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[[Category:Developing_with_Qt]]
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= Handling Microsoft Word (file format) =

This page discusses various available options for working with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Word#File_formats Microsoft Word] documents in your Qt application. Please also read the general considerations outlined on the [[Handling_Document_Formats | Handling Document Formats]] page.

p{width:60%;border:solid 1px #99a;background:#eef;color:#335;padding:2pt 4pt;font-size:0.9em;line-height:150%;font-style:italic}. Note that this information is collaboratively collected by the community, with no promise of completeness or correctness. In particular, use your own research and judgment when evaluating third-party libraries or tools!

One needs to distinguish between two different formats (this page deals with both of them):

table{width:95%;margin-left:2.5%}.
| |''. Legacy "Word Document" format |''. "Office Open XML Document" format |
| ''classification:'' | binary | XML-based |
| ''main filename extension:'' | {font:1em monospace}.doc | {font-family:monospace}.docx |
| ''main internet media type:'' | {font:0.9em monospace}application/vnd.ms-word | {font:0.9em monospace}application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| ''default format of Word:'' | until Word 2003 | since Word 2007 |

== Reading / Writing ==

=== Using Word itself ===

If you are exclusively targeting the Windows platform and Microsoft Word will be installed on all target machines, then you can use [http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/activeqt.html Qt’s ActiveX framework] to access Word’s .doc and .docx processing functionality through OLE automation. For an introductory code example (and a way to list the API provided by Word's COM object), consult [http://wiki.qt.io/Using_ActiveX_Object_in_QT this how to] (focuses on Microsoft Excel, but it works the same way for Word).

table{width:95%;margin-left:2.5%}.
| |''. DLL file name |''. COM object name |''. platforms |''. license |
| [http://office.microsoft.com/word/ '''Microsoft Word'''] | ? | {font-family:monospace}Word.Application | Windows | {color:#458}commercial |

=== Using independent parser/writer libraries ===

table{width:95%;margin-left:2.5%}.
| |''. API |''. {font-family:monospace}.doc |''. {font-family:monospace}.docx |''. reading |''. writing |''. platforms |''. license |
| [http://… '''…'''] | … | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| [http://www.abisource.com/projects/ '''wv'''] | C | {color:#580}yes | {color:#920}no | {color:#580}yes | {color:#920}no | Win, Mac, Linux | GPL {color:#458}[strong copyleft] |

h3. Using manual XML processing

Files using the XML-based (.docx) format could be processed using Qt's XML handling classes (see [[Handling_Document_Formats | Handling Document Formats]]).

p{border:dashed 1px #a94;background:#fbf3dd;color:#530;padding:2pt 4pt;margin-left:2pt;margin-right:2pt;font-size:0.9em;line-height:150%;font-style:italic}. TODO: Expand this section.

h3. Using batch conversion tools

If all else fails, there is always the option of using an existing tool to automatically convert between Microsoft Word files and a more manageable format, and let your Qt application deal with that format instead. The conversion tool could be bundled with your application or specified as a prerequisite, and controlled via [[Doc:QProcess]]. Some possibilities are:

table{width:95%;margin-left:2.5%}.
|''. |''. {font-family:monospace}.doc to |''. {font-family:monospace}.docx to |''. … to {font-family:monospace}.doc |''. … to {font-family:monospace}.docx |''. platforms |''. license |
| [http://www.abisource.com '''AbiWord'''] | {font-family:monospace}.txt .rtf .html .dbk .odt .docx … | {font-family:monospace}.txt .rtf .html .dbk .odt … | - | {font-family:monospace}.txt .rtf .html .dbk .odt .doc … | Win, Mac, Linux, … | GPL {color:#458}[strong copyleft] |
| [http://www.abisource.com/projects '''wvWare'''] | {font-family:monospace}.txt .rtf .html .dbk … | - | - | - | Win, Mac, Linux, … | GPL {color:#458}[strong copyleft] |
| [http:// '''…'''] | {font-family:monospace}… | {font-family:monospace}… | {font-family:monospace}… | {font-family:monospace}… | … | … |

''Notes:''
AbiWord can be used like this for batch conversion: <code>abiword —to=outputfile.rtf inputfile.doc<code>

== Displaying / User-Interacting ==

=== Using Word itself ===

p{border:dashed 1px #a94;background:#fbf3dd;color:#530;padding:2pt 4pt;font-size:0.9em;line-height:150%;font-style:italic}. TODO: If you know whether Word provides a "viewer" ActiveX control that can be embedded in a Qt application through ActiveQT, please fill out this section (include links to relevant resources!)

=== Manual solution ===

p{border:dashed 1px #a94;background:#fbf3dd;color:#530;padding:2pt 4pt;font-size:0.9em;line-height:150%;font-style:italic}. TODO: Tips for implementing a custom Microsoft Word viewer widget, using Qt and the Microsoft Word parsing libraries mentioned above

p{color:#fff;border-bottom:solid 1px #ccc}. .

== See Also ==

* [[Handling_Document_Formats | Handling Document Formats]]
** ''other Microsoft Office formats:''
*** [[Handling_Microsoft_Powerpoint_(file_format) | Microsoft Powerpoint]]
*** [[Handling_Microsoft_Excel_(file_format) | Microsoft Excel]]
** ''other "Text Document" formats:''
*** [[Handling_HTML | HTML]]
*** [[Handling_PDF | PDF]]
*** [[Handling_OpenDocument_Text | OpenDocument Text]]
*** [[Handling_RTF | RTF]]