JODConverter 2.1.1 is now available for download from SourceForge.net.
The main focus for this release is… that the project name has changed! JOOConverter, for Java OpenOffice.org Converter, becomes JODConverter, for Java OpenDocument Converter.
Apart from that, the only other changes are:
- OpenOffice.org Java/Uno libraries have been updated to version 2.1.0
- This release will be uploaded to the central Maven repository, for use as a dependency in projects built by Maven 2
Why the name change?
OpenDocument did not exist when this project was started back in 2003, but is now becoming more and more important. The name change reflects the fact that JODConverter, being based on OpenOffice.org, is one of the best tools available today for converting to/from OpenDocument.
Additionally, although in the current release all conversions are still performed by OpenOffice.org, in the future (starting from version 2.2) we plan to add pure Java conversions from OpenDocument to some formats, removing the need for OpenOffice.org in those cases, and making conversions more customisable in all cases.
For example, suppose we want to convert documents from OpenDocument Text to HTML, but we don’t like the HTML produced by OpenOffice.org. We will write a pure Java, customisable ODT to HTML conversion. Now suppose we also want to convert Microsoft Word documents to HTML. We can use the existing Word to ODT conversion provided by OpenOffice.org, and then reuse the same pure Java ODT to HTML conversion just mentioned.
So in the future JODConverter will support pluggable conversions, some of them provided by OpenOffice.org, others written in pure Java (or maybe XSLT), but all centered around OpenDocument, that thanks to its open XML specifications is the ideal format to work with.
Upgrading from 2.1.0
Due to the project name change, all Java packages have been renamed too. Basically net.sf.jooreports.converter.* becomes com.artofsolving.jodconverter.*.
Class names did not change, so upgrading from version 2.1.0 is just a matter of renaming the import statements, something that any modern IDE will do automatically for you with minimum effort. In Eclipse for example this can be done with Shift+Ctrl+O, i.e. Source / Organize Imports.
