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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 −
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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.
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HSSF (Horrible SpreadSheet Format) − It is used to read and write .xls format of MS-Excel files.
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XSSF (XML SpreadSheet Format) − It is used for .xlsx file format of MS-Excel.
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HPSF (Horrible Property Set Format) − It is used to extract property sets of the MS-Office files.
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HWPF (Horrible Word Processor Format) − It is used to read and write .doc extension files of MS-Word.
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XWPF (XML Word Processor Format) − It is used to read and write .docx extension files of MS-Word.
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HSLF (Horrible Slide Layout Format) − It is used to read, create, and edit PowerPoint presentations.
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HDGF (Horrible DiaGram Format) − It contains classes and methods for MS-Visio binary files.
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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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