unopkg

OpenOffice.org Developer's Guide

Extensions

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• Extension Manager

• Extension Repositories
• The Active Extension
• Updating Extensions
• Processing Extensions
• Packaging Notes For Bundled Extensions
• Deployment Items
• Installing Extensions for All or a Single User
• Extension Manager in OpenOffice.org
• unopkg
• Location of Installed Extensions
• Extension Layers

• Checklist for Writing Extensions
• File Format
• description.xml

• Description of XML Elements
• Localized XML Elements
• Example

• Display Name
• Icon
• Extension Description
• Extension Identifiers
• Extension Versions
• Target Platform
• Simple License
• Dependencies
• Publisher Information
• System Integration
• Online Update of Extensions

• Running Online - Update
• Concept
• Example Scenario for Providing Updates
• Migration of Update Information
• Description of the Update Information
• Description of Atom Feed
• Examples

• Options Dialog

• Creating the GUI of the Options Page
• Saving and Reading Data for the Options Page
• Defining the Usage of Options Pages

• Adding a Leaf to an Existing Node
• Adding Several Leaves
• Grouping of Leaves
• Adding Nodes
• Adding Several Nodes
• Absolute Position of Leaves
• Grouping of Nodes
• Assigning Nodes to Modules
• Defining a Module
• Absolute Position of Nodes

• The Options Dialog of the Extension Manager

• Help Content

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The unopkg executable offers another way to start the Extension Manager. It supersedes the pkgchk executable which was used in OpenOffice.org 1.1.0 and older versions and which no longer works.

In contrast to the Extension Manager in Apache OpenOffice unopkg can also manage shared extensions. For example:

 [<OfficePath>/program] $ unopkg add --shared my_extension.oxt

installs my_extension.oxt for all users.

unopkg offers a windowless mode in which all interactions occurs through the console. This is the default. If unopkg is started with the subcommand gui then the Extension Manager dialog appears which is exactly the same as the one in Apache OpenOffice.

 [<OfficePath>/program] $ unopkg gui

The difference is that in the dialog all items deployed under Apache OpenOffice Extensions can be modified and new items can be added there as well. All actions, that is, adding, removing, etc. can be done in the dialog. Therefore unopkg gui does not require any more parameters.

Following is a short overview of what can be done with unopkg. Since there are many more commands, have a look at the help text that can be obtained by calling unopkg -h.

First of all, open a console and change into the program directory of the office installation.

Adding an extension for a single user:

 [<OfficePath>/program] $ unopkg add my_extension.oxt

Adding an extension for all users:

 [<OfficePath>/program] $ unopkg add --shared my_extension.oxt

Removing a user extension is done via the identifier of the extension (see Extension Identifiers):

 [<OfficePath>/program] $ unopkg remove my.domain.my_extension-id

Remove a shared extension:

 [<OfficePath>/program] $ unopkg remove --shared my.domain.my_extension-id

Before you install an extension or other item for all users, make absolutely sure there are no running instances of Apache OpenOffice. unopkg cannot recognize if there are running instances of Apache OpenOffice from different users. Installing into a running office installation might cause inconsistencies and destroy your installation!

When a user starts Apache OpenOffice and then starts unopkg, then the Extension Manager from the office is used and unopkg terminates. Then, however, no shared extensions and other shared items can be modified.

Although it is now possible to deploy “live” into a running Apache OpenOffice process, there are some limitations you should be aware of: Removing a type library from a running process is not possible, because this may lead to crashes when the type is needed. Thus if you, for example, uninstall a package that comes with a UNO type library, these types will vanish upon next process startup, but not before. There may also be problems with cached configuration data, because parts of the running process do not listen for configuration updates (for example, menu bars). Most often, those parts read the configuration just once upon startup.

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