[Erp5-users] DOC: how to create an OpenOffice report

[Bartłomiej Górny]

How to create a report in OpenOffice format
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v 0.1, 2006-01-20

OpenOffice file (*.ods, *.odt etc) is actually a collection of xml files 
packed together with zip. If you unzip a file,     you'll find a 
content.xml file - that's the most interesting one for us.

ERP5 needs two files to create an OO report: a template, which is the 
whole OO file, and the "ERP5 OOo template", which     will contain 
dynamically generated content.

Before proceeding, you need to patch your ERP5OOo module with a patch 
you can get from Jerome (soon the patch will be       either up for 
download or incorporated in the CVS version).

To create an OOo report:

1. Create a template object

Create an OO file (a text doc or spreadsheet, whichever you want); 
upload it to your skin directory as an ordinary file.

2. Create a content object

Create another OO file of the same type, put some dummy content into it. 
In portal_skins, create an "ERP5 OOo Template"; open the "edit" tab and 
upload your file - ERP5 will automatically extract content.xml from it 
and make appropriate changes. Go to the "Stylesheet settings" tab, enter 
the id of the template object you created before.

3. Create dynamic content

Your "ERP5 OOo Template" object contents is an xml file - you can put 
TAL expressions into it, just as you do in ZPTs. Just
be careful and stick closely to the original syntax. If you need advise 
how to achieve a particular layout or formatting, just do it in 
OpenOffice, save the file, unzip, take a look at content.xml and you'll 
know.

4. Use it

If you click "Test" tab, or call the template from a request, it will 
generate an OO file and ship it directly to your      browser with 
appropriate header information.

-- 
"Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent 
but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry."
Eric S.Raymond, "The Magic Cauldron"