Is there an RTF display widget in SWT

I would like to display an RTF document in an SWT (actually Eclipse RCP) application.

I know there is a Swing widget for displaying and editing RTF text, but it is Swing and quite alien in look and feel when used in the otherwise platform (not to mention that to the last of my knowledge it did not display images and had only limited support for formatting)

Other options is to use COM interface on windows, but that works only on the windows platform and requires that an ActiveX RichEdit contol be installed on the customer machine... which can make the deployment of the application quite horrendous...

What are the other options for displaying rich documents inside Eclipse/SWT application?

From stackoverflow

• You may use swt.custom.StyledText. That has many features to change the look of the text. But I don't think it can load or save RTF right now.

  I once wrote an HTML editor with it, but it is quite difficult, since the StyledText model to add styles to a part of the text is so alien compared to the way HTML/RTF works.

  AFAIK you can directly print from this control, which internally creates an RTF representation of the contents. But that's not exactly what you asked for.

  Heath Borders : StyledText will save RTF to the clipboard if copied. A total hack way to get the RTF values would be to select all, copy, and extract the RTF value from the clipboard.

  Roland Tepp : Yesm you are right, it is not what I asked. StyledText can only copy text to clipboard as RTF and does not handle RTF as an input at all... Using StyledText as a base for RTF viewer/editor would probably be one way to start, but as a widget itself, it is not what I wanted...

• I'm not sure of a way to do it without using ActiveX. If you do go this direction you might want to look into the IBM Container for ActiveX Documents, which is supposed to allow better integration of documents.

  Roland Tepp : What we have now come up with is halfway what I wanted. Basically we used JNI to call upon native Windows RTF control (the one used by WodPad) - this way we don't have to worry about nasty ActiveX deployment issues, but still it's a hack

• Why not first read the RTF text into a StyledDocument using the RTFEditorKit and then writing the StyledDocument to a StringWriter using the HTMLEditorKit?

  String rtf = "whatever";
  BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new StringReader(rtf));
  
  RTFEditorKit rtfKit = new RTFEditorKit();
  StyledDocument doc = (StyledDocument) rtfKit.createDefaultDocument();
  rtfEdtrKt.read( input, doc, 0 );
  input.close();
  
  HTMLEditorKit htmlKit = new HTMLEditorKit();       
  StringWriter output = new StringWriter();
  htmlKit.write( output, doc, 0, doc.getLength());
  
  String html = output.toString();
  

  And then display the HTML?

  Roland Tepp : Nice hack ... although I am bit afraid of how does this conversion play along with various tab stop options we presently use in our RTF documents.

• You might want to use the Swing control with the AWT/SWT bridge. I used this to embed OpenOffice into an SWT app:

  package ooswtviewer;
  
  import java.awt.Panel;
  
  import com.sun.star.awt.XView;
  import com.sun.star.beans.Property;
  import com.sun.star.beans.UnknownPropertyException;
  import com.sun.star.beans.XPropertySet;
  import com.sun.star.comp.beans.Frame;
  import com.sun.star.comp.beans.NoConnectionException;
  import com.sun.star.comp.beans.OOoBean;
  import com.sun.star.comp.beans.OfficeDocument;
  import com.sun.star.drawing.XDrawView;
  import com.sun.star.frame.XController;
  import com.sun.star.frame.XDesktop;
  import com.sun.star.frame.XFrame;
  import com.sun.star.frame.XFramesSupplier;
  import com.sun.star.frame.XLayoutManager;
  import com.sun.star.frame.XModel;
  import com.sun.star.lang.WrappedTargetException;
  import com.sun.star.ui.XUIElement;
  import com.sun.star.uno.Any;
  import com.sun.star.uno.UnoRuntime;
  import com.sun.star.uno.XInterface;
  import com.sun.star.view.XViewSettingsSupplier;
  
  /**
   * Code based on example from http://www.eclipsezone.com/eclipse/forums/t48966.html
   * 
   * @author Aaron digulla
   */
  public class OOoSwtViewer extends Panel
  {
      private static final String RESOURCE_TOOLBAR_TEXTOBJECTBAR = "private:resource/toolbar/textobjectbar";
      private static final String RESOURCE_TOOLBAR_STANDARDBAR = "private:resource/toolbar/standardbar";
      private static final String RESOURCE_MENUBAR = "private:resource/menubar/menubar";
  
      private static final long serialVersionUID = -1408623115735065822L;
  
      private OOoBean aBean;
  
      public OOoSwtViewer()
      {
          super();
          aBean = new OOoBean();
          setLayout(new java.awt.BorderLayout());
          add(aBean, java.awt.BorderLayout.CENTER);
  
          aBean.setAllBarsVisible (false);
      }
  
      public XPropertySet getXPropertySet ()
      {
          return getXPropertySet (getFrame ());
      }
  
      public XPropertySet getXPropertySet (Object o)
      {
          return (XPropertySet)UnoRuntime.queryInterface (XPropertySet.class, o);
      }
  
      public Frame getFrame ()
      {
          try
          {
              return aBean.getFrame ();
          }
          catch (NoConnectionException e)
          {
              throw new OOException ("Error getting frame from bean", e);
          }
      }
  
      public XLayoutManager getXLayoutManager ()
      {
          try
          {
              return (XLayoutManager)UnoRuntime.queryInterface (XLayoutManager.class, getXPropertySet ().getPropertyValue ("LayoutManager"));
          }
          catch (Exception e)
          {
              throw new OOException ("Error getting LayoutManager from bean's properties", e);
          }        
      }
  
      public void setMenuBarVisible (boolean visible)
      {
          if (visible)
              getXLayoutManager ().showElement (RESOURCE_MENUBAR);
          else
              getXLayoutManager ().hideElement (RESOURCE_MENUBAR);
      }
  
      public void setStandardBarVisible (boolean visible)
      {
          if (visible)
              getXLayoutManager ().showElement (RESOURCE_TOOLBAR_STANDARDBAR);
          else
              getXLayoutManager ().hideElement (RESOURCE_TOOLBAR_STANDARDBAR);
      }
  
      public void setTextObjectBarVisible (boolean visible)
      {
          if (visible)
              getXLayoutManager ().showElement (RESOURCE_TOOLBAR_TEXTOBJECTBAR);
          else
              getXLayoutManager ().hideElement (RESOURCE_TOOLBAR_TEXTOBJECTBAR);
      }
  
  
      private Thread loadThread;
      private Exception loadException;
  
      public void setDocument(final String url)
      {
          loadThread = new Thread () {
              public void run() {
                  try
                  {
                      aBean.loadFromURL(url, null);
                      aBean.aquireSystemWindow();
  
                      setTextObjectBarVisible (false);
  
  //                    for (XUIElement e: getXLayoutManager ().getElements ())
  //                    {
  //                        XInterface i = (XInterface)e.getRealInterface ();
  //                        System.out.println (e);
  //                        System.out.println (i);
  //                        printProperties (getXPropertySet (e));
  //                    }
  
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("frame:");
                      printProperties (getXPropertySet ());
  
  frame:
  Title=test - OpenOffice.org Writer 
  IndicatorInterception=Any[Type[com.sun.star.task.XStatusIndicator], null]
  LayoutManager=Any[Type[com.sun.star.frame.XLayoutManager], [Proxy:26506390,717ea70;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.frame.XLayoutManager]]]
  DispatchRecorderSupplier=Any[Type[com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchRecorderSupplier], null]
  IsHidden=false
                      */
  
                      XController controller = aBean.getDocument ().getCurrentController ();
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("controller:");
                      printProperties (getXPropertySet (controller));
  
  controller:
  IsConstantSpellcheck=true
  IsHideSpellMarks=false
  LineCount=1
  PageCount=1
                      */
  
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("layoutManager:");
                      printProperties (getXPropertySet (getXLayoutManager ()));
  
  layoutManager:
  AutomaticToolbars=true
  HideCurrentUI=false
  LockCount=0
  MenuBarCloser=true
  RefreshContextToolbarVisibility=false
                      */
  
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("document:");
                      printProperties (getXPropertySet (aBean.getDocument ()));
                      OfficeDocument doc = aBean.getDocument ();
  ApplyFormDesignMode=false
  ApplyWorkaroundForB6375613=false
  AutomaticControlFocus=false
  BasicLibraries=Any[Type[com.sun.star.script.XLibraryContainer], [Proxy:14806696,73ca178;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.script.XLibraryContainer]]]
  BuildId=680$9310
  CharFontCharSet=1
  CharFontCharSetAsian=1
  CharFontCharSetComplex=1
  CharFontFamily=3
  CharFontFamilyAsian=6
  CharFontFamilyComplex=6
  CharFontName=Times New Roman
  CharFontNameAsian=Arial Unicode MS
  CharFontNameComplex=Tahoma
  CharFontPitch=2
  CharFontPitchAsian=2
  CharFontPitchComplex=2
  CharFontStyleName=
  CharFontStyleNameAsian=
  CharFontStyleNameComplex=
  CharLocale=com.sun.star.lang.Locale@fb6354
  CharacterCount=20
  DialogLibraries=Any[Type[com.sun.star.script.XLibraryContainer], [Proxy:3556929,73a39c0;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.script.XLibraryContainer]]]
  ForbiddenCharacters=Any[Type[com.sun.star.i18n.XForbiddenCharacters], [Proxy:11544872,7669148;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.i18n.XForbiddenCharacters]]]
  HasValidSignatures=false
  HideFieldTips=false
  IndexAutoMarkFileURL=
  LockUpdates=false
  ParagraphCount=1
  RecordChanges=false
  RedlineDisplayType=2
  RedlineProtectionKey=[B@f593af
  RuntimeUID=10
  ShowChanges=true
  TwoDigitYear=1930
  WordCount=5
  WordSeparator=()        
                      */
  
  //                    System.out.println ("viewData:");
  //                    printProperties (getXPropertySet (controller.getFrame ().getContainerWindow ()));
  
                      XViewSettingsSupplier settingsSupplier = (XViewSettingsSupplier)UnoRuntime.queryInterface (XViewSettingsSupplier.class, controller);
  //                    System.out.println ("settingsSupplier:");
  //                    printProperties (settingsSupplier.getViewSettings ());
                      settingsSupplier.getViewSettings ().setPropertyValue ("ShowVertRuler", Boolean.FALSE);
                      settingsSupplier.getViewSettings ().setPropertyValue ("ShowHoriRuler", Boolean.FALSE);
                      // Switch to Web Layout. This layout mode comes without gray border and the page borders automatically adujst to the frame
                      settingsSupplier.getViewSettings ().setPropertyValue ("ShowOnlineLayout", Boolean.TRUE);
  //                    settingsSupplier.getViewSettings ().setPropertyValue ("ShowTextBoundaries", Boolean.TRUE);
  
  //                    XView view = (XView)UnoRuntime.queryInterface (XView.class, getFrame ());
  //                    System.out.println ("drawView="+view);
  //                    printProperties (getXPropertySet (view));
  
                      /*
                      XModel model = (XModel)UnoRuntime.queryInterface (XModel.class, doc);
                      printProperties ("model", model);
  
                      Same as getDocument()
                      */
  
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("Interfaces implemented by aBean.getDocument():");
                      for (Class c: OOoInspector.queryInterface (aBean.getDocument ()))
                          System.out.println ("    "+c.getName ());
      com.sun.star.datatransfer.XTransferable
      com.sun.star.document.XDocumentInfoSupplier
      com.sun.star.document.XDocumentLanguages
      com.sun.star.document.XDocumentSubStorageSupplier
      com.sun.star.document.XEmbeddedScripts
      com.sun.star.document.XEventBroadcaster
      com.sun.star.document.XEventsSupplier
      com.sun.star.document.XLinkTargetSupplier
      com.sun.star.document.XRedlinesSupplier
      com.sun.star.document.XStorageBasedDocument
      com.sun.star.document.XViewDataSupplier
      com.sun.star.drawing.XDrawPageSupplier
      com.sun.star.embed.XVisualObject
      com.sun.star.frame.XLoadable
      com.sun.star.frame.XModel
      com.sun.star.frame.XModel2
      com.sun.star.frame.XModule
      com.sun.star.frame.XStorable
      com.sun.star.frame.XStorable2
      com.sun.star.script.provider.XScriptProviderSupplier
      com.sun.star.style.XAutoStylesSupplier
      com.sun.star.style.XStyleFamiliesSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XBookmarksSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XChapterNumberingSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XDocumentIndexesSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XEndnotesSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XFootnotesSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XLineNumberingProperties
      com.sun.star.text.XNumberingRulesSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XPagePrintable
      com.sun.star.text.XReferenceMarksSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XTextDocument
      com.sun.star.text.XTextEmbeddedObjectsSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XTextFieldsSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XTextFramesSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XTextGraphicObjectsSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XTextSectionsSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XTextTablesSupplier
      com.sun.star.ui.XUIConfigurationManagerSupplier
      com.sun.star.util.XCloseable
      com.sun.star.util.XCloseBroadcaster
      com.sun.star.util.XLinkUpdate
      com.sun.star.util.XModifiable
      com.sun.star.util.XModifiable2
      com.sun.star.util.XModifyBroadcaster
      com.sun.star.util.XNumberFormatsSupplier
      com.sun.star.util.XRefreshable
      com.sun.star.util.XReplaceable
      com.sun.star.util.XSearchable
      com.sun.star.view.XPrintable
      com.sun.star.view.XPrintJobBroadcaster
      com.sun.star.view.XRenderable
      com.sun.star.xforms.XFormsSupplier
                      */
  
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("Interfaces implemented by controller:");
                      for (Class c: OOoInspector.queryInterface (controller))
                          System.out.println ("    "+c.getName ());
  
      com.sun.star.awt.XUserInputInterception
      com.sun.star.datatransfer.XTransferableSupplier
      com.sun.star.frame.XController
      com.sun.star.frame.XControllerBorder
      com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchInformationProvider
      com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchProvider
      com.sun.star.task.XStatusIndicatorSupplier
      com.sun.star.text.XRubySelection
      com.sun.star.text.XTextViewCursorSupplier
      com.sun.star.ui.XContextMenuInterception
      com.sun.star.view.XControlAccess
      com.sun.star.view.XFormLayerAccess
      com.sun.star.view.XSelectionSupplier
      com.sun.star.view.XViewSettingsSupplier
                      */
  
                      /*
                      System.out.println ("Interfaces implemented by frame:");
                      for (Class c: OOoInspector.queryInterface (getFrame ()))
                          System.out.println ("    "+c.getName ());
  
      com.sun.star.awt.XFocusListener
      com.sun.star.awt.XTopWindowListener
      com.sun.star.awt.XWindowListener
      com.sun.star.document.XActionLockable
      com.sun.star.frame.XComponentLoader
      com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchInformationProvider
      com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchProvider
      com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchProviderInterception
      com.sun.star.frame.XFrame
      com.sun.star.frame.XFramesSupplier
      com.sun.star.task.XStatusIndicatorFactory
      com.sun.star.util.XCloseable
      com.sun.star.util.XCloseBroadcaster
                      */
  
                      /*
                      XFramesSupplier frames = OOoInspector.queryInterface (XFramesSupplier.class, getFrame ());
                      printProperties ("frames", frames);
  
                      for (int i=0; i<frames.getFrames ().getCount (); i++)
                      {
                          XFrame frame = (XFrame)frames.getFrames ().getByIndex (i);
                          printProperties ("Frame "+i, frame);
                      }
  
  frames=[Proxy:16382237,6ace84c;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.frame.XFramesSupplier]]
  Title=test - OpenOffice.org Writer 
  IndicatorInterception=Any[Type[com.sun.star.task.XStatusIndicator], null]
  LayoutManager=Any[Type[com.sun.star.frame.XLayoutManager], [Proxy:22149392,76bd794;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.frame.XLayoutManager]]]
  DispatchRecorderSupplier=Any[Type[com.sun.star.frame.XDispatchRecorderSupplier], null]
  IsHidden=false
                      */
                      XPropertySet p = getXPropertySet (getFrame ());
                      Any any = (Any)p.getPropertyValue ("LayoutManager");
                      System.out.println (any);
                      System.out.println (any.getClass ().getName ());
                      XLayoutManager layoutManager = (XLayoutManager)any.getObject ();
                      printProperties ("layoutManager", layoutManager);
  
  
                      /*
                      printProperties ("containerWindow", getFrame ().getContainerWindow ());
  
  containerWindow=[Proxy:11970262,6d33e60;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.awt.XWindow]]
  null
                      */
  
                      /*
                      printProperties ("componentWindow", getFrame ().getComponentWindow ());
  
  componentWindow=[Proxy:25380515,8657cc4;msci[0];342169f1a1164ee688893a857f65b3e1,Type[com.sun.star.awt.XWindow]]
  null
                      */
                  }
                  catch (Exception e)
                  {
                      e.printStackTrace ();
                  }
              }
          };
          if (1 == 1)
              loadThread.start ();
          else
              loadThread.run ();
      }
  
      /** closes the bean viewer and tries to terminate OOo.
       */
      public void terminate() throws NoConnectionException {
          setVisible(false);
          XDesktop xDesktop = null;
          xDesktop = aBean.getOOoDesktop();
          aBean.stopOOoConnection();
          if (xDesktop != null)
              xDesktop.terminate();
      }
  
      /** closes the bean viewer, leaves OOo running.
       */
      public void close() {
          setVisible(false);
          aBean.stopOOoConnection();
      }
  
      public void printProperties (String name, Object obj)
      {
          System.out.println (name+"="+obj);
          if (obj != null)
              printProperties (getXPropertySet (obj));
      }
  
      public void printProperties (XPropertySet set)
      {
          if (set == null)
          {
              System.out.println ("null");
              return;
          }
  
          for (Property p: set.getPropertySetInfo ().getProperties ())
          {
              try
              {
                  System.out.println (p.Name+"="+set.getPropertyValue (p.Name));
              }
              catch (Exception e)
              {
                  throw new OOException ("Error getting value of property "+p.Name, e);
              }
          }
      }
  
  }
  

  You can use the control like this:

  package ooswtviewer;
  
  import java.awt.BorderLayout;
  import java.awt.Frame;
  import java.awt.Panel;
  import java.io.File;
  
  import javax.swing.JRootPane;
  
  import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
  import org.eclipse.swt.awt.SWT_AWT;
  import org.eclipse.swt.events.DisposeEvent;
  import org.eclipse.swt.events.DisposeListener;
  import org.eclipse.swt.layout.FillLayout;
  import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
  import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display;
  import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Shell;
  
  /**
   * Code based on example from http://www.eclipsezone.com/eclipse/forums/t48966.html
   * 
   * @author Aaron Digulla
   */
  public class OOoSwtSnippet {
      public static void main(String[] args) {
          OOoSwtSnippet obj = new OOoSwtSnippet ();
          try
          {
              obj.run (args);
          }
          catch (Exception e)
          {
              e.printStackTrace ();
          }
      }
  
      public void run (String[] args) throws Exception
      {
          final Display display = new Display();
          final Shell shell = new Shell(display);
          shell.setLayout(new FillLayout());
  
          Composite composite = new Composite(shell, SWT.NO_BACKGROUND
                  | SWT.EMBEDDED);
  
          System.setProperty("sun.awt.noerasebackground", "true");
  
          /* Create and setting up frame */
          Frame frame = SWT_AWT.new_Frame(composite);
          Panel panel = new Panel(new BorderLayout()) {
              public void update(java.awt.Graphics g) {
                  paint(g);
              }
          };
          frame.add(panel);
          JRootPane root = new JRootPane();
          panel.add(root);
          java.awt.Container contentPane = root.getContentPane();
  
          shell.setSize(800, 600);
          final OOoSwtViewer viewer = new OOoSwtViewer();
          contentPane.add(viewer);
  
          // viewer.setDocument(NEW_WRITTER_DOCUMENT);
          File document = new File ("test.odt");
          String url = document.getAbsoluteFile ().toURL ().toString ();
          url = "file:///" + url.substring (6);
          System.out.println ("Loading "+url);
          viewer.setDocument(url);
  
          shell.setText ("OOoSwtSnippet");
          shell.open();
          shell.addDisposeListener(new DisposeListener() {
              public void widgetDisposed(DisposeEvent e) {
                  try {
                      viewer.close();
                  } catch (RuntimeException exception) {
                      exception.printStackTrace();
                  }
              }
  
          });
          while (!shell.isDisposed()) {
              if (!display.readAndDispatch())
                  display.sleep();
          }
          display.dispose();
      }
  
  }
  

  OOException is a RuntimeException:

  package ooswtviewer;
  
  /**
   * Wrapper for all OO exceptions to keep throws clauses in check
   * 
   * @author Aaron Digulla
   */
  public class OOException extends RuntimeException
  {
  
      public OOException ()
      {
          super ();
      }
  
      public OOException (String message, Throwable cause)
      {
          super (message, cause);
      }
  
      public OOException (String message)
      {
          super (message);
      }
  
      public OOException (Throwable cause)
      {
          super (cause);
      }
  
  }
  

  Roland Tepp : Not really - I can't force everyone to install OOo alongside with my application and neither can I expect people to have OOo installed on every desktop (hell, even MS Office is not available on every target desktop)

  Aaron Digulla : I'm not sure how much "install" you'd have to do. It should be enough to have the JAR and all DLLs of the OO install in the application directory, set -Djava.library.path correctly and it should work.

  Roland Tepp : Still, this would pump up the already significant install package even more...

  Aaron Digulla : That you can do something doesn't mean you should. I'm giving you options; you must decide which option fits all those petty details which you didn't mention since you didn't want to spend three days on the question :)

• http://sites.google.com/site/anshunjain/eclipse-musings/eclipse-hacks/eclipse-richt-text-editor

• Actuall, I've just found another widget that is quite promising atm:

  http://onpositive.com/richtext