Convert to M$FT formats with OpenOffice::OODoc?

[Your Mother]

I Googled around and found a decent example of creating Impress (the OpenOffice version of Powerpoint) files with OpenOffice::OODoc. What I can't seem to find or intuit from the code and docs is how to convert to Powerpoint. My conclusion is that it's not possible. I would love to be shown to be wrong.

Please someone tell me I'm wrong and there is some equivalent of the brilliant Spreadsheet::WriteExcel for Powerpoint which runs in *nix environments. So, OLE need not apply. :(

Though not a need this second, I'd love to be able to convert from .swx and friends to .doc too.

If this isn't directly possible in Perl-

1) Anyone have robust system level tricks for getting it from one to the other?

2) Preferred/possible way of doing Powerpoints from Perl? From template/xml? Any snippets, links, suggestions appreciated. Thanks as always!

[Anonymous Monk]

My conclusion is that it's not possible. I would love to be shown to be wrong.
You're correct, it is not possible using OpenOffice::OODoc. However, automating office doesn't require OLE.
$ Xvfb :0 &
$ DISPLAY=:0.0 soffice -invisible 'macro:///Standard.Conversion.SaveAsPPT(file:///tmp/doc.odp)'

[ysth]

I see some references to a Headless VCL plugin for openoffice.org. I'm guessing that removes the need for Xvfb.

[Your Mother]

Very nice. I even looked at that page already but didn't glean the right message. Thanks!

[gnosti]

It may be worth investigating Ooconvert, a command-line utility.

[~~David~~]

Here is some old code snippets for making PPT files:

# Create PowerPoint OLE server.
my $ppt = Win32::OLE->new( 'PowerPoint.Application', 'Quit' )or die "C
+an't create PowerPoint OLE: $!\n";
    $ppt->{Visible} = 1;
    my $pres = $ppt->Presentations->Add();

#######  SLIDE #1:  INSPECTION NAME
    $Slide = $pres->Slides ->Add({Index=>"$slideIndex" , Layout=>ppLay
+outTitle});
    $Title=$Slide->Shapes->{Title};
    $Title->TextFrame->TextRange->{Text} ="INSP $level Inspection";
    #$SubTitle=
    $Slide->Shapes->Placeholders(2)->Delete;
    #$SubTitle->TextFrame->TextRange->{Text} ="INSP Comments\:";

#######  SLIDE #2:  SPC CHARTS
    $spc_img = "$path\\charts\\INSP\\"."$level"."\.jpg";
    $slideIndex++;
    $Slide = $pres->Slides ->Add({Index=>"$slideIndex" , Layout=>ppLay
+outTitleOnly});
    $Title=$Slide->Shapes->{Title};
    $Title->TextFrame->TextRange->{Text} ="$level SPC Charts";
    
    $picture_spc = $Slide->Shapes->AddPicture({
        FileName => "$spc_img",
        LinkToFile => 0,
        SaveWithDocument => 1,
        Left =>0,
        Top => 55,
        Width => 720,
        Height => 450    
        });
    $TextBox=$Slide->Shapes->AddTextbox({Orientation=>1, 
                                          Left=>50, 
                                          Top=>500,
                                          Width=>650,
                                          Height=>30});
                                      
    $TextBox->TextFrame->TextRange->{Text} ="Trend Comments:";
    
    
    $WeekBox = $Slide->Shapes->AddShape({Type => '1', 
                                          Left=>600, 
                                          Top=>87,
                                          Width=>100,
                                          Height=>385});
    $WeekBox->Fill->ForeColor->{RGB} = (RGB(0,0,255));
    $WeekBox->Fill->{Transparency} = (0.8);
    $WeekBox->Line->{Weight} = (2.25);