OpenOffice.org Base

Project Overview

Starting as mere database access functionality of the other OpenOffice.org applications, Base has, with OpenOffice.org 2, evolved to an own database application. It allows you to access data on an external database of your choice (for instance MySQL, PostgreSQL, and many others), plus bundles the HSQLDB database engine, this way allowing you to kick-start with your own database.

Participation

There are various resources here on this page as well as in our OpenOffice.org Wiki. What are you looking for?

• Documentation

  Our Wiki features a whole category dedicated to end-user documentation for OpenOffice.org Base. There you'll find articles, HowTo's, frequently asked questions (and answers). You might also want to visit the Tutorials category.

  As always, you're encouraged to contribute to the Wiki - if you find something is missing, or otherwise have information to share: just add it!

• Development

  You want to contribute some coding, but don't know where to start? Welcome!

  IssueZilla features a keyword "easy2dev", which indicates issues which are easy to fix - that easy that new developers should have not much trouble with them. Also some of the DBA issues have this keyword set, so if you're looking for some small fix to do: Look at this list
  If you're interested in one of those: The owner of the issue, and/or the person who added the keyword, are able to tell you how to fix it. Ask them, or speak up in our developer mailing lists - and we'll help you getting started!

  If you're looking for a greater challenge, pick the issue or RFE which you would most like to get fixed. Ask in the issue, or in our developer mailing lists, for help in fixing it. You might find the project structure slightly helpful here.

  We also maintain a list of small to medium self-contained projects for developers, so if you're interested, have a look.

  If you have a pet peeve database which currently poorly connects to OpenOffice.org Base, or some other structured data which you want Base to be able to access (for instance some address book data), writing a dedicated driver might be for you. This is easier than it sounds, as various contributions have proven in the past. Again, our developer mailing lists could be your first stop, and the Base New Driver Tutorial your second one.

• Quality Assurance

  We're working hard to make Base perfect, but let's face the truth: we're not there (yet). If you found a bug, or are missing a feature, you can help by describing it in IssueZilla, OpenOffice.org's bug tracking system.

  If you have some more time to spend to make OpenOffice.org better, consider joining the QA Team.

  If you want to have a look a future features before they're available to all others, and help us to make them better before we release them to the wild, visit our Bleeding Edge section.

• Miscellaneous

  If you always wanted to know how Base is intended to work, our Specifications section might be for you.