TextBoxes in LibreOffice Writer

FOSDEM 2015 (https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/editors_texboxes_writer/), Brussels
Video record: https://vimeo.com/121127228

Transcript

1. TextBoxes in
   LibreOffice Writer
   Miklos Vajna
   2015­01­31
   

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2. 2 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   About Miklos
   ●
   From Hungary
   ●
   More blurb: http://vmiklos.hu/
   ●
   Google Summer of Code 2010/2011
   ●
   Rewrite of the Writer RTF import/export
   ●
   Writer developer since Feb 2012
   ●
   Contractor at Collabora since Sep 2013
   

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3. Complex shapes with
   complex content
   

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4. 4 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   Complex shape
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   Anything that is more than a plain
   rectangle:
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   Callouts
   ●
   Rectangles with special corners
   ●
   Pentagons
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   SdrObjCustomShape internally
   

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5. 5 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   Complex content
   ●
   Anything that is more advanced than
   editengine
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   Table in the shape text
   ●
   As-character charts
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   Tracked changes
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   Writer fields
   

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6. 6 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   Result #1
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   Chart inside a left arrow callout:
   

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7. 7 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   Result #2
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   Tracked changes inside a cloud callout:
   

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8. 8 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   Result #3
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   Tracked changes inside a fixed cloud
   callout:
   

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9. 9 / 19
   FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
   Result #4
   ●
   SmartArt inside a snip diagonal corner
   rectangle:
   

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10. 10 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Result #5
    ●
    Table of Contents inside a pentagon:
    

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11. How is this
    implemented?
    

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12. 12 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Situation in 4.3
    ●
    Getting rid of the VML fallback:
    

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13. 13 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Document model
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    SdrObject (svx) ↔ TextFrame (sw)
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    Both have an SwFrmFmt
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    So far unused RES_CNTNT ("content")
    property in the SdrObject's SwFrmFmt
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    Pairing them if both the draw and the fly
    format point to the same content
    ●
    Properties of the TextFrame are
    generated (position, size, etc.)
    

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14. 14 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    UNO API
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    Hides the detail that the TextFrame and
    the SdrObject are in fact two objects.
    ●
    When the draw shape has TextBox
    attached, the editeng text is unused.
    ●
    A new optional boolean property to see
    who provides the text.
    ●
    Everything else is fully transparent.
    ●
    In contrast with the previous sw vs svx API
    differences
    

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15. 15 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Layout
    ●
    “Put TextFrame into an SdrObj as a
    TextBox” design → not much to be done
    ●
    Positioning of as-character anchored
    shapes having TextBoxes is still a
    challenge
    ●
    See SwFlyCntPortion::SetBase()
    ●
    Be careful about layout modifying doc model
    

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16. 16 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Filters
    ●
    #1 use case: improve Word (and in
    particular DOCX) compatibility
    ●
    But now we got much more, e.g. multi-column
    text could be added easily that's not available in
    Word, either
    ●
    DOCX import now avoids setting service name
    from original to css.text.TextFrame in case
    shape has shape text
    ●
    ODF had implicit support already
    ●
    Except: tables, in extension namespace for now
    

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17. 17 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    User interface
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    Just do the right thing:
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    Moving, resizing, deletion, copy&paste, …
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    Context menu to add/remove TextBox:
    

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18. 18 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Thanks
    ●
    Collabora is an open source consulting
    company
    ●
    What we do and share with the community
    has to be paid by someone
    ●
    CloudOn sponsored this work
    

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19. 19 / 19
    FOSDEM 2015, Brussels | Miklos Vajna
    Summary
    ●
    Writer Textboxes allow complex
    shapes with complex content
    ●
    Available in LibreOffice 4.4
    ●
    Improves DOCX experience of out the box
    ●
    Optionally available in every other
    document
    ●
    One more long-standing problem solved
    ●
    Thanks for listening! :-)
    ●
    Slides: http://vmiklos.hu/odp
    

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