IBM and Sun Microsystems
today announced
the launch of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) Toolkit Union, a new
open-source software community project organized to make document
software more innovative, versatile and useful for business. The ODF Toolkit will use an initial software code contribution from Sun
to provide developers with an easy-to-use Application Programming
Interface (API) for reading, writing and manipulating ODF documents
while accelerating additional application development. One part of the
initial code contribution is an ODF
Validator, a tool that validates OpenDocument files and
checks certain conformance criteria. Capitalizing on the open, elegant
nature of ODF, the Toolkit targets developers who want to create new
applications and solutions ranging from content management, business
workflows and activities to Web-based document solutions.