OpenOffice File Converter Macro

Some time back I published an entry showing how to execute a Open Office macro from the command line. This opens the possibilities of batch processing files, the original reason I started pursuing this. Authoring a series of publications stored in odt format allows storing in native file format. Unfortunately, since this file format is far from a conventional standard this is only useful if I can convert them to a more recognized standard (like pdf).

The macro defined below accepts a file name as an argument, converts it to an associated Pdf file and exits.

REM  *****  BASIC  *****

Sub SaveAsPDF( cFile )

'   cFile = "/home/lipeltgm/sample.odt"
  cURL = ConvertToURL( cFile )
  oDoc = StarDesktop.loadComponentFromURL( ConvertToUrl( cFile ), "_blank", 0, Array())
  cFile = Left( cFile, Len( cFile ) - 4 ) + ".pdf"
  cURL = ConvertToURL( cFile )
  oDoc.storeToURL( ConvertToUrl( cFile ), Array(MakePropertyValue( "FilterName", "writer_pdf_Export" )))
  Shell("pkill soffice.bin")
End Sub

Function MakePropertyValue( Optional cName As String, Optional uValue ) As com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
  Dim oPropertyValue As New com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
  If Not IsMissing( cName ) Then
     oPropertyValue.Name = cName
  EndIf
  If Not IsMissing( uValue ) Then
     oPropertyValue.Value = uValue
  EndIf
  MakePropertyValue() = oPropertyValue
End Function

Execute the macro from the command line as follows:

$ soffice -invisible "macro:///Standard.Module1.SaveAsPDF(/home/myUser/sample.odt)"

It's worth noting that the 3rd '/' in 'macro:///' implies the root directory of the application, in this instance the root directory.