Issue 103729 - Auto capitalization only works if there is a period at the end of a sentence
Summary: Auto capitalization only works if there is a period at the end of a sentence
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: Writer
Classification: Application
Component: code (show other issues)
Version: OOO310m11
Hardware: Unknown Windows XP
: P3 Trivial with 2 votes (vote)
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: AOO issues mailing list
QA Contact:
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2009-07-22 21:03 UTC by prithwish
Modified: 2013-02-07 22:39 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: FEATURE
Latest Confirmation in: ---
Developer Difficulty: ---


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Description prithwish 2009-07-22 21:03:43 UTC
Auto Capitalization fails if there is no period (.)after the first sentence. The
second sentence is not automatically capitalized if there is no period (.) mark
after the first sentence. An example is given below:-

A pen was purchased on Wednesday.
The pen was a good pen.

Now the same second sentence would look this way if there is no period mark
after the end of the first sentence:-

A pen was purchased on Wednesday
the pen was a good pen.

This is a bug as the expected behavior would have been to capitalize every
sentence whenever it begins and especially in a new paragraph.
Also, Auto capitalization does not work if there is a number at the end of a
sentence or a period / point mark at the end of a number at the end of a
sentence. It also does not work if there is an exclamation mark or quotes at the
end of the sentence.
Comment 1 eric.savary 2009-07-23 10:54:20 UTC
One can debate very long on "what's a sentence?".
At school I have been told it starts with a capital and *ends with a period*.
Thus the current behavior would be correct (no period = no sentence)...

But what was the intention of this feature?
Capitalize the first letter of a *typographically/grammatically correct
sentence* (and only *sentence*) or capitalize when "it's needed"? ;)

As an example, a poem is not made of sentences but of verses which may or may
not have a period before paragraph break but *need* (classical poetry) a capital
at every paragraph start.

Thus this feature would not help writing poetry...

@SBA: You have a bunch of duplicates (closed or not) on this subject (Ex: issue
17449). Please have a look.
Comment 2 stefan.baltzer 2009-07-23 11:59:24 UTC
The submitter is aware of several autocapitalization issues already. Almost the
same comment got posted into issue 59720.

As ES pointed out, one may debate about "what is a sentence"

The "there is no period, but regard it as a sentence" thingie looks strongly
like a grammar checking feature and NOT like an autocapitalization defect.

To me, this is a feature wish: "I write is sort of poetry, I do not set periods,
guess where my sentence ends to keep my fingers from this dangerous <Shift> key"
and make my document look better by capitalizing all my lines exept those that
are too long so that they must break before the sentence (as I regard a sentence
within my writing) ends.  

This is not a defect of the current behavior but a Feature request.
Changing issue type, adjussting summary and reassign to requirements.
Comment 3 GlennNDavis 2011-10-19 10:37:37 UTC
List items need to begin with a capital without reference to the previous item in the list's punctuation. IE: whether or not the previous item has a number followed by a period, or has a period at all. (autocapitalization fails in both examples.  I suppose that the case could be made for an auto period to end the sentence above in the enumerated list as an option, but I am really not going there!Ut would not solve the problem of failing capitalization in the list for items whose predecessor has a number followed by a punctuation a the end of a sentence or no period at all.)

Could these be made to work without getting into the discussion about poetry?

Thanks.  --GND.
Comment 4 GlennNDavis 2011-10-19 10:50:08 UTC
Re: Modern computer usage: A sentence seems  to end and a new one begin with the use of the ENTER key.  This usage is common enough that it is probably worth having this being an option for most users.  Is it very lazy?  YES! However computers are supposed to be time, effort, and energy saving.  If this is not desired, I suppose one could turn it off or use CTRL Z to prevent the change. 

 I don't suppose most folk would be upset about this feature.
Comment 5 prithwishchatterjee 2011-10-29 19:39:59 UTC
I started this thread and after all the responses the thread attracted, I now feel that the issue of capitalization may be a trivial one for many while it might not be so for the rest. For those, who are lazy like me, this feature might have been a good one.

I had the opportunity to use other closed source word processors and there this feature is definitely available. After a punctuation mark (?,.,!), the first letter of the sentence becomes capitalized. 

In case of openoffice.org writer, irrespective of the fact whether the sentence ends with numbers with these punctuation marks or only numbers or the sentence ends without a number and one of these punctuation marks, the next paragraph will not be capitalized automatically. In my starting thread, I gave the examples.

To me, that is an annoying feature.

Such a feature rich product like openoffice.org writer should  have this feature also and I don't feel that I want the feature out of 'LAZINESS'.

I hope that I have been able to express my feelings.

Thanks for patience reading.