Documentation/DevGuide/WritingUNO/The UNO Executable

OpenOffice.org Developer's Guide

Writing UNO Components

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• Required Files
• Using UNOIDL to Specify New Components

• Writing the Specification

• Preprocessing
• Grouping Definitions in Modules
• Simple Types
• Defining an Interface
• Defining a Service
• Defining a Sequence
• Defining a Struct
• Defining an Exception
• Predefining Values
• Using Comments
• Singleton
• Reserved Types
• Published Entities

• Generating Source Code from UNOIDL Definitions

• Component Architecture
• Core Interfaces to Implement

• XInterface
• XTypeProvider
• XServiceInfo
• XWeak
• XComponent
• XInitialization
• XMain
• XAggregation
• XUnoTunnel

• Simple Component in Java

• Class Definition with Helper Class
• Implementing Your Own Interfaces
• Providing a Single Factory Using a Helper Method
• Write Registration Info Using a Helper Method
• Implementing without Helpers
• Storing the Service Manager for Further Use
• Create Instance with Arguments
• Possible Structures for Java Components
• Running and Debugging Java Components

• Register Component File
• Make Registration Available to OpenOffice.org
• Test the Registration
• Debugging
• The Java Environment in OpenOffice.org
• Troubleshooting

• C++ Component

• Class Definition with Helper Template Classes
• Implementing your own Interfaces
• Providing a Single Factory Using a Helper Method
• Write Registration Info Using a Helper Method
• Provide Implementation Environment
• Implementing without Helpers
• Storing the Service Manager for Further Use
• Create Instance with Arguments
• Multiple Components in One Dynamic Link Library
• Building and Testing C++ Components

• Integrating Components into OpenOffice.org

• Protocol Handler

• Implementation
• Configuration
• Installation

• Jobs

• Execution Environment
• Implementation
• Initialization
• Returning Results
• Configuration
• Installation
• Using the vnd.sun.star.jobs: URL Schema
• List of Supported Events

• Add-Ons

• Guidelines
• Configuration

• Menus
• Toolbars
• Images for Toolbars and Menus
• Help Integration

• Installation

• Disable Commands
• Intercepting Context Menus

• File Naming Conventions
• Deployment Options for Components

• Command Line Registry Tools
• Manual Component Installation
• Bootstrapping a Service Manager
• Special Service Manager Configurations

• The UNO Executable

• Standalone Use Case
• Server Use Case
• Using the UNO Executable

• Accessing Dialogs

• Assigning Component Methods to Control Events
• Using Dialogs in Components

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In chapter C++ Language Binding, several methods to bootstrap a UNO application were introduced. In this section, the option UNO executable is discussed. With UNO executable, there is no need to write executables anymore, instead only components are developed. Code within executables is locked up, it can only run by starting the executable, and it can never be used in another context. Components offer the advantage that they can be used from anywhere. They can be executed from Java or from a remote process.

For these cases, the com.sun.star.lang.XMain interface was introduced. It has one method:

  /* module com.sun.star.lang.XMain */
  interface XMain: com::sun::star::uno::XInterface
  {
      long run( [in] sequence< string > aArguments ); 
  };

Instead of writing an executable, write a component and implement this interface. The component gets the fully initialized service manager during instantiation. The run() method then should do what a main() function would have done. The UNO executable offers one possible infrastructure for using such components.

Basically, the uno tool can do two different things:

1. Instantiate a UNO component which supports the [IDL:com.sun.star.lang.XMain] interface and executes the run() method.

  // module com::sun::star::lang
  interface XMain: com::sun::star::uno::XInterface
  { 
      long run( [in] sequence< string > aArguments ); 
  };

2. Export a UNO component to another process by accepting on a resource, such as a tcp/ip socket or named pipe, and instantiating it on demand.

In both cases, the uno executable creates a UNO component context which is handed to the instantiated component. The registries that should be used are given by command line arguments. The goal of this tool is to minimize the need to write executables and focus on writing components. The advantage for component implementations is that they do not care how the component context is bootstrapped. In the future there may be more ways to bootstrap the component context. While executables will have to be adapted to use the new features, a component supporting XMain can be reused.

Content on this page is licensed under the Public Documentation License (PDL).