Read and Write Open Document Format (ODF) Spreadsheet (.ods)

Wrappers for the matlab xlsread / xlswrite commands that read ODF Spreadsheet files (.ods).

Description

On a pc the wrapper will simply call xlsread / xlswrite, but on a mac or unix platform will read an Open Document Format (ODF) spreadsheet, for example as saved by Open Office.

The wrapper uses java commands from the ODFDOM project which provides java libraries for reading Open Document Format files. The library is not provided here, to download see:

http://incubator.apache.org/odftoolkit/

Once the odfdom.jar file is download it must be added to the javaclasspath (see Matlab documentation on importing java libraries).

This wrapper was developed and tested only on a Mac platform (OSX 10.6.4) with Matlab 2010b using ODFDOM version 0.8.6 (only slight testing with 0.8.7), but should work on other platforms. It could be easily modified to read .ods on a pc or accept variable number of input arguments as xlsread does (currently all xlsread inputs must be specified).

• Required Products: MATLAB
• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7.11 (R2010b)

[Paul]

Thanks Beat. Turns out both row_col_to_cellID and cellID_to_row_col in myxlswrite were not correct. I fixed and verified them more thoroughly (update just submitted). Also updated the link to ODFDOM in Description.

[Beat Birkhofer]

Great idea. I guess the URL for the jar changed to

http://incubator.apache.org/odftoolkit/

To make it work with the rng start cell given and a number of columns > 26 I had to change row_col_to_cellID() to calculate the column name via num2abc() (see file exchange submission). The original code results e.g. in BH instead of AH.

[Paul]

Typo in last comment... I have NOT tested extensively on pc, but simply verified that it basically works.

[Paul]

Hi Claire,
hmmm, it should work on PC with the ispc commented as you did. Are you sure that you edited classpath.txt (the one that Matlab is using, you can tell with 'which classpath.txt') and added the odfdom.jar location to that file? See my comment on 13 Aug 2010. If not, can you step through and figure out which try block specifically the error is coming from and then maybe I can help? I have tested extensively on PC, but I have verified that it basically works.

Also, I'm updating the package again with a couple more bug fixes since this most recent update, so try the new files also (after they post).

[claire lauvernet]

Hi Paul, in fact I work on a pc BUT with openoffice documents. I commented the option ispc but the error is now
'Can not read HyetoHydro_v5.ods MATLAB:undefinedVarOrClass'

Does it mean that this great tool is not usable on a windows PC to work with openoffice documents?

thanks!

Claire

[Felix]

Thx a lot,
you've made work much easier for me!

[Alex Bockman]

This tool is indispensible, keep up the good work!
I notice one difference between the unix and pc implementations:
On a pc, when a spreadsheet uses the first row for column names, the num output starts with row two. The unix version inserts a row of NaNs. This requires wrapping the wrapper in conditionals for dual platform implementations. Just thought I'd plug for a minor fix. Again, thanks!

[Guillaume Majeau-Bettez]

Hey Paul, this is GREAT! Always reading csv files was getting old. Do you think that without too much work we could reverse this and have an odswrite? I'd be happy to help.

[Paul]

Hmm, I can't reproduce this error. You'll need to define the other arguments also, but your error is before this. You can change the error line in the m file to:

error(['Can not read ' infile ' ' ME.identifier]);

and see what the error is. I'm guessing that you don't have the javaclasspath set correctly. If this is the case, the error will say something like 'MATLAB:undefinedVarOrClass' To fix this:

edit classpath.txt

and add the full directory and name of the odfdom.jar file to the bottom of this file, for example:

/Users/name/Documents/MATLAB/lib/odfdom.jar

[Jacques Vernin]

Thanks, it's geat. But ...!
I put on my directory a file test.ods with OpenOffice
When I want to read it:
>> NUMERIC=myxlsread('test')
??? Error using ==> myxlsread at 39
Can not read test.ods

Whereis the mistake?

Thanks