Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 19002
"UserField" in all OO applications
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:38:26 UTC
I assess how to port a MS Office plug-in to OO / SO (mainly on Windows and Linux) with Java. The MS Office plug-in communicates with an application server (sort-of) through DCOM. The connection appeared as fields in the document; its results are inserted into the document as strings (and refreshed like all other fields). Now I know that you can insert custom fields ("UserFields") into OO text documents (even without making them a visible part of the document) and fill them with arbitrary content. We will develop these fields with Java and also add menus and toolbars with Java (which can be done since OO 1.1 RC 1, AFAIK). Now the problem is that none of the other OO applications have such a "UserField". So enhancement documents with custom fields is only possible in the word processor. That is why I request to add the "UserField" from the word processor to all OO applications.
This is an implementation issue, the API is specified. The EditEngine (the text component used for Draw and Calc) has currently no maintainer. It is planned (long term) to use Writer instead. Anyway, I am forwarding this issue because it is not an API issue.
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In the long run we'll have nearly all Writer possibilities in every text box.
SBA: According to the OpenOffice.org roadmap (see http://tools.openoffice.org/releases) this issue was retargeted to "OOo Later".