poi/src/documentation/content/xdocs/index.xml

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<document>
  <header>
    <title>Apache POI - Java API To Access Microsoft Format Files</title>
    <authors>
      <person id="AO" name="Andrew C. Oliver" email="acoliver@apache.org"/>
      <person id="GJS" name="Glen Stampoultzis" email="user@poi.apache.org"/>
      <person id="AS" name="Avik Sengupta" email="user@poi.apache.org"/>
      <person id="RK" name="Rainer Klute" email="klute@apache.org"/>
    </authors>
  </header>

  <body>
    <section><title>February 06 2008 - POI 3.0.2 Released</title>
      <p>The POI team is pleased to announce POI 3.0.2, the latest release of Apache POI.
        There have been many important bug fixes since the 3.0.1 release and a lot of new features.  A full list of changes	is available in 
      <link href="./changes.html">the changelog</link>, and 
		<link href="http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/poi/release/">download</link>
		the source and binaries from your
    <link href="http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/poi/release/">local mirror</link>.
  </p>
    <p>
      The release is also available from the central Maven repository under Group ID "org.apache.poi" and Version "3.0.2-FINAL".
    </p>  
  </section>

  <section><title>POI 3.0.1 Release</title>
	  <p>The latest release of Apache POI (formerly Apache Jakarta POI),
		version 3.0.1, has now been released. It contains a mixture of
		new features and bug fixes, compared to 3.0. A full list of changes
		is available in 
		<link href="./changes.html">the changelog</link>, and 
		<link href="http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/poi/release/">download</link>
		the source and binaries from your
		<link href="http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/poi/release/">local mirror</link>.</p>
      <p>We would also like to confirm that verions 3.0 and 3.0.1 of Apache 
		POI do
		<em>not</em> contain any viruses. Users of broken virus checkers
		which do detect a 94 byte file, sci_cec.db, as containing one are
		advised to contact their vendor for a fix.</p>
	</section>

    <section><title>Purpose</title>
      <p>
      The POI project consists of APIs for manipulating various file formats
      based upon Microsoft's OLE 2 Compound Document format using pure Java.  In short, you can
      read and write MS Excel files using Java.  Soon, you'll be able to read and write 
      Word files using Java.  POI is your Java Excel solution as well as your Java Word solution.
      However, we have a complete API for porting other OLE 2 Compound Document formats and welcome
      others to participate.
      </p>
      <p>
      OLE 2 Compound Document Format based files include most Microsoft Office
      files such as XLS and DOC as well as MFC serialization API based file formats.
      </p>
      <p>
         As a general policy we try to collaborate as much as possible with other projects to
         provide this functionality.  Examples include: <link href="http://xml.apache.org/cocoon">Cocoon</link> for
         which there are serializers for HSSF;
         <link href="http://www.openoffice.org">Open Office.org</link> with whom we collaborate in documenting the
         XLS format; and <link href="http://lucene.apache.org/">Lucene</link> 
         for which we provide format interpretors.  When practical, we donate 
         components directly to those projects for POI-enabling them.
      </p>
      <section><title>Why/when would I use POI?</title>
        <p>
 		We'll tackle this on a component level. POI refers to the whole project.
        </p>
        <p>
		So why should you use POIFS or HSSF?
        </p>
        <p>
		You'd use POIFS if you had a document written in OLE 2 Compound Document Format, probably written using
		MFC, that you needed to read in Java. Alternatively, you'd use POIFS to write OLE 2 Compound Document Format
		if you needed to inter-operate with software running on the Windows platform. We are not just bragging when
		we say that POIFS is the most complete and correct implementation of this file format to date!
        </p>
        <p>
		You'd use HSSF if you needed to read or write an Excel file using Java (XLS). You can also read and modify
		spreadsheets using this API, although right now writing is more mature.
        </p>
      </section>
    </section>


    <section><title>Components To Date</title>
        <section><title>Overview</title>
	<p>The following are components of the entire POI project and a brief
	  summary of their purpose.</p>
        </section>
        <section><title>POIFS for OLE 2 Documents</title>
             <p>POIFS is the oldest and most stable part of the project.  It is our port of the OLE 2 Compound Document Format to
             pure Java.  It supports both read and write functionality.  All of our components ultimately rely on it by
             definition.  Please see <link href="./poifs/index.html">the POIFS project page</link> for more information.</p>
        </section>
        <section><title>HSSF for Excel Documents</title>
             <p>HSSF is our port of the Microsoft Excel 97(-2003) file format (BIFF8) to pure Java.  It supports read and write
             capability.  Please see <link href="./hssf/index.html">the HSSF project page</link> for more information.</p>
        </section>
        <section><title>HWPF for Word Documents</title>
	<p>HWPF is our port of the Microsoft Word 97 file format to pure
	  Java.  It supports read, and limited write capabilities. Please see <link
	    href="./hwpf/index.html">the HWPF project page for more
	    information</link>.  This component is in the early stages of
	  development. It can already read and write simple files.</p>
	<p>Presently we are looking for a contributor to foster the HWPF
	  development. Jump in!</p>
        </section>
        <section><title>HSLF for PowerPoint Documents</title>
	<p>HSLF is our port of the Microsoft PowerPoint 97(-2003) file format to pure
	  Java. It supports read and write capabilities of some, but not yet all
      of the core records. Please see <link
	    href="./hslf/index.html">the HSLF project page for more
	    information</link>.</p>
        </section>
        <section><title>HDGF for Visio Documents</title>
	<p>HDGF is our port of the Microsoft Viso 97(-2003) file format to pure
	  Java. It currently only supports reading at a very low level, and
      simple text extraction. Please see <link
	    href="./hdgf/index.html">the HDGF project page for more
	    information</link>.</p>
        </section>
        <section><title>HPSF for Document Properties</title>
	<p>HPSF is our port of the OLE 2 property set format to pure
	  Java. Property sets are mostly use to store a document's properties
	  (title, author, date of last modification etc.), but they can be used
	  for application-specific purposes as well.</p>

	<p>HPSF supports reading and writing of properties. However, you will
      need to be using version 3.0 of POI to utilise the write support.</p>

	<p>Please see <link href="./hpsf/index.html">the HPSF project
	    page</link> for more information.</p>
        </section>

     </section>

    <section><title>Contributing </title>
        <p>
		So you'd like to contribute to the project? Great! We need enthusiastic, hard-working, talented folks to help
		us on the project in several areas. The first is bug reports and feature requests! The second is documentation -
		we'll be at your every beck and call if you've got a critique or you'd like to contribute or otherwise improve
		the documentation. We could especially use some help documenting the HSSF file format! Last, but not least, we
		could use some binary crunching Java coders to chew through the complexity that characterizes Microsoft's file
		formats and help us port new ones to a superior Java platform!
        </p>
        <p>So if you're motivated, ready, and have the time, join the mail lists and we'll be happy to help you get started on the
           project!
        </p>


    </section>
  </body>
  <footer>
    <legal>
      Copyright (c) @year@ The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved.
      $Revision$ $Date$
    </legal>
  </footer>
</document>

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