By Peter Sefton, XML.org
The author explores some of the ways that
OpenOffice.org's Writer application is open to customization and
configuration. He coveres a few techniques that will be of interest
to template maintainers working with OpenOffice.org writer: how to
crack open the file format, how to maintain large sets of styles,
and how to customize menus and macros, all without using anything
except standard tools, zip, an XSLT processor, and a text editor.
All this can, of course, be further automated with a programming
language of some kind, even a batch file.
There are some changes coming in version 2 of
OpenOffice.org, but all these techniques will be forwards
compatible, although some things like the location and name of the
menu-bar files look like they will change. If you are also trying
to store and manipulate content in XML but want to use a word
processing environment for authoring, then well-crafted templates
are even more important.
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2005/01/26/hacking-ooo.html
See also the OpenDocument 1.0 CD:
http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2005-01-04-a.html