How to create a sidebar panel in OpenOffice?

Question

I want to create an OpenOffice.org plug-in that adds a sidebar. I have successfully installed OpenOffice.org, OpenOffice.org SDK and NetBeans OpenOffice plug-in.

I am familiar with Java, AWT and Swing, so no need to explain these concepts to me.

Now, I want to create a sidebar Panel(or JPanel) in OpenOffice.org Writer application. How can I do this? It would be in the left and fill all available height(while using a fixed width).

Any idea on how to implement this? I have no OpenOffice.org plug-in past experience. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

I don't know if there's an easy answer for this. OO.o provides their dev guide here. It appears once you create an UNO component to their spec you can use:

Arbitrary objects written in Java or C++ [and then] can be called from the user interface, display their own GUI, and work with the entire application.

That sounds like what you want to do. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

This is currently not possible through the OpenOffice.org API. You can create menus, toolbars and dialogs. You cannot create dockable windows or panels via UNO. See: GUI Chapter in the Dev Guide.

Exposing this capability through the API is under active development and I suggest you join the [email protected] mailing list to stay on top of things.

The specific feature you asked for was already discussed there and it was suggested that it would be made available with a future update to OpenOffice 3.0. See post in the list archive.