in reply to Re: Nobody runs programs?
in thread Nobody runs programs?

No way! I don't want a window popping up on my screen each time someone submits a file for processing!

There must be a way to make Star Office think it has access to a GUI but then supress anything the GUI does (StarOffice will not output anything from the macro)

I'll explain a bit about what this is for...

User selects a tar file of Star Office files to upload for processing 
+from a HTML form...

     ||
    \  /
     \/

... these are validated by a Perl CGI script and then placed in a dire
+ctory on the web server for conversion...

     ||
    \  /
     \/

... the CGI script performs a system call to the star office macro to 
+convert all files in this directory...

     ||
    \  /
     \/

... the star office macro creates .html and .pdf output from these fil
+es...

     ||
    \  /
     \/

... files are uploaded to website in the new (correct) file format.

[download]

This "PERL->Macro" stage is the only part the doesn't work!!

Thanks for everyones help so far but I'm still stuck!

M

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Re: Re: Re: Nobody runs programs?
by Anonymous Monk on Oct 23, 2002 at 22:23 UTC
    So, when you run it from your terminal window, is StarOffice actually doing anything (popping up windows, logo, etc)??

    What happens if you're at a non-X console and try to run it (eg, kill X and try it just from the command line)??

    If it's not popping anything up in X, it Star Office may just be looking for the display variable to be set as a prerequisite (eg, it *thinks* it's going to be displaying something, but the macro really doesn't display anything at all). In that case, you may be able to get away with xvfb, the X virtual frame buffer. It basically creates a dummy xserver listening on whatever display you tell it to. Then, you can specify a display variable as posted above, and let it do it's thing, without having to keep a regular X session open all the time for nothing.

    Disclaimer: I haven't really played with xvfb myself, I have no idea how much memory it takes, it's limitations, etc.

[reply]

      Star Office produces absolutly no graphical output at all when you run a macro from the command line, no windows, no logo nothing. (which of course is a very good thing)

      xvbf Sounds good I'll look into it, if anyone has any experience with it, guides on how to/not to use it, URLs etc.. I would be greatful for them.

      Thanks

      M

[reply]

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