Universal Network Objects

UNO is the component model of OpenOffice / LibreOffice. It offers interoperability :

• between programming languages: C / C++, Java, Python, Object Rexx, PHP, ...
• between component models: OLE/COM, CLI (.Net), Web Services, BASIC (LibreOffice / OpenOffice Basic programming language)
• either in process or over process bounderies, in the intranet or internet.

Components environment, interfaces and bridge

• Components live in a Uno Runtime Environment (URE). A URE is associated to a process and the implementation language (C++, Java...).
• Calls between components in the same URE have no performance overhead. Calls between components from different URE use a UNO bridge.
• UNO is interface based. Interfaces are specified with UNO IDL files.
• UDK is the Uno Software Development Kit

Usages

With OpenOffice / LibreOffice, UNO is used :

• To access the applications APIs of the various applications (Writer, Calc, etc.)
• To develop "Add-Ons" that extend the functionalities of LibreOffice. These add-ons can be integrated in menus and toolbars.

Components

Development tools:

• idlc is the UNOIDL compiler. It generates a common binary type library.
• cppumaker generates C++ code for UNOIDL types (stored in a type library)
• javamaker generates Java code
• climaker generates CLI assemblies More info can be found here: https://api.libreoffice.org/docs/tools.html