Open XML Interoperability Tools Released Under Document Interoperability Initiative
Document Interoperability Initiative (DII) has announced the availability of three tools that help developers interoperate with Open XML documents. They are:
- A free plug-in for Firefox to translate Open XML documents to HTML
- An update to the Open XML and the Open Document Format (ODF) translator
- A toolkit for Java developers
DII released the OpenXML Document Viewer as an open source project on its Codeplex Web site. The viewer translates documents in the Open XML format to HTML so they can be viewed on a browser. The community preview of the viewer eliminates the need for a user to install Microsoft Office or any other productivity tool set to view documents. It works with Firefox 3.0 running on Windows or Linux and translates font types, images, text styles, diagrams, tables and hyperlinks.
DII released Version 2.5 of the Open XML/ODF Translator that supports Office 2003, 2007 and XP. The new version includes a set of ODF 1.1 compatible templates and chart enhancements for spreadsheet programs.
A software developer kit for Java developers helps developers in working with Open XML documents. The project aligns with the Apache POI project, which provides Java libraries for reading and writing in Microsoft Office formats.
DII is a joint effort along with Novell, Mark Logic, Quickoffice, DataViz and Nuance Communications. The goal was to foster interoperability between document formats, most notably Open XML and the Open Document Format (ODF).
For more information about these and other DII tools for developers, see Interoperability Developers.
