Apache POI PPT - Overview

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Many a time, a software application is required to generate reports in Microsoft Office file format. Sometimes, an application is even expected to receive MS- Office files as input data.

Any Java programmer who wants to produce MS Office files as output must use a predefined and read-only API to do so.

What is Apache POI?

Apache POI is a popular API that allows programmers to create, modify, and display MS-Office files using Java programs. It is an open source library developed and distributed by Apache Software Foundation. It contains classes and methods to decode the user input data, or a file into MS Office documents.

Components of Apache POI

Apache POI contains classes and methods to work on all OLE2 Compound documents of MS-Office. The list of components of this API is given below −

  • POIFS (Poor Obfuscation Implementation File System) − This component is the basic factor of all other POI elements. It is used to read different files explicitly.

  • HSSF (Horrible SpreadSheet Format) − It is used to read and write .xls format of MS-Excel files.

  • XSSF (XML SpreadSheet Format) − It is used for .xlsx file format of MS-Excel.

  • HPSF (Horrible Property Set Format) − It is used to extract property sets of the MS-Office files.

  • HWPF (Horrible Word Processor Format) − It is used to read and write .doc extension files of MS-Word.

  • XWPF (XML Word Processor Format) − It is used to read and write .docx extension files of MS-Word.

  • HSLF (Horrible Slide Layout Format) − It is used to read, create, and edit PowerPoint presentations.

  • HDGF (Horrible DiaGram Format) − It contains classes and methods for MS-Visio binary files.

  • HPBF (Horrible PuBlisher Format) − It is used to read and write MS-Publisher files.

This tutorial guides you through the process of working on Microsoft PowerPoint presentation using Java. Therefore the discussion is confined to XSLF component.

Note − Older versions of POI support binary file formats such as doc, xls, ppt, etc. Version 3.5 onwards, POI supports OOXML file formats of MS-Office such as docx, xlsx, pptx, etc.

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