| Q: |
How
do I purchase the Java version of OfficeWriter? |
| A: |
Effective
mid-November 2005, the OfficeWriter for the Java™ platform is no longer
available for purchase. However, it is still possible offer native
Excel and Word reports from your front-end Java™ Web application through
a Web Service. Check out our OfficeWriter
Web Service Sample. Current OfficeWriter-for-Java customers will
be supported for the life of their support
subscriptions. |
| Q: |
Is
OfficeWriter a pure Java! solution? |
| A: |
Yes.
OfficeWriter consists of 100-percent pure Java™ class libraries
used from J2EE™ servlets to produce interactive spreadsheets
and documents. The reports can be rendered from your application server
directly in a Web browser, Microsoft Office and StarOffice. |
| Q: |
What
are the differences between OfficeWriter and Jakarta's POI project? |
| A: |
At
this time, POI has very limited support the Word document file format
and does not have a
template (row-insertion) ability with Excel files. In addition,
POI does not allow the parsing of existing charts and images into
the Object Model. OfficeWriter supports ALL formatting features within
native Excel AND Word and offers an easy-to-use template-based development
approach. With OfficeWriter, there's no need to understand the inner
details of Microsoft file formats. |
| Q: |
What
are OfficeWriter's application server requirements? |
| A: |
OfficeWriter
requires an application server that complies with the J2EE™
specifications. Supported platforms include BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere,
and Apache Tomcat. |
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| Q: |
Are
there any platform restrictions with OfficeWriter? |
| A: |
OfficeWriter
does not have any restrictions on the server's operating system or
other applications beyond the application server. Supported platforms
include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris™, and Windows 2000,
XP, 2003. |
| Q: |
What
data sources can be used with OfficeWriter? |
| A: |
OfficeWriter
can be used with many types of data sources, including JDBC ResultSets
from popular databases (MSSQL, Oracle, MySQL, DB2, etc) or any data
that can be contained in a Java™ object. Note that OfficeWriter
requires a JDBC 2.0 or later database driver to access JDBC data sources.
Contact your database vendor for JDBC drivers. |
| Q: |
Should
OfficeWriter be used from JSP Pages? |
| A: |
No.
Although it's possible to output binary content such as native Excel
and Word files from a Java™ Server Page, it is not recommended.
JSP pages are primarily designed for *text* output. Binary data should
be served from a Servlet, which can be called from a JSP page to integrate
better with your code. |
| Q: |
Does
OfficeWriter support the latest Java! Virtual Machines? |
| A: |
OfficeWriter
is compatible with 1.2 and later Sun JVMs, including 1.3 and 1.5.
The Blackdown JVM and Jikes JVM have not yet been tested with OfficeWriter. |
| Q: |
Are
there any requirements to use Java! applets with OfficeWriter? |
| A: |
OfficeWriter
does not use Java™ Applet technology. Rather, OfficeWriter renders
Excel and Word reports from an application server directly in a browser.
There is no need for a Java™ applet with OfficeWriter. |
| Q: |
Can
OfficeWriter be used outside of a Web application? |
| A: |
Yes,
but there may be restrictions. You'll need to have j2ee.jar from the
Sun Java 2 Enterprise Edition™ SDK in your classpath (or at
least the jar containing javax.servlet.http). However, this configuration
could result in a violation of the OfficeWriter license agreement.
Contact SoftAtisans Sales for more information. |
| Q: |
Why
do I get a ClassNotFoundException when I copy the OfficeWriter.jar
file to my application server's lib directory? |
| A: |
The
OfficeWriter.jar file packaged in the OfficeWriter.zip is an installation
package, not the class library itself. You will need to execute that
jar file as per the instructions in the readme.html contained in the
zip file. |