Even if I'm not maintaining it for the moment, I'm still using the Eclipse integration of OpenOffice.org and would be glad to share some tips with you. Here are the two first tips. Stay tuned because there may be others...

Tip #1

I recently decided to switch back to the default packages of OpenOffice.org on Ubuntu. However, I had to find a way to use the Eclipse integration with it. Here is how to do it.

  1. Install OpenOffice.org and its SDK packages. The openoffice.org-java-common and openoffice.org-dev packages are needed. Installing the openoffice.org-dev-doc package is also a good idea to have the IDL reference on your machine.
  2. Open your Eclipse workspace and go to the OpenOffice.org plugin > SDK configuration page. Add a new OpenOffice.org instance with the path: /usr/lib/openoffice. Add a new SDK instance with the path /usr/lib/openoffice/sdk.

Now the OOo Eclipse integration can be used normally.

Tip #2

Often when starting a new project, I miss some methods or attributes in the main type. Adding a new type is often needed. Even if there is no wizard to refactor the IDL specifications yet, there is a way to handle the problem.

The first thing is to have some basic knowledge of the UNO-IDL language. Here are some links to get started:

Let us suppose that you have a defined service and interface but you need to add a checkYear() method. Then you will edit the corresponding interface and add the following definition to the existing members:

boolean checkYear([in] long value);

The member is added to the interface because there should be nothing else than constructors in the service definition (See the documentation on new style services).

Save the modified idl file, it should be re-compiled. Then an error should appear on the implementation class explaining that there is a missing method. Use the Ctrl+1 shortcut on the error to quickfix it and have the new method. After this, the only thing to do is to add the method body.

If you need to add a new service or interface, then you should better use the provided UNO wizards. Select the UNO project where to add the type and go to the File > New > Other... menu. Select the new service or interface wizard in the UNO category and follow the instructions.