[OpenAFS] Volunteer Required: Microsoft Office Scripting

[David Steele]

For now I will leave out Access since the locking will not be quite 
right.  I'll work on this tomorrow and I should have it done by Friday 
evening at the latest.

-Dave

Jeffrey Altman wrote:
> David Steele wrote:
>   
>> Jeffrey,
>>
>> Evan Macbeth asked me if I'd take a look at this and I told him I
>> would.  I do need a few more details, however, before I can start.
>>
>> 1) Do you need the script to do Excel, Word, and Powerpoint or is just
>> one sufficient?
>>     
>
> Start with one but each of the applications does use the file system
> APIs slightly differently.  So eventually I would like to script all three.
>
>   
>> 2) AFAIK, only Access allows concurrent access to files.  Would you like
>> the script to include Access?
>>     
>
> I believe that Word at the very least will allow one user to access the
> file in a read-only manner while waiting for the editing user to close
> the file.
>
>   
>> 3) I assume you want the script to open a file, fiddle around with it
>> for a few minutes and then close it so that the instances on other
>> machines can get to it?  I'm sure that I can code the script to error
>> gracefully when the file is locked and have it go on to something else.
>>     
>
> In the case of Word, the script could open a source file.  Copy the
> contents.  Create a new file.  Insert the text.  Save the file.  Move
> blocks of text around.  Save the file again.  Close the file.  Open the
> file.  Move blocks of text once again.  Close the file.  Delete the file.
>
> For Excel, populating a spreadsheet with data imported from a CSV file
> would work.  Save the file.  Create a graph.  Save the file.  Add
> additional worksheets.  Repeat the import.  Save the file. Close the
> file.  Open the file.  Mess around a bit more.  Save the file.  Close
> the file.  Delete the file.
>
> For powerpoint.  Create a presentation.  Import generate a number of
> slides.  Save the file.  Add more slides.  Save the file.  Insert some
> pictures from source JPGs.  Save the file.  Close the file.  Open the
> file.  Play the slide show.  Close the file.  Delete the file.
>
> If you want to script operations in Access as well, that would certainly
> be useful.
>
> Note that given the current implementation of locking.  I don't expect
> multiple machines to be able to access the same files at the same time.
>  The locking should prevent it.  However, if you are on the same
> terminal server machine, then you should be able to actively share the
> same files within AFS.
>
>
>   
>> 4) Is Office 2003 OK, or would you need Office 2000?  I'm not sure that
>> I have access to 2000 at the moment.
>>     
>
> Office 2003 is just fine.  I don't think we need to use Office 2000.
>
>   
>> Any additional details you can give me would be helpful.  I'd hate to
>> develop something and then find out that it did not meet your needs.
>>     
>
> Primarily I want the scripts to show that Microsoft Office applications
> can read/write/create/delete files in AFS without data corruption.  If
> you can exercise the code enough to demonstrate that things are good.
>
> The scripts should be able to be run a specified number of times with
> unique file names.  I want to be able to run the scripts overnight.
>
> Jeffrey Altman
>