programming language from the Basic
family. Anyone who has previously worked with other Basic languages — in particular with
Visual Basic or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) from Microsoft — will quickly become
accustomed to OpenOffice.org Basic. Large sections of the basic constructs of
OpenOffice.org Basic are compatible with Visual Basic.
The OpenOffice.org Basic programming language can be divided into four components:
• The language of OpenOffice.org Basic: Defines the elementary linguistic constructs, for
example, for variable declarations, loops, and functions.
• The runtime library: Provides standard functions which have no direct reference to
OpenOffice.org, for example, functions for editing numbers, strings, date values, and
files.
• The OpenOffice.org API (Application Programming Interface): Permits access to
OpenOffice.org documents and allows these to be created, saved, modified, and printed.
• The Dialog Editor: Creates personal dialog windows and provides scope for the adding of
control elements and event handlers.