Using OpenOffice as a Portable Interface to JAVA-Based Applications

Short Description
uct, OpenOffice.org. This reduces the total number of products required … OpenOffice.org has an export to PDF facility that eliminates the need for …

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Content
Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XIII
ASP Conference Series, Vol. 314, 2004
F. Ochsenbein, M. Allen, and D. Egret, eds.
Using OpenOffice as a Portable Interface to JAVA-Based
Applications
Tom Comeau, Bruce Garrett, Joel Richon, Fred Romelfanger
Space Telescope Science Institute
Abstract. STScI previously used Microsoft Word and Microsoft Access,
a Sybase ODBC driver, and the Adobe Acrobat PDF writer, along
with a substantial amount of Visual Basic, to generate a variety of documents
for the internal Space Telescope Grants Administration System
(STGMS). While investigating an upgrade to Microsoft Office XP, we
began considering alternatives, ultimately selecting an open source product,
OpenOffice.org. This reduces the total number of products required
to operate the internal STGMS system, simplifies the build system, and
opens the possibility of moving to a non-Windows platform. We describe
the experience of moving fromMicrosoftOffice to OpenOffice.org, and our
other internal uses of OpenOffice.org in our development environment.
1. Introduction
The Space Telescope Grants Management System (STGMS) is an integrated
set of applications and web services used by both internal and external users to
manage HST-related grants.
The external STGMS application is a downloadable Java application used
by HST…