The OpenOffice recorder and UNO dispatch calls
Apache OpenOffice provides a recorder, to record a series of actions, in Writer and Calc only, to produce some code. The recorder produces a series of UNO dispatch calls, which are not particularly useful for learning the Apache OpenOffice API model. I personally find the code that the recorder produces to be a little hard to follow. It is generally considered preferable to use Apache OpenOffice API calls but sometimes the only way or most convenient way is to use UNO dispatch calls.
The dispatch commands are an internal mechanism of Apache OpenOffice. The arguments of each dispatch command are not documented.
This Framework article is the latest command list available.
Below are three versions of the same macro:
- Recorded example
- Tidied UNO dispatch calls
- API Calls
The series of steps recorded were:
Type "Some text" ; Press Enter; Type "A new paragraph with a "; Format > Character… > Bold > OK; Type "bold"; Format > Character… > Regular> OK; Type " word in it".
Recorded example
sub Example rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rem define variables dim document as object dim dispatcher as object rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rem get access to the document document = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame dispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper") rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dim args1(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue args1(0).Name = "Text" args1(0).Value = "Some text" dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args1()) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertPara", "", 0, Array()) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dim args3(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue args3(0).Name = "Text" args3(0).Value = "A new paragraph with a " dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args3()) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dim args4(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue args4(0).Name = "Bold" args4(0).Value = true dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:Bold", "", 0, args4()) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dim args5(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue args5(0).Name = "Text" args5(0).Value = "bold" dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args5()) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dim args6(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue args6(0).Name = "Bold" args6(0).Value = false dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:Bold", "", 0, args6()) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dim args7(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue args7(0).Name = "Text" args7(0).Value = " word in it." dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args7()) end sub
Tidied UNO dispatch calls
(This heading is linked to from UNO Dispatch, so if you change it change the link as well.)
Now the same example having been tidied using a function for calling the UNO dispatch calls (some UNO Dispatch calls return a value so using a function makes it more generically useful than a sub):
sub Example fnDispatch("InsertText", array("Text","Some text")) fnDispatch("InsertPara") fnDispatch("InsertText", array("Text","A new paragraph with a ")) fnDispatch("Bold", array("Bold",true)) fnDispatch("InsertText", array("Text","bold")) fnDispatch("Bold", array("Bold",false)) fnDispatch("InsertText", array("Text"," word in it.")) end sub function fnDispatch(sCommand as string, optional mArgs) oFrame = ThisComponent.getCurrentController.getFrame oDispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper") 'on error resume next if isMissing(mArgs) then fnDispatch = oDispatcher.executeDispatch(oFrame, ".uno:" & sCommand, "", 0, array()) else nArgs = uBound(mArgs) \ 2 dim Args(nArgs) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue for i = 0 to nArgs Args(i).name = mArgs(i * 2) Args(i).value = mArgs(i * 2 + 1) next fnDispatch = oDispatcher.executeDispatch(oFrame, ".uno:" & sCommand, "", 0, Args()) end if end function
API calls
Finally, the same example using API calls:
sub Example oVC = thisComponent.getCurrentController.getViewCursor oText = oVC.text oText.insertString(oVC, "Some text", False) oText.insertControlCharacter(oVC, com.sun.star.text.ControlCharacter.PARAGRAPH_BREAK, False) oText.insertString(oVC, "A new paragraph with a ", False) oVC.setPropertyValue("CharWeight", com.sun.star.awt.FontWeight.BOLD) oText.insertString(oVC, "bold", false) oVC.setPropertyValue("CharWeight", com.sun.star.awt.FontWeight.NORMAL) oText.insertString(oVC, " word in it.", false) end sub