How to preview any files inside a Java application ?

Question

I'm using a JTree to browse the content of a folder and I want that when a user click on a file, the software shows a preview of it (a screenshot of its first page).

The files are mostly Office documents and PDF.

I manage to do it for PDF file using a module downloaded from Sun, but I'd like to know if there is a way to do it using any software (JARs preferably) or even the built-in Windows API.

I was thinking of converting the file to PDF then do a preview of this PDF but this isn't optimal.

Any ideas ?

Answer 1

I asked this a long time ago: solution