SuperbChemistry for OpenOffice.org

SuperbChemistry is an OpenOffice.org macro extension I wrote to add superscript and subscript formatting to chemical formulas in Writer documents.  (The name comes from "super" and "sub".)  You type SO42- and the macro converts it to SO₄²⁻.  Briefly:

• To install: The macro comes in a UNO package named SuperbChemistry-V.uno.pkg, where V stands for the version.  Download the newest version.  In OpenOffice, go to Tools -> Extension Manager... -> My Extensions -> Add... -> browse for SuperbChemistry-V.uno.pkg -> Open.  Then restart OpenOffice.org.  (If you are upgrading, remove the old extension and restart OpenOffice.org first.)
• To format the current document: Go to Tools -> Macros -> Run Macro... -> My Macros -> SuperbChemistry -> Main -> FormatDocument -> Run.

For much more information, read the comment at the top of the macro module, which you can download separately below or open from within OpenOffice.org (go to Tools -> Macros -> Organize Macros -> OpenOffice.org Basic..., select My Macros -> SuperbChemistry -> Main, and click Edit).

Note (2008-11-08): Someone reported an error installing SuperbChemistry 2.2 in OpenOffice.org 3.0, but I could not reproduce the problem.  If you have trouble installing SuperbChemistry as an extension, you can always manually create a macro module (Tools -> Macros -> Organize Macros -> OpenOffice.org Basic, select "My Macros -> Standard", click "New") and paste in the code from SuperbChemistry-V-module.txt.

SuperbChemistry-V-test.odt is a test suite of sorts with chemical formulas that exercise all the cases of the formatting algorithm.

SuperbChemistry is also available on the OOo extensions site.

Version log

• 2.2 (2008-10-27): Improve the heuristic for when a single digit preceding a sign is treated as an atom/group quantity or a charge amount.  H and halogens now take a quantity, so NH₄⁺ works.  Revise the documentation and explain how to manually override a mistake made by the formatter.
• 2.1 (2007-02-05): Instead of tagging and untagging false charge signs like in TI-89, don't tag them in the first place.  This reduces distractions in the undo history.
• 2 (2007-02-05): Improved search patterns to better determine what's a formula and what isn't.  Notably, don't recognize a charge sign if it is followed by a letter, digit, or one of ([{<> .
• 1 (2007-02-04): Formats charges and quantities reasonably well.

ChemFormula is a similar tool for Microsoft Word.