Netscape cannot view StarOffice documents directly. Here's two solutions to this problem--the "tedious method" and the "direct method".

Tedious Method

This is called the Tedious Method because you have to save every document you wish to view and separately call StarOffice (soffice) from the command line.

• From Netscape, Shift-click on the StarOffice document link. A "Save As" menu pops up. Select a temporary directory (such as /tmp) and change the filename if you wish. Remember the directory and filenames.

• Open a "Terminal" box (dtterm, xterm,cmdtool, shelltool, eterm, wterm, etc.).
• From the command line, type

  soffice <name of file you just saved>

  For example,

  soffice /var/tmp/ssp3.3_toi.sdd

  If that doesn't work, try "~/office52/bin/soffice" instead of "soffice"

Direct Method

To view StarOffice documents from Netscape, you must tell Netscape what application to use to display the document.

For StarOffice documents on a web server (addresses beginning with "http://"), Netscape uses MIME Types. The MIME Type (and other information about a document) is sent from the web server where you requested the document.

For StarOffice documents viewed on a local filesystem or FTP server, Netscape uses file extensions to determine the MIME Type.

Instructions

• The first step is to run StarOffice directly, if you never ran StarOffice before (this is unlikely, except for new hires). To do this, type at a command or terminal prompt: soffice (and allow up to 5-7 minutes for it to launch the first time, while the application installs local configuration files). This creates a $HOME/office52/ directory with lots and lots of configuration information.

• Next, copy a script to $HOME/bin/netscapestaroffice, shown below:

  #!/bin/sh # netscapestaroffice # Dan Anderson >danx@West< 02/2000 # # Run StarOffice from Netscape # See http://esp.west/~danx/netscapestaroffice.html # # To setup in Netscape, Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Applications # # Description: StarOffice document # MIMEType: application/staroffice # Handled by: /home/<my_login_name>/bin/netscapesoffice %s # Suffixes: sdw,sdc,sdd,sda,smf,sds,vor,sgl # Handled by: Application /home/<my_login_name>/bin/netscapesoffice %s # # (Replace <my_login_name> with your Solaris login name (e.g., "danx")) # # (This information is saved in $HOME/.mailcap) # LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/dt/lib export LD_LIBRARY_PATH #Update this for newer versions of StarOffice: #MYSTAROFFICEDIR=$HOME/Office51a/bin MYSTAROFFICEDIR=$HOME/office52 if [ ! -f "${1}" ] ; then echo "Missing document filename: $1." exit 1 fi TMPDOCFILE="/tmp/t_$$_`basename \"${1}\"`" cp "${1}" "${TMPDOCFILE}" if [ ! -d $MYSTAROFFICEDIR ] ; then echo "Cannot find directory $MYSTAROFFICEDIR." echo "Do you have StarOffice configured?" exit 1 fi $MYSTAROFFICEDIR/soffice -f "${TMPDOCFILE}" rm -f ${TMPDOCFILE}

  This script is at /home/danx/bin/netscapestaroffice
  For those outside of DHPG-San Diego, it's at /net/udcsd.west/export/home0/danx/bin/netscapestaroffice

• Make the script executible:
  chmod a+x $HOME/bin/netscapestaroffice

• Configure Netscape by clicking on Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Applications -> New . . .
  and fill-in these fields:
  • Description: StarOffice Document
  • MIMEType: application/staroffice
    (Note: This line is used for StarOffice documents coming from web servers, i.e., URLs starting with "http:" or "https:").
  • Suffixes: sdw,sdc,sdd,sda,smf,sds,vor,sgl
    (Note: This line is used for StarOffice documents coming from FTP or your local filesystem, i.e., URLs starting with "ftp:" or "file:")
  • Check the box for "Use this MIME as the outgoing default for these extensions"
  • Handled by: Application: /home/<my_login_name>/bin/netscapestaroffice %s
    (Replace the pathname above with the full path to your local copy of netscapestaroffice; make sure there's a space before the percent sign "%")

• Press "OK" to save. The MIME type information is saved in file $HOME/.mailcap for use by netscape and other applications (such as dtmail). The MIME type file extension information is saved in file $HOME/.mime.types

  

• Here's a StarOffice document you can use to test that your Netscape browser is configured correctly for application/staroffice MIME types:

  StarOffice test document:
  http://esp.west/~danx/16d/16d_toi.sdd

• Some Sun webservers may use another MIME type for StarOffice documents. If that's the case, simply add the new MIME type similar to above. Configure Netscape by clicking on Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Applications -> New...
  and fill-in these fields:
  • Description: StarOffice Document
  • MIMEType:
    Add the alternate MIME type name. E.g., some of the more common StarOffice MIME types are: application/x-staroffice, application/x-starimpress, application/vnd.stardivision.impress, application/x-starwriter, application/vnd.stardivision.writer
    Using an "x- in MIME types is an obsolete MIME convention, but some web servers are still being configured to use these obsolete MIME type names. (see StarOffice's Tools --> Options --> Browser --> File Types menu for a more complete (and complex) list)
  • Suffixes: (leave blank)
  • Handled by: Application: /home/<my_login_name>/bin/netscapestaroffice %s
    (Replace the pathname above with the full path to your local copy of netscapestaroffice; make sure there's a space before the percent sign "%")

  • Here's a StarOffice document you can use to test that your Netscape browser is configured correctly for application/x-staroffice MIME types:

    StarOffice Test Document:
    http://www.sun.com/dot-com/tools/99-1105.sdd

• Many (most?) Sun webservers don't seem to know about StarOffice MIME types. If that's the case, you get a screenfull of strange characters in your browser or a "Save As Text" window.

  All Sun web servers that have StarOffice documents should define StarOffice document types. Otherwise, the web server think's it's a plain text file (MIME type "text/plain"). To do this with Apache, use this line in httpd.conf:

  AddType application/staroffice sdw sdc sdd sda smf sds vor sgl

  Similarly, for other web server software, add MIME type "application/staroffice" for these file extensions: .sdw .sdc .sdd .sda .smf .sds .vor .sgl

• As an optional step, you can configure StarOffice to handle other document types as follows:

  Description	MIMEType	Suffixes
  Microsoft Word Document	application/msword	doc,dot
  Microsoft Excel Worksheet	application/excel	xls,xlt,xlm,xld,xla,xlc,xlw,xll
  Microsoft Powerpoint Presentation	application/powerpoint	ppt
  WordPerfect Document	application/wordperfect5.1	wpd,wp6,wp

  The "Handled By" field is the same as for native StarOffice documents.

• Click "OK" to close the "Netscape: Application" and "Netscape: Preferences" windows.

Notes

• It doesn't matter if StarOffice is already running or not.
• Make sure the full pathname to your copy of netscapestaroffice is correct and that the file is executible.

References

• StarOffice test document:
  http://esp.west/~danx/16d/16d_toi.sdd

• OneStop: StarOffice (Sun's One Stop Shopping for Product & Technology Info)
  http://onestop.eng/consumer/star.shtml

• StarOffice (external web site)
  http://www.sun.com/staroffice/

• StarOffice (internal IT web site)
  http://staroffice.central/

• StarOffice Development (Germany Development)
  http://staroffice-dev.germany/

• StarOffice Book List (Sun-Recommended) (in SunLibrary online bookstore) StarOffice (external web site)
  http://www1.fatbrain.com/partners/sunlib/star.clb

• StarOffice Software (internal Business Unit product site)
  http://staroffice.corp/

• Viewing PDF Documents from StarOffice (SunSolve Document sof2007479) http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doc=soffice%2Fsof2007479&zone_32=MIME

• Softdisting StarOffice MIME Types (e-mail, 12/99) http://crit.central.sun.com/htmail/pts/staroffice/sointerest-interest/1265.html

• Configuring Netscape (Lots of tips, including StarOffice) http://remulak.east/~jlaurent/Netscape.html

• Netscape for Solaris FAQ (External) http://internet.Central/software/solaris/netscape/faq.html

  Accessing StarOffice 5.2 Docs Using Netsape Notes by IT to do the same thing as described here, in a slightly different manner.

• Troubleshooting Netscape Communicator 4.X and Java http://obiwan.uk/obiwan/netscape/communicator/com4.html

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