[Owncloud] [ITC] WebODF

[Matthew McKeen]

Hey all:
Last summer, I was experimenting with integrating webODF into ownCloud  
as an app.  I tried to both integrate it in as a proper application,  
and as a kind of viewer for .odx documents like the imageviewer app is  
currently, integrated into the main file manager.  The library worked  
great for the rendering of .odx documents, but in the case of editing  
and saving, it was in its infancy.  I decided that I would rather push  
a fully featured application, with even better rendering, as it had  
some bugs at the time, as well as something which included some  
editing capabilities.

I talked with the lead developer on the project over email and irc,  
and it seemed like editing was not his next goal as far as the project  
development went.  I plan on getting back into committing to ownCloud  
over my winter break from university, and will look back into how far  
webODF has come in its capabilities.  I still have some code around I  
think, and it shouldn't take me long at all to get a viewer working.   
If indeed webodf's editing features have improved however, one is  
still faced with the problem of poor binary upload support in modern  
js.  HTML5 should fix this, but as far as I know, the APIs for local  
storage and the likes are not pervasive throughout all browsers yet.   
I haven't programmed in these parts of the new HTML standard, so I  
couldn't tell if it is ready for production in an application yet, as  
far as storing any changes to the .odf document locally, so that  
should be a goal if we are to pursue this.  Yet .odx is really just a  
glorified xml document, so database storage in sqlite is also a  
possibility, although one which I would not prefer to a simple flat  
file.

I really hope we can get this great library into ownCloud, even the  
previewing, which is ready pretty much already, would be useful to  
users.

Thanks,
Matthew McKeen
mmckeen at ucla.edu

P.S. I was also one of the contributors to the webOS application.  I  
stopped when it seemed like webOS was going to die away.  I would  
rather put my efforts some place more meaningful if the demand is not  
there for a webOS client, however, I can help finish it if people  
think that it is of benefit to the project.