SB Script/Macro to extract comments from odt to csv/ods

[kritadhi]

Hello everyone,

I want to extract comments from a .odt file and create a csv/ods file out of the following extracted fields:

Section number (if present)
Text on which comment was given
Reviewer's name
Comment

I know one way is to 1) Convert .odt to .zip 2) Unzip .zip 3) Parse contents.xml. Not so good at xml.

Can this be done using a macro/StarBasic script in Open-office?

Please help.

Thanks

[MrProgrammer]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I'm sure you can do this, but it will presumably require a macro if you don't want to extract the data from contents.xml, and writing macros requires quite a bit of study. I think that people typically suggest a couple of months is needed to write non-trivial macros. If you want to go that route see http://www.pitonyak.org/AndrewMacro.odt, section 7.29.1. (Enumerate text fields) where he displays a macro that seems to be close to what you might need. I believe the service of interest is com.sun.star.text.TextField.Annotation. It is not obvious to me how one would determine which section the comment is in. This is no doubt something that doesn't require much coding and will appear simple once one understands how documents are organized internally, but text documents are not simple and acquiring that understanding is what requires all the study. You could also search the Customizing and Extending section of this forum for relevant topics.

[kritadhi]

Thanks a lot for the direction..

I could write up this much.. just wanted to see if I can read the annotations from the document

Code: Select all   Expand viewCollapse view

Sub ExtractAnnotations(Optional oUseDoc)
  Dim oDoc      'Document to use.
  Dim s$        'Generic string variable.
  Dim nUnknown% 'Count the unexpected field types.
  Dim oEnum     'Enumeration of the text fields.
  Dim oField    'Enumerated text field.

  If IsMissing(oUseDoc) Then
    oDoc = ThisComponent
  Else
    oDoc = oUseDoc
  End If

  oEnum = oDoc.getTextFields().createEnumeration()
  If IsNull(oEnum) Then
    Print "getTextFields().createEnumeration() returns NULL"
    Exit Sub
  End If

  Do While oEnum.hasMoreElements()
    oField = oEnum.nextElement()
    If oField.supportsService("com.sun.star.text.TextField.Annotation") Then
      s = s & oField.Author & oField.Content
      MsgBox s, 0, "Text Fields"
      s = ""
    Else
      nUnknown = nUnknown + 1
    End If
  Loop

  If nUnknown > 0 Then Print "Found "  & nUnknown & " unexpected field types"

End Sub

It gives error "Found 535 unexpected field types". I have some comments embedded in the document in which the macro is. Any idea why the macro is not detecting the annotations?

[kritadhi]

My mistake. The code that I wrote works.. as in, it displays all the annotations one by one Now target is to create CSV out of it.

How to read the following is still a mystery

- Section number (if present)
- Text on which comment was given

[kritadhi]

I reached here....

Code: Select all   Expand viewCollapse view

REM Author: Kritadhi Chakraborty
Sub ExtractAnnotations(Optional oUseDoc)
  Dim oDoc      'Document to use.
  Dim s$        'Generic string variable.
  Dim n%        'Count the number of Annotation text fields.
  Dim oEnum     'Enumeration of the text fields.
  Dim oField    'Enumerated text field.
  Dim FileName As String
  Dim sDocURL
  Dim fileNo As Integer
  Dim oViewCursor 'Current view cursor
  Dim oAnchor
 
  If IsMissing(oUseDoc) Then
    oDoc = ThisComponent
  Else
    oDoc = oUseDoc
  End If
 
  'create file name
  If (Not GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.isLibraryLoaded("Tools")) Then
    GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.LoadLibrary("Tools")
  End If
 
  If (oDoc.hasLocation()) Then
    sDocURL = oDoc.getURL()
  End If
 
  Filename = ConvertToURL(CurDir) & "/" & FileNameoutofPath(sDocURL, "/") & ".csv"
 
  'MsgBox Filename, 0, "Filename"
 
  fileNo = FreeFile()
  Open FileName For Output Access Read Write As #fileNo

  Write #fileNo, "No,Filename,Page,Reviewer,Comment,Response"
 
  'main logic
  oEnum = oDoc.getTextFields().createEnumeration()
  If IsNull(oEnum) Then
    Print "getTextFields().createEnumeration() returns NULL"
    Exit Sub
  End If

  Do While oEnum.hasMoreElements()
    oField = oEnum.nextElement()

    If oField.supportsService("com.sun.star.text.TextField.Annotation") Then
      oAnchor = oField.getAnchor()

      ThisComponent.CurrentController.select(oField)
      oViewCursor = ThisComponent.getCurrentController().getViewCursor()
      oViewCursor.gotoRange(oAnchor, False)

      n = n + 1
      s = s & n & "," & FileNameoutofPath(sDocURL, "/") & "," & oViewCursor.getPage() & "," & oField.Author & "," & oField.Content
      'MsgBox s, 0, "Review Comment"
      Write #fileNo, s
      s = ""
    End If
 
  Loop
 
  MsgBox Filename, 0, "Review Comment Sheet"
 
  Close #fileNo

End Sub