From: Kyle Schmitt <kyleaschmitt@...>
Date: 2007-06-30T04:20:51+09:00
Subject: Re: RTF to HTML Conversion

RTF is a text file, with a bunch of controls encased in the likes of
curly brackets {}

Lookie here for general info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rtf

At the bottom you'll find links to UnRTF(a gnu c app to convert rtf to
html etc), a ruby RTF library
(http://ruby-rtf.rubyforge.org/docs/index.html mostly for creating,
but you never know), and lots of specs of the RTF format.

If you were so inclined, it would take (this is a guess here) between
10 and 30 regular expressions to create your own RTF to HTML method.
Heck if you just wanted the basics, probably 5 would do: 4 for style,
1 to strip everything you don't want to worry about.

Because frankly, automating word excel and power point sucks.  It's
easy to get orphaned processes lying around that way, and they suck up
an inordinate amount of ram for what you're using it for.  Office
automation is ok for single users only, it's barely acceptable for
build servers and test servers (where I've had the most experience
with it), and it's a completely unsuitable option for a production
website.

--Kyle