OpenOffice.org BASIC Guide - OpenOffice.org wiki

The StarDesktop
covers the loadComponentFromURL method, which is responsible for creating, importing, and opening
documents.
Note – StarOffice 5 : The name of the StarDesktop object dates back to StarOffice 5, in which all document
windows were embedded in one common application called StarDesktop. In the present version of
OpenOffice.org, a visible StarDesktop is no longer used. The name StarDesktop was, however, retained for
the frame object of OpenOffice.org because it clearly indicates that this is a basic object for the entire application.
The StarDesktop object replaces the Application object of StarOffice 5 which previously applied as a root
object. However, unlike the old Application object, StarDesktop is primarily responsible for opening new
documents. The functions resident in the old Application object for controlling the on-screen depiction of
OpenOffice.org (for example, FullScreen, FunctionBarVisible, Height, Width, Top, Visible) are no
longer used.
Note – VBA : Whereas the active document in Word is accessed through Application.ActiveDocument
and in Excel through Application.ActiveWorkbook, in OpenOffice.org, the StarDesktop is responsible
for this task. The active document object is accessed in OpenOffice.org through the
StarDesktop.CurrentComponent property, or through ThisComponent.
ThisComponent
The global name ThisComponent generally returns the same object as StarDesktop.CurrentComponent, with
one significant advantage. If you are running from within the Basic IDE, debugging or exploring, then
StarDesktop returns the Basic IDE itself. This is probably not what you want. ThisComponent returns the last
previously active document.
Basic Information about Documents in OpenOffice.org
When working with OpenOffice.org documents, it is useful to deal with some of the basic issues of document
administration in OpenOffice.org. This includes the way in which file names are structured for OpenOffice.org
documents, as well as the format in which files are saved.
File Names in URL Notation
Since OpenOffice.org is a platform-independent application, it uses URL notation (which is independent of any
operating system), as defined in the Internet Standard RFC 1738 for file names. Standard file names using this
system begin with the prefix file:/// followed by the local path. If the file name contains sub-directories, then
these are separated by a single forward slash, not with a backslash usually used under Windows. The following
path references the test.odt file in the doc directory on the C: drive.
file:///C:/doc/test.odt
To convert local file names into an URL, OpenOffice.org provides the ConvertToUrl function. To convert a
URL into a local file name, OpenOffice.org provides the ConvertFromUrl function:
MsgBox ConvertToUrl("C:\doc\test.odt")
' supplies file:///C:/doc/test.odt
MsgBox ConvertFromUrl("file:///C:/doc/test.odt")
' supplies (under Windows) c:\doc\test.odt
The example converts a local file name into a URL and displays it in a message box. It then converts a URL into a
local file name and also displays this.
The Internet Standard RFC 1738, upon which this is based, permits use of the 0-9, a-z, and A-Z characters. All
other characters are inserted as escape coding in the URLs. To do this, they are converted into their hexadecimal
value in the UTF-8 set of characters and are preceded by a percent sign. A space in a local file name therefore, for
example, becomes a %20 in the URL.
60 OpenOffice.org 3.2 BASIC Guide · March 2010