OpenOffice.org 1.1 software is a complete, feature-rich office productivity suite that provides, in combination with this SDK, all the essential tools for building and deploying custom solutions that build on, or integrate with, the OpenOffice.org 1.1 suite of products.

The SDK is a development kit for OpenOffice.org 1.1, which eases the development of office components. It provides a set of libraries, binaries, header, and IDL files which have final API's and can only be extended with new functionality. This set of libraries and binaries is the minimum set of functions needed to use system abstraction for base functionality and for using UNO (Universal Network Objects) component technology. The UNO component model is the base of the whole Office API. The SDK provides everything necessary to use the Office API from external programs (e.g. Java, C++) or to extend the Office functionality with new components (e.g. new filter components, CalcAddin functions). It is compatible over several versions because the API remains unaffected and will only be extended with new functions.

The SDK provides the basic building blocks for external developers to develop components in any language for which a binding exists. Currently, there are language bindings for OpenOffice.org 1.1 Basic, Java, and different C++ compilers on different platforms, for OpenOffice.org 1.1, thus covering the two most commonly used programming languages. There will be no limit for office automation in heterogeneous environments. Currently supported platforms of the SDK are Linux, Solaris (sparc), and Windows.

The SDK also contains reference documentation for the API and a complete Developer's Guide, with lots of examples, which introduce the API, explain the concepts behind it, and make it possible for all users to quickly get started with the Office API.

Content
Installation Guide	An overview of all necessary installation steps (e.g. environment variables) to use this SDK.
Developer's Guide	Detailed documentation, explaining the OpenOffice.org 1.1 API and the concepts behind it, with a rich set of examples, implemented mainly in Java.
IDL Reference	Complete OpenOffice.org 1.1 API reference.
Java UNO Runtime Reference	Reference documentation of the Java UNO runtime API.
C++ Reference	Reference documentation of the C++ UNO runtime and a set of C/C++ base and helper functions and classes to abstract from the system layer.
Development Tools	Overview and a short description of the UNO development tools.
Examples	A collection of examples in different programming languages (Java, C++, Basic, OLE).
XML File Format Specification	Specification of the XML file format used by OpenOffice.org 1.1, which serves as a reference.
License	The license for the OpenOffice.org 1.1 SDK.

Additional Resources
Sun Developer Resources	Sun's one-stop location for Developers.
StarOffice™	Full-featured suite of office productivity tools.
OpenOffice.org	Open Source community project of office-productivity software.