Accessing the Calc Formula Bar Input Line

[rashi dhing]

Hello Dev Team,

I have been trying to extend the functionality of the Calc formula bar input
line.

Let me explain the scenario first :

I have defined a function that takes in a single argument which is a string
and contains, apart from other tokens, range names. I would like to
highlight
these range names in different colors. So i need to access the text font in
the
formula bar and change the font color for only certain portions of my string
argument.

In excel, when you select different ranges in a formula (arguments that
are range objects) , the formula bar highlights the range names as well
as the actual cell ranges present on the sheet in different colors.
I am trying to attempt something similar but in a string argument
as opposed to range arguments.

I found out that all the standard tools bars have resource urls that follow
the
format : "private:resource/toolbar/" but could not find one for the formula
bar.
And I also know that to focus on the input line you can execute a
dispatch command with the url ".uno:FocusInputLine".

Someone suggested using a text cursor but i believe that it only for
text objects. How can I modify and format the text in the formula bar and
not the cell.

Previously I was trying to do this in excel in which you can access the
formula
bar through Windows API but found out that in edit mode it is impossible to
run
any macro and so gave up and migrated to  openoffice !

Any leads will be highly appreciated. I would like to attempt it through
the API and not the source code as I an not a java or c++ expert.
I code in OOBasic. Any suggestions !!

Many many thanks !

Best,

Rashi

[Wei Min Teo]

Hi all,

 

I'm trying to do some openoffice automation using a service running as LOCAL_SYSTEM on XP so that it runs without needing a login. However, the program seems to get stuck at bootstrap command: cppu::bootstrap(). It does not throw any exception and it does not crash.

 

Soffice.bin/Soffice.exe is run as LOCAL_SYSTEM as well which means bootstrap is able to run soffice at least... Another abnormality is that if i try to rerun the service, an additional copy of soffice will be run which shouldn't be the case because it usually searches for an existing instance.

 

Has anyone encountered a similar problem before? How can i resolve this?

 

Thanks.

 

Cheers,

Wei Min

 


 

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[tora - Takamichi Akiyama]

Hi,

How do you start the first instance of soffice.exe?
You mentioned "a service running as LOCAL_SYSTEM."

Could you give us a little bit details about that?
What command line options do you give to the soffice.exe?
What user account is being used for the process of soffice.exe?
etc...

I guess that behavior is well-known and its solution is described somewhere.
Does anyone know that?

Cheers,
Tora

Wei Min Teo wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm trying to do some openoffice automation using a service running as LOCAL_SYSTEM on XP so that it runs without needing a login. However, the program seems to get stuck at bootstrap command: cppu::bootstrap(). It does not throw any exception and it does not crash.
>
> Soffice.bin/Soffice.exe is run as LOCAL_SYSTEM as well which means bootstrap is able to run soffice at least... Another abnormality is that if i try to rerun the service, an additional copy of soffice will be run which shouldn't be the case because it usually searches for an existing instance.
>
> Has anyone encountered a similar problem before? How can i resolve this?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Cheers,
> Wei Min

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[Wei Min Teo]

Hi,

 

The first instance of soffice.exe is start by the bootstrap command, it is ran as SYSTEM. I did not use any command line options just the default bootstrap function cppu::bootstrap().
 

> Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:18:15 +0900
> From: tora@...
> To: dev@...
> CC: dev@...
> Subject: Re: [dev] Openoffice automation using a service
>
> Hi,
>
> How do you start the first instance of soffice.exe?
> You mentioned "a service running as LOCAL_SYSTEM."
>
> Could you give us a little bit details about that?
> What command line options do you give to the soffice.exe?
> What user account is being used for the process of soffice.exe?
> etc...
>
> I guess that behavior is well-known and its solution is described somewhere.
> Does anyone know that?
>
> Cheers,
> Tora
>
> Wei Min Teo wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm trying to do some openoffice automation using a service running as LOCAL_SYSTEM on XP so that it runs without needing a login. However, the program seems to get stuck at bootstrap command: cppu::bootstrap(). It does not throw any exception and it does not crash.
> >
> > Soffice.bin/Soffice.exe is run as LOCAL_SYSTEM as well which means bootstrap is able to run soffice at least... Another abnormality is that if i try to rerun the service, an additional copy of soffice will be run which shouldn't be the case because it usually searches for an existing instance.
> >
> > Has anyone encountered a similar problem before? How can i resolve this?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Wei Min
>
>
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[tora - Takamichi Akiyama]

Hi,

Wei Min Teo wrote:
 > The first instance of soffice.exe is start by the bootstrap command, it is ran as SYSTEM. I did not use any command line options just the default bootstrap function cppu::bootstrap().

I am sorry, but I cannot understand what you are saying.
"bootstrap command", "bootstrap function cppu::bootstrap()", ...
Maybe, I would need to study about that more.

Possible recommended command line options could be found in this file,
which is a source code of .jar file frequently used in the SDK to start and/or connect to the process of soffice.bin through a named pipe.
http://svn.services.openoffice.org/ooo/branches/OOO310/javaunohelper/com/sun/star/comp/helper/Bootstrap.java

Running soffice.bin as an account SYSTEM might be discouraged
since the OpenOffice.org is a huge software and is not bug-free.
There are possibilities to harm your system caused by a bug and/or security hole.


 > Another abnormality is that if i try to rerun the service,
 > an additional copy of soffice will be run which shouldn't
 > be the case because it usually searches for an existing instance.

The phenomenon can be often observed, if a running user account
has not yet accepted the license agreement. The first instance
of soffice.bin is just waiting for user's actions, i.e. clicking
on the 'OK' button behind the scene. The second one has established
a connection to the first one and is waiting for its response.

Ciao,
Tora


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[Wei Min Teo]

Hi,

 

Sorry for the confusion, I meant using the bootstrap function instead of the bootstrap command. This is in a program ran as local system. I used C++ for coding.

 

I used the sample code from this url :http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/UNO_registery_and_Bootstrapping under "The new ::cppu::bootstrap() function".

Reference <XComponentContext> x_component_context(::cppu::bootstrap());
_x_multi_component_factory_client = Reference <XMultiComponentFactory> (x_component_context->getServiceManager());
_x_interface = Reference <XInterface>(_x_multi_component_factory_client->createInstanceWithContext(OUString::createFromAscii("com.sun.star.bridge.UnoUrlResolver" ), x_component_context));
Reference <XUnoUrlResolver> resolver(_x_interface, UNO_QUERY);
_x_interface = Reference <XInterface> (resolver->resolve(connection_string), UNO_QUERY);
Reference <XPropertySet> x_prop_set(_x_interface, UNO_QUERY);
x_prop_set->getPropertyValue(OUString::createFromAscii("DefaultContext")) >>= x_component_context;
Reference <XMultiComponentFactory> x_multi_component_factory_server(x_component_context->getServiceManager());
_x_component_loader = Reference <XComponentLoader>(x_multi_component_factory_server->createInstanceWithContext(OUString(RTL_CONSTASCII_USTRINGPARAM("com.sun.star.frame.Desktop")), x_component_context), UNO_QUERY);

 

> Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:02:21 +0900
> From: tora@...
> To: dev@...
> CC: dev@...
> Subject: Re: [dev] Openoffice automation using a service
>
> Hi,
>
> Wei Min Teo wrote:
> > The first instance of soffice.exe is start by the bootstrap command, it is ran as SYSTEM. I did not use any command line options just the default bootstrap function cppu::bootstrap().
>
> I am sorry, but I cannot understand what you are saying.
> "bootstrap command", "bootstrap function cppu::bootstrap()", ...
> Maybe, I would need to study about that more.
>
> Possible recommended command line options could be found in this file,
> which is a source code of .jar file frequently used in the SDK to start and/or connect to the process of soffice.bin through a named pipe.
> http://svn.services.openoffice.org/ooo/branches/OOO310/javaunohelper/com/sun/star/comp/helper/Bootstrap.java
>
> Running soffice.bin as an account SYSTEM might be discouraged
> since the OpenOffice.org is a huge software and is not bug-free.
> There are possibilities to harm your system caused by a bug and/or security hole.
>
>
> > Another abnormality is that if i try to rerun the service,
> > an additional copy of soffice will be run which shouldn't
> > be the case because it usually searches for an existing instance.
>
> The phenomenon can be often observed, if a running user account
> has not yet accepted the license agreement. The first instance
> of soffice.bin is just waiting for user's actions, i.e. clicking
> on the 'OK' button behind the scene. The second one has established
> a connection to the first one and is waiting for its response.
>
> Ciao,
> Tora
>
>
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@...
> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@...
>

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[tora - Takamichi Akiyama]

Hi Wei,

Wei Min Teo wrote:
> I used the sample code from this url :http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/UNO_registery_and_Bootstrapping under "The new ::cppu::bootstrap() function".

Thank you for the information. Now I understand.
What I have just learned from that are

It seems that ::cppu::bootstrap()
(a) will not give an option "-nofirststartwizard" to soffice.exe
    Therefore, you, in behalf of the user account, will need to accept the license agreement first.

(b) is intended to be used by a program from which soffice.bin will be remotely controlled.
    bootstrap() will create a random pipe name, which cannot be guessed by other program.


So, what shall we do?
I am not sure. Here is just one idea.

(1) Start soffice.exe as normal user account with the following command line options.
soffice.exe -nofirststartwizard -nologo -nodefault -norestore -nocrashreport -nolockcheck "-accept=pipe,name=MY_FAVORITE_NAME;urp;"

(2) And then use a conventional way to establish a connection to the process of soffice.bin which is listening to the named pipe MY_FAVORITE_NAME.


========================================================================
http://svn.services.openoffice.org/ooo/trunk/cppuhelper/source/bootstrap.cxx
namespace cppu
{

Reference< XComponentContext > SAL_CALL bootstrap()
{

        // create a random pipe name
        ...
        OUString sPipeName( buf.makeStringAndClear() );

        // accept string
        OSL_ASSERT( buf.getLength() == 0 );
        buf.appendAscii( RTL_CONSTASCII_STRINGPARAM( "-accept=pipe,name=" ) );
        buf.append( sPipeName );
        buf.appendAscii( RTL_CONSTASCII_STRINGPARAM( ";urp;" ) );

        // arguments
        OUString args [] = {
            OUSTR( "-nologo" ),
            OUSTR( "-nodefault" ),
            OUSTR( "-norestore" ),
            OUSTR( "-nocrashreport" ),
            OUSTR( "-nolockcheck" ),

========================================================================
http://svn.services.openoffice.org/ooo/trunk/desktop/source/app/app.cxx
        // First Start Wizard allowed ?
        if ( ! pCmdLineArgs->IsNoFirstStartWizard())

========================================================================
http://svn.services.openoffice.org/ooo/trunk/desktop/source/app/cmdlineargs.cxx
sal_Bool CommandLineArgs::IsNoFirstStartWizard() const
{
    osl::MutexGuard  aMutexGuard( m_aMutex );
    return m_aBoolParams[ CMD_BOOLPARAM_NOFIRSTSTARTWIZARD ];
}

    else if ( aArg.equalsAsciiL( RTL_CONSTASCII_STRINGPARAM( "-nofirststartwizard" )) == sal_True )
    {
        SetBoolParam_Impl( CMD_BOOLPARAM_NOFIRSTSTARTWIZARD, sal_True );
        return sal_True;
    }

========================================================================

Tora


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[tora - Takamichi Akiyama]

Another possible way (still, I am not sure, though):

(1) Start soffice.exe as a normal user account with the following command line options.
soffice.exe -nofirststartwizard -nologo -nodefault -norestore -nocrashreport -nolockcheck

(2) And then use a recent way such as ::cppu::bootstrap() to connect to the process of soffice.bin.

Tora


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[tora - Takamichi Akiyama]

Sorry for multiple emails.

If you attempt to use the following way, the user account for (1) and (2) must be identical. Otherwise, (2) will start another instance of soffice.bin from the scratch even though (1) is already running.

The reason is that (1) will be waiting at its own named pipe, whose name will be created based on a folder name for the user account or like that - I forgot -, and (2) will also use the identical named pipe. So they will be able to handshake each other.

Please correct me if anyone finds misunderstandings.

Tora

tora - Takamichi Akiyama wrote:
> Another possible way (still, I am not sure, though):
>
> (1) Start soffice.exe as a normal user account with the following command line options.
> soffice.exe -nofirststartwizard -nologo -nodefault -norestore -nocrashreport -nolockcheck
>
> (2) And then use a recent way such as ::cppu::bootstrap() to connect to the process of soffice.bin.

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[Carsten Driesner]

rashi dhing wrote:

> Hello Dev Team,
>
> I have been trying to extend the functionality of the Calc formula bar input
> line.
>
> Let me explain the scenario first :
>
> I have defined a function that takes in a single argument which is a string
> and contains, apart from other tokens, range names. I would like to
> highlight
> these range names in different colors. So i need to access the text font in
> the
> formula bar and change the font color for only certain portions of my string
> argument.
>
> In excel, when you select different ranges in a formula (arguments that
> are range objects) , the formula bar highlights the range names as well
> as the actual cell ranges present on the sheet in different colors.
> I am trying to attempt something similar but in a string argument
> as opposed to range arguments.
>
> I found out that all the standard tools bars have resource urls that follow
> the
> format : "private:resource/toolbar/" but could not find one for the formula
> bar.
> And I also know that to focus on the input line you can execute a
> dispatch command with the url ".uno:FocusInputLine".
>
> Someone suggested using a text cursor but i believe that it only for
> text objects. How can I modify and format the text in the formula bar and
> not the cell.
>
> Previously I was trying to do this in excel in which you can access the
> formula
> bar through Windows API but found out that in edit mode it is impossible to
> run
> any macro and so gave up and migrated to  openoffice !
>
> Any leads will be highly appreciated. I would like to attempt it through
> the API and not the source code as I an not a java or c++ expert.
> I code in OOBasic. Any suggestions !!
>
> Many many thanks !

Hi Rashi,

I am sorry but this is not possible. The implementation of the Calc
Formula bar input line is completely done in C++. There are no UNO based
APIs to influence this control.

Regards,
Carsten

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[rashi dhing]

Thanks  Carsten, have decided to take a plunge into the source code and see what
i can fish out !

Best,

Rashi

On 9/15/09, Carsten Driesner <carsten.driesner@...> wrote:

> rashi dhing wrote:
>> Hello Dev Team,
>>
>> I have been trying to extend the functionality of the Calc formula bar
>> input
>> line.
>>
>> Let me explain the scenario first :
>>
>> I have defined a function that takes in a single argument which is a
>> string
>> and contains, apart from other tokens, range names. I would like to
>> highlight
>> these range names in different colors. So i need to access the text font
>> in
>> the
>> formula bar and change the font color for only certain portions of my
>> string
>> argument.
>>
>> In excel, when you select different ranges in a formula (arguments that
>> are range objects) , the formula bar highlights the range names as well
>> as the actual cell ranges present on the sheet in different colors.
>> I am trying to attempt something similar but in a string argument
>> as opposed to range arguments.
>>
>> I found out that all the standard tools bars have resource urls that
>> follow
>> the
>> format : "private:resource/toolbar/" but could not find one for the
>> formula
>> bar.
>> And I also know that to focus on the input line you can execute a
>> dispatch command with the url ".uno:FocusInputLine".
>>
>> Someone suggested using a text cursor but i believe that it only for
>> text objects. How can I modify and format the text in the formula bar and
>> not the cell.
>>
>> Previously I was trying to do this in excel in which you can access the
>> formula
>> bar through Windows API but found out that in edit mode it is impossible
>> to
>> run
>> any macro and so gave up and migrated to  openoffice !
>>
>> Any leads will be highly appreciated. I would like to attempt it through
>> the API and not the source code as I an not a java or c++ expert.
>> I code in OOBasic. Any suggestions !!
>>
>> Many many thanks !
> Hi Rashi,
>
> I am sorry but this is not possible. The implementation of the Calc
> Formula bar input line is completely done in C++. There are no UNO based
> APIs to influence this control.
>
> Regards,
> Carsten
>
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>
>

--
" Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length." (Robert Frost)

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[Wei Min Teo]

Hi Tora,

 

Thanks for your replies and suggestions. However, I do not want to start soffice.exe as a normal user account as I would need the user account password or wait for a user logon.

 

I realised the problem running a OO service as SYSTEM is that:

"the service runs as a special account and OpenOffice.org will try to show the license agreement dialog as if it was a new user instead of starting the application."

 

"To avoid this, you need to edit share\registry\data\org\openoffice\Setup.xcu (it's an XML file) inside the OpenOffice.org installation directory and replace this bit"

 

This is the article that explains it: http://www.artofsolving.com/node/11
 

Cheers,

 

Wei Min

 

> Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:09:00 +0900
> From: tora@...
> To: dev@...
> CC: dev@...
> Subject: [api-dev] Re: [dev] Openoffice automation using a service
>
> Sorry for multiple emails.
>
> If you attempt to use the following way, the user account for (1) and (2) must be identical. Otherwise, (2) will start another instance of soffice.bin from the scratch even though (1) is already running.
>
> The reason is that (1) will be waiting at its own named pipe, whose name will be created based on a folder name for the user account or like that - I forgot -, and (2) will also use the identical named pipe. So they will be able to handshake each other.
>
> Please correct me if anyone finds misunderstandings.
>
> Tora
>
> tora - Takamichi Akiyama wrote:
> > Another possible way (still, I am not sure, though):
> >
> > (1) Start soffice.exe as a normal user account with the following command line options.
> > soffice.exe -nofirststartwizard -nologo -nodefault -norestore -nocrashreport -nolockcheck
> >
> > (2) And then use a recent way such as ::cppu::bootstrap() to connect to the process of soffice.bin.
>
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@...
> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@...
>

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[Wei Min Teo]

Hi all,
 
It seems that openoffice has a maximum path name of 260 chars?

However, I think the maximum path name for windows is 32,767 and file name is 260 in unicode.

 

Is it possible to pass in to the loadComponentFromUrl function using a relative path instead of an absolute path?

Are there any other workarounds? I can only think of making a copying to a temp file, do your work and copy back.
 
Thanks.
 

 


Cheers,
Wei Min
 

 







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[pitonyak]

On 09/30/2009 11:38 PM, Wei Min Teo wrote:

>
>
> Hi all,
>  
> It seems that openoffice has a maximum path name of 260 chars?
>
> However, I think the maximum path name for windows is 32,767 and file name is 260 in unicode.
>
>  
>
> Is it possible to pass in to the loadComponentFromUrl function using a relative path instead of an absolute path?
>
> Are there any other workarounds? I can only think of making a copying to a temp file, do your work and copy back.
>  
> Thanks.
>  

Most of the windows API limits the maximum path to 260 chars. I have
bumped into this limit many times.

There are some unicode extensions that allow for longer path names, as
discussed here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247%28VS.85%29.aspx

I have never bothered to pursue them, because although I have created
path/filename combinations that exceed this, most of the other tools
start failing in very bad ways (Windows explorer, command line tools, etc. )

--
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My Macro Document: http://www.pitonyak.org/AndrewMacro.odt
My Book: http://www.hentzenwerke.com/catalog/oome.htm
Info:  http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php
See Also: http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO/index.html


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[tora - Takamichi Akiyama]

Hi,

In what situation do you currently encounter the problem?
What do you do?
What do you expect?
What your OpenOffice.org actually does despite your expectations.


One possible, interesting topic:

Generally speaking, one Chinese, including most Far East Asian languages, characters will be
internally converted into 9 ASCII characters ( three occurrences of % followed by two hex-decimal
digits ) in a certain situation because of UTF-8 hex-decimal encoded URL.

If the length of text is limited up to 256 bytes somewhere, in the worst case, the limitation
for the number of Chinese characters might become 28, not 256. (256 / 9 = 28.4).

For example,
 Chinese characters: 中国
 Corresponding URL:  %E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD  (forcedly encoded)

 ASCII letters:      China
 Corresponding URL:  China  (no need to be encoded)

Tora

Wei Min Teo wrote:
> It seems that openoffice has a maximum path name of 260 chars?
>
> However, I think the maximum path name for windows is 32,767 and file name is 260 in unicode.


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[Stephan Bergmann]

On 10/05/09 03:35, tora - Takamichi Akiyama wrote:
> Generally speaking, one Chinese, including most Far East Asian languages, characters will be
> internally converted into 9 ASCII characters ( three occurrences of % followed by two hex-decimal
> digits ) in a certain situation because of UTF-8 hex-decimal encoded URL.
>
> If the length of text is limited up to 256 bytes somewhere, in the worst case, the limitation
> for the number of Chinese characters might become 28, not 256. (256 / 9 = 28.4).

The limitation is on Windows pathnames, not on URLs (that are mapped to
pathnames, by replacing sequences of escape-encoded bytes with sequences
of pathname characters), so the ratio of "human readable" characters to
pathname characters is usually much smaller than 9, typically 1--3
(depending on the character encoding used by Windows).

-Stephan

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