appleworks-parser

This is a project I have been working off and on for a few years now whenever I get bored. It is an attempt to build a working parser for Appleworks and Clarisworks formats and convert them into text or Open Document Format Files.

You can see my research into the Appleworks/ClarisWorks file format here: docs/index.adoc

What is working:

• document version
• page size
• margins
• document content

What I am currently working on:

• styles – (bold, italic, underline)
• footnotes

Build Instructions

• install java
• install apache maven
• mvn package
• once packaged, running ./parse.sh should run the main executable.

Test Files Needed

To complete reverse-engineering of the AppleWorks format, the following test files are needed. Each file should contain only the specific feature to isolate the binary differences.

Text Formatting

• Strikethrough text
• Superscript text
• Subscript text
• Multiple font sizes (12pt, 18pt, 24pt, etc.)
• Font colors (red, blue, etc.)
• Combined styles (bold+italic, bold+underline, all three)
• Outline text style
• Shadow text style

Paragraph Formatting

• Left-aligned paragraph
• Center-aligned paragraph
• Right-aligned paragraph
• Justified paragraph
• Line spacing variations (1.0, 1.5, 2.0)
• First-line indent
• Hanging indent
• Bulleted list
• Numbered list

Document Structure

• Headers with content
• Footers with content
• Footnotes
• Multiple columns (2, 3 columns)
• Page breaks
• Section breaks

Embedded Content

• Embedded image (PICT format)
• Embedded table
• Text box
• Drawing objects (lines, shapes)

Spreadsheet Documents

• Cells with numbers
• Cells with text
• Cells with dates
• Simple formulas (SUM, AVERAGE)
• Cell formatting (borders, colors)
• Merged cells

Version Coverage

For each test file above, versions from different eras are helpful:

• ClarisWorks 4.x (Mac OS Classic)
• ClarisWorks 5.x (Mac OS 9 / Windows)
• AppleWorks 6.x (Mac OS X)