Web gateway to use OpenOffice.org to convert files to PDF ========================================================= Purpose ------- Uses OOo and python through pyuno to convert all formats that OOo can handle e.g. .doc/.xls/.ppt as well as its native types and others, to .PDF. Should serve as an example to create a more sophisticated gateway to select arbitrary destination types. Installation ------- As your webserver user, e.g. apache, i.e. su - apache 1. put cgi-bin/ooo-cgi into your cgi-bin, modifying the path to OpenOffice.org's python if necessary at the top 2. put htdocs/ooo.html into your html dir, modifying the location of the ooo-cgi if necessary 3. run bin/ooorun.sh, retrieving and installing the script xvfb-run if necessary (i.e. google for it, or its part of some distributions e.g. debian) Give it a whirl, converts documents to PDF if OOo can do the conversion. There are some formats which OOo can support which won't work through this gateway unless its extended to provide extra properties which OOo would normally prompt for, e.g. .txt files which are non-native to the platform OOo is running on. Links ----- * pyuno (http://udk.openoffice.org/python/python-bridge.html) * xvfb-run (http://www.altlinux.com/index.php?module=sisyphus&package=xvfb-run) Caolan McNamara (2004)