Is there a Java API that can create rich Word documents? [closed]

Question

In 2007 my project successfully used OpenOffice.org's Universal Network Objects (UNO) interface to programmatically generate MS-Word compatible documents (*.doc), as well as corresponding PDF documents, from a Java Web application (a Struts/JSP framework).

OpenOffice UNO also lets you build MS-Office-compatible charts, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. We were able to dynamically build sophisticated Word documents, including charts and tables.

We simplified the process by using template MS-Word documents with bookmark inserts into which the software inserted content, however, you can build documents completely from scratch. The goal was to have the software generate report documents that could be shared and further tweaked by end-users before converting them to PDF for final delivery and archival.

You can optionally produce documents in OpenOffice formats if you want users to use OpenOffice instead of MS-Office. In our case the users want to use MS-Office tools.

UNO is included within the OpenOffice suite. We simply linked our Java app to UNO-related libraries within the suite. An OpenOffice Software Development Kit (SDK) is available containing example applications and the UNO Developer's Guide.

I have not investigated whether the latest OpenOffice UNO can generate MS-Office 2007 Open XML document formats.

The important things about OpenOffice UNO are:

1. It is freeware
2. It supports multiple languages (e.g. Visual Basic, Java, C++, and others).
3. It is platform-independent (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.).

Here are some useful web sites:

• Open Office home
• Open Office UNO Developer's Guide
• OpenOffice Developer's Forum (especially the "Macros and API" and "Code Snippets" forums).

I think Apache POI can do the job. A possible problem depending on the usage your aiming to may be caused by the fact that HWPF is still in early development.

HWPF is the set of APIs for reading and writing Microsoft Word 97(-XP) documents using (only) Java.

You could use this: http://code.google.com/p/java2word

I implemented this API called Java2Word. with a few lines of code, you can generate one Microsoft Word Document.

Eg.:

IDocument myDoc = new Document2004();
myDoc.getBody().addEle(new Heading1("Heading01"));
myDoc.getBody().addEle(new Paragraph("This is a paragraph...")

There is some examples how to use. Basically you will need one jar file. Let me know if you need any further information how to set it up.

*I wrote this because we had one real necessity in a project. More in my blog:

http ://leonardo-pinho.blogspot.com/2010/07/java2word-word-document-generator-from.html *

cheers Leonardo

Edit : Project in link moved to https://github.com/leonardoanalista/java2word

Try Aspose.Words for Java, it runs on any OS where Java is installed.

It will output the document to DOC, DOCX or RTF if you need an MS Word output format. All are supported equally well.

Using this API you can create a document from scratch, literally from nodes and set their formatting properties. You can also use a DocumentBuilder which provides higher level methods such as create a table row, insert a field etc. Or you can copy/join/move portions between existing pre created document, say you want to assemble a contract, just grab and copy pieces from several documents and Aspose.Words will merge styles, list formatting etc properly in the resulting document.

You will be able to insert a TOC field using Aspose.Words, but as of today, the TOC field will require a field update when the document is opened in Microsoft Word. However, we are going to release full support for TOC fields early in 2010. E.g. it will build complete TOC as MS Word does it.

I'm on the Aspose.Words team.

It was mentioned only briefly once, so I'd like to call out the docx4j library, as I've had more success with docx4j than anything else. Apache POI's support for Word documents isn't very good. Also, unlike Aspose.Words, docx4j is an open source library.

The only drawback is with docx4j you have to create Office Open XML (docx) format documents rather than OLE2-based (doc) format documents. This is the default format for Word 2007, but Word 2003 and earlier users will need to install a compatibility pack.

Try Aspose.Words for java.

Aspose.Words for Java is an advanced (commercial) class library for Java that enables you to perform a great range of document processing tasks directly within your Java applications.

Aspose.Words for Java supports DOC, OOXML, RTF, HTML and OpenDocument formats. With Aspose.Words you can generate, modify, and convert documents without using Microsoft Word.

I've used Aspose.Words to do mail merge in .NET. I believe that they also have a Java version.