Is there a library to read or write Microsoft Office or other application files?
In general, there aren’t any library modules to read or write application files, like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, etc. However, many if not most major Windows applications now support OLE Automation. You can use the OLE Automation support of Microsoft Office applications to read and write their file formats, for example. See the documentation on your application for information on its support for OLE Automation. See question 9.4 for how to use OLE Automation with Perl for Win32. As a special case, many database files, like Microsoft Access, FoxPro, dBase or Paradox files, can be accessed using ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity). See question 9.3 for details on how to use ODBC with Perl for Win32.
