Properties of a Filter

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Every filter inside Apache OpenOffice is specified by the properties shown in the table below. These values are accessible at the previously mentioned service com.sun.star.document.FilterFactory using the interface com.sun.star.container.XNameAccess. Write access is not available here. All types are addressed by their internal names. The property names are identical to the configuration property names.

Documentation caution.png The documentation of the FilterFactory service currently is outdated. In case of conflicting information about the properties this page is right. An update will follow soon.

A filter always is registered for only one type. A single filter implementation can handle several types but then must be registered multiple times. One type may handled by more than one filter.

Property Name Description
Name string. The internal name of the filter. This is only an API property, not a configuration property. In the configuration this is the name of the configuration node containing all the other properties. To avoid name clashes with other node names it should follow the rules outlined for extension identifiers.
UIName string. User friendly name of the type. It may be localized using the localization support of the configuration. All Unicode characters are permitted here. The UI names of filters are used in the various file dialog.
Type string. A filter is registered for the type it can handle. Multiple assignments are not allowed. Use multiple configuration entries to support more than one type with a single filter implementation.
DocumentService string. UNO service name describing the component on which the filter can operate. As an example, "com.sun.star.text.TextDocument" specifies the filter as working with text documents. An object of this type will be passed to the filter in its setTargetDocument() or setSourceDocument() methods.
FilterService string. This is the UNO service or implementation name of the filter. Of course a service name can be used only if it is not the generic com.sun.star.document.ImportFilter or com.sun.star.document.ExportFilter. In case of XML based filters the service name always must be com.sun.star.comp.Writer.XMLFilterAdaptor. This filter will use the "UserData" property to find the XMLImporter or XMLExporter service it shall instantiate.
UIComponent string. UNO service or implementation name of a UI component (usually a dialog) where users can parameterize the filtering process. As an example, the "Text - txt - csv (StarCalc)" filter needs information about the used column separators to load data. More about that in the chapter about filter options.
Flags
  • XML : string list. Some boolean attributes of a filter.
Filter flags
3RDPARTYFILTER

0x00080000 h

The filter is a UNO component filter, as opposed to the internal C++ filters. This is an artefact that will vanish over time.
ALIEN

0x00000040 h

The filter may lose some information upon saving.
DEFAULT

0x00000100 h

This is the "best" filter for the document type it works on that is guaranteed not so lose any data on export. By default this filter will be used or suggested for every storing process unless the user has chosen a different default filter in the options dialog.
EXPORT

0x00000002 h

The filter supports the service com.sun.star.document.ExportFilter. It will be shown in the dialog "File-Export". If the filter also has the "IMPORT" flag set, it will be shown in the dialog "File-Save". This makes sure that a format that a user chooses in the save dialog can be loaded again. The same is not guaranteed for a format chosen in "File-Export".
IMPORT

0x00000001 h

The filter supports service com.sun.star.document.ImportFilter. The filter will be shown in the dialog "File-Open".
INTERNAL

0x00000008 h

This filter is used only for internal purposes and so can be used only in API calls. Users won't see it ever.
NOTINCHOOSER

0x00002000 h

This filter will not be shown in the dialog box for chosing a filter in case Apache OpenOffice was not able to detect one
NOTINFILEDIALOG

0x00001000 h

This filter will not be shown in the file dialog's filter list
OWN

0x00000020 h

The filter is a native Apache OpenOffice format (ODF or otherwise).
PREFERRED

0x10000000 h

The filter is preferred in case of multiple filters for the same file type exist in the configuration
READONLY

0x00010000 h

All documents imported by this filter will automatically be in read-only state
SUPPORTSSELECTION

0x00000400 h

Filter can export only the selected part of a document. This information enables Apache OpenOffice to enable a corresponding check box in the "File-Export" dialog.
TEMPLATE

0x00000004 h

Filter denotes a template filter (means, by default all documents opened by it become an "untitled" one)
TEMPLATEPATH

0x00000010 h

Must always be set together with "TEMPLATE" to make this feature flag work; soon becoming deprecated
UserData sequence<string>. Some filters need to store more configuration to work properly. The format of the string list is not restricted. An important example is the filter that implements the XMLFilterAdaptor service. It will get the service name of the XML based filter it must instantiate from the user data. In case this XML based filter is one of the XML adaptors for xslt files, the user data also must contain at least an absolute or relative file path point to the xslt file carrying out the transformation.
FileFormatVersion int. Indicates that a filter handles only a particular format version of the content type. If a filter implementation can handle several versions of a filter, several configuration entries have to be created. This is not necessary if the filter handles all possible versions and the different versions don't need to appear in the user interface.
TemplateName string. The name of a template file for styles the target document of an import filter shall use. If this property is set, the document merges the styles of this template with its default styles before the import starts.
Documentation caution.png Besides these filter flags there are other flags existing that are used currently, but are not documented here. Use documented flags only.

Sample configuration for an API based filter

 <!-- Filter section -->
 <node oor:name="Text (encoded)" oor:op="replace">
     <prop oor:name="UIName">
         <value>Text (encoded)</value>
     </prop>
     <prop oor:name="Flags"><value>IMPORT EXPORT ALIEN</value></prop>
     <prop oor:name="UIComponent"><value>com.sun.star.comp.Writer.FilterOptionsDialog</value></prop>
     <prop oor:name="FilterService"/>
     <prop oor:name="UserData"><value>TEXT_DLG</value></prop>
     <prop oor:name="FileFormatVersion"><value>0</value></prop>
     <prop oor:name="Type"><value>writer_Text_encoded</value></prop>
     <prop oor:name="TemplateName"/>
     <prop oor:name="DocumentService"><value>com.sun.star.text.TextDocument</value></prop>
 </node>
Documentation note.png This filter has a UIComponent that shows that this filter needs additional information to load a file properly (the encoding of it in case it can't be detected). It does not have a "FilterService" property because it is an internal, C++ based filter.

Sample configuration for an XML based filter

  <!-- Filter section -->
  <node oor:name="PocketWord File" oor:op="replace">
      <prop oor:name="UIName">
          <value>Pocket Word</value>
      </prop>
      <prop oor:name="Type"><value>writer_PocketWord_File</value></prop>
      <prop oor:name="FileFormatVersion"><value>0</value></prop>
      <prop oor:name="DocumentService"><value>com.sun.star.text.TextDocument</value></prop>
      <prop oor:name="FilterService"><value>com.sun.star.comp.Writer.XmlFilterAdaptor</value></prop>
      <prop oor:name="UIComponent"/>
      <prop oor:name="UserData"><value>com.sun.star.documentconversion.XMergeBridge classes/pocketword.jar com.sun.star.comp.Writer.XMLImporter com.sun.star.comp.Writer.XMLExporter staroffice/sxw application/x-pocket-word</value></prop>
      <prop oor:name="TemplateName"/>
      <prop oor:name="Flags"><value>IMPORT EXPORT ALIEN 3RDPARTYFILTER</value></prop>
   </node>
Documentation note.png This filter uses the XMLFilterAdaptor service. The "UserData" property is a space-separated list where the first list element denotes the XMLImportFilter to be instantiated and the third one and fourth one are service names of DocumentHandlers for import and export. Further parameters depend on the XMLImportFilter used.

Sample configuration for an xslt based filter

  <!-- Filter section -->
  <node oor:name="MediaWiki" oor:op="replace">
      <prop oor:name="FileFormatVersion"><value>0</value></prop>
          <prop oor:name="Type"><value>MediaWiki</value></prop>
          <prop oor:name="DocumentService"><value>com.sun.star.text.TextDocument</value></prop>
          <prop oor:name="UIComponent"/>
          <prop oor:name="UserData"><value oor:separator=",">com.sun.star.documentconversion.XSLTFilter,,,com.sun.star.comp.Writer.XMLOasisExporter,,../share/xslt/wiki/odt2mediawiki.xsl</value></prop>
          <prop oor:name="FilterService"><value>com.sun.star.comp.Writer.XmlFilterAdaptor</value></prop>
          <prop oor:name="UIName">
              <value xml:lang="x-default">MediaWiki</value>
          </prop>
          <prop oor:name="Flags"><value>EXPORT ALIEN 3RDPARTYFILTER</value></prop>
        </node>
Documentation note.png This filter uses the XMLFilterAdaptor service. The "UserData" property is a space-separated list where the first list element denotes the XMLImportFilter to be instantiated and the third one and fourth one are service names of DocumentHandlers for import and export. Further parameters depend on the XMLImportFilter used.

Here the XMLFilter used is the com.sun.star.documentconversion.XSLTFilter that bridges to xslt files and basically can import and export if a suitable xslt is provided. It expects the following parameters in the user data ($(APP) stands for Writer,Calc,Draw,Impress,Chart,Math):

(1) service name of the XSLTFilter
(3) implementation/service name of an importer class (com.sun.star.comp.$(APP).XMLOasisImporter)
(4) implementation/service name of an exporter class (com.sun.star.comp.$(APP).XMLOasisExporter)
(5) relative or absolute path name to an importing style sheet
(6) relative or absolute path name to an importing style sheet
Documentation note.png Older xslt based filters might have used the pre-ODF file format of OpenOffice.org. They used importer and exporter class without "Oasis" in their names.
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