Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 22728
Header enhancement needed for dictionary-like style (first and last entry)
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:41:21 UTC
Dictionaries, Bible translations, catalogues, legal briefs, phone books, etc., need to be able to include in the header the first (left side) and last entry (right side) on each page. By inserting a pair of variables in the header, the user should see the corresponding values searched for and inserted in the running head. (Word does this with variables provided.) The variables should trigger OOo into searching for the character format of the first entry and the last entry (on the bottom of the page). This enhancment would greatly multiply the already powerful and delightful capability of OOo.1.0.1.
I've done this manually for some indexes, but have to make a change anytime I update the index. It would be an expected behavior to have this as an option, although I recognize that each type of instance would have to have a definition of what is being looked for (or have each "similar" word or group of words marked throughout the text so it could be located.
I don't know how to make attachments here, but could send a one-page sample of a dictionary if it would help. -Eugeneloos@compuserve.com
Created attachment 11555 [details] Sample file needing headers
reassigned to bh
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Made summary more significant and reassigned to requirements.
*** Issue 92458 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
This is important feature for Dynamic Header. Kindly enhance this feature. Thanks & Regards, Sankar Venkat
I need this feauture for my Dictionary Process.
Customized header need's this kind of keycode, This feature already exists in MS-Word. We have include in ODT. Regards, Vibin
dictionary guidewords are helpful. It is more helpful to print it. It should reflect like the MSWORD
Guidword will help us to improve the dictionary process
we need this additional options, It will very helpfull to us.
This enhancement feauture will help us a lot. Please do the needfull.
This feature really needed for our project
I've cast my vote for this issue. But I wonder if it might be better to close this one and reopen 92458 instead. There isn't much here to clarify exactly what the desired feature should look like. I had to go to 92458 to find that information. Could one of you who is familiar with the use of this feature in Word submit a sample of how it operates there? I think that might help to further clarify what needs to be added to OpenOffice.
I am inserting a slightly edited version of the description from issue 92458 until the requirements document is complete. Dictionaries normally include the first word on the page in the header on the upper left and the last word on the page in the header on the upper right. I am calling these the guide words. Open office has a field code for chapter that allows a paragraph style to be specified and the contents of the paragraph with that style will be included in subsequent headers. This feature would be implemented with another field code that allowed the user to specify a character style (as opposed to a paragraph style) and whether the first or last element of that style on the page should be used. (Similar to StyleRef in Word) Thus unlike chapter, the first (or last) sequence of characters marked with this style on the current page (rather than subsequent pages) would appear in the header. (Note that some dictionary entires are more than one word.) Some words will also have a homophone number after them (usually superscripted or subscripted). Presumably if such a field code existed, a second instance could be used to capture the homophone number on the first or last entry (if there was one) and put it in the header. (Likely the formatting of the homophone number would be like that in the entry and frequently the homophone number on the first or last entry would be non-existant.
Created attachment 55794 [details] Implements desired feature using Chapter field and macros
I tried the document contributed by GTrihus "Created an attachment (id=55794) Implements desired feature using Chapter field and macros" Is there any documentation available to I can adapt this method to my needs? It's exactly what I want but seems to require creating a bunch of styles and fields and I'm a bit lost about how to reconstruct the method for doing this. The comment was filed last year (2008) but I hope someone's still around who can supply the details. Cheers, Jonathan Kaye
Created attachment 64628 [details] Updated sample of GTrihus macro system
I tried that document too, and couldn't figure out which macro to run in order to insert the guide words. But I have a more current sample of the macro system that gtrihus has developed, and have uploaded it for you to try. I don't know where to find documentation - but to see the macros in action, download "Dictionary1.odt", open it, and in OpenOffice go to "Macro; Update Guide Words".
Of course, the possibility of this workaround doesn't mean that the requested OpenOffice feature isn't needed. It would be much better if the guide words could just work, without the need for macros. These sample documents are primarily meant to illustrate the needed feature, so that OpenOffice can be enhanced to provide the needed functionality.
The latest document looks really good. Wouldn't this work progress more rapidly if a number of us were involved in it? The feature is definitely need as there are quite a few involved in dictionary work. A lot of it concerns 3rd world countries where having an open source tool is not just a luxury but a necessity. Also this work involves aspects of the cultural heritage of a country and must not get produced in a proprietary format that may or may not be continued into the future. I'd be happy to send GTrihus (or anyone else) a copy of anything I produce using his system. I'd also need to produce documentation on how to use this system which I would happily share with the community if it is deemed useful. Does anyone know how to get in touch with GTrihus? I'd be happy to write to him to (a) praise his/her brilliant efforts and (b) request documentation so that more of us could test out his system. This might speed up the its eventual adoption as a standard feature of Openoffice using the considerable resources of the organisation.
Yes, very good points. Greg and his team are maintaining an Open-Source project at http://code.google.com/p/typeset-dictionary/. This would probably be the place to start in connecting with them and sharing info. The tool I used to create the sample is one of the downloads from there, called SetupPs-1.5.1-2009-08-25.msi The project is quite active. I notice that this version has already been superceded by a Sept 8 version.
Thanks for the tip. I had a quick look but it appears their sw only runs on Windows. That leaves me out. The only installable sw seems to be an .msi file. I googled it and it's some kind of Windows installer. Oh well ... :(
Our plan is for the software to be used on other platforms too. I have been using MoMa from time to time to evaluate whether the software should run under Mono. My understanding is that in principle it should. I consulted our Linux port team and they said that many open sourced software packages are distributed as ZIP files for Linux. He also said it is common to include a script to create a menu item and a desktop short cut. I haven't done the script yet but have posted a zip file at the web site. (I haven't included a file with instructions on how to download Mono or what folder I recommend for installation.) In short, I have posted the executable but haven't had the chance to do any testing yet. Eventually we will be able to get all the pieces pulled together. Since the software is open sourced, if we have people who would like to get involved, we are more than happy to involve them and this is certainly one way to get involved.
Thanks for that. If you like I can give it a try and report back on success or any issues that may arise.
A preliminary question: is Publishing Solution (the zipfile mentioned above) meant to run as an extension/plugin to Openoffice? as a stand-alone application? or something else? Thanks
PublishingSolution currently runs either as a stand-alone application or as a plug-in of the Fieldworks suite. It uses Open Office more like a sub-process for getting the dictionary ourput to print while allowing the user to make word-processing type modifications before printing.
Thanks. Again, Fieldworks only runs on Windows which makes it unusable for me. I'm sorry to be so dense but if PublishingSolution is a stand-alone and it can run on non-Windows OSs (e.g. Linux) where is the executable? In the PublishingSolution folder I only see Windows executables and in the PublishingSolutionSupport folder I don't see anything that might be an executable.
My understanding (although I haven't tried it yet) is that the Windows exe can be passed as a parameter to Mono and it will execute on Linux. Let me know if I don't have it right. Do you have Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page) installed?
Nope, I'm afraid mono doesn't help. When I try it I guess this: Unhandled Exception: System.ArgumentException: A null reference or invalid value was found [GDI+ status: InvalidParameter] at System.Drawing.GDIPlus.CheckStatus (Status status) [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Image.InitFromStream (System.IO.Stream stream) [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Image.LoadFromStream (System.IO.Stream stream, Boolean keepAlive) [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Icon.GetInternalBitmap () [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Icon.ToBitmap () [0x00000] at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Drawing.Icon:ToBitmap () at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.SetIcon (System.Windows.Forms.Hwnd hwnd, System.Drawing.Icon icon) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.SetIcon (IntPtr handle, System.Drawing.Icon icon) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUI.SetIcon (IntPtr handle, System.Drawing.Icon icon) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CreateHandle () [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl () [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Control.SetVisibleCore (Boolean value) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Form.SetVisibleCore (Boolean value) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Control.set_Visible (Boolean value) [0x00000] at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.Control:set_Visible (bool) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.RunLoop (Boolean Modal, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext context) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run (System.Windows.Forms.Form mainForm) [0x00000] at SIL.PublishingSolution.Program.Main () [0x00000]
Yes, I did have mono already installed: Package: mono State: installed Automatically installed: no Version: 1.2.5.1-1 I'm running Debian Squeeze with a 2.6.26 kernel and KDE 3.5/4.2 is my window manager.
Thanks for the report. I am looking into it with the Linux team.
Well the word from the Linux team is to recommend updating your version of Mono to the mono-runtime package from the standard Debian repo. They said the version of mono you are using is old. on their machines, they use 2.4.2
Doesn't help: $ mono -V Mono JIT compiler version 2.4.2.3 (Debian 2.4.2.3+dfsg-2) Copyright (C) 2002-2008 Novell, Inc and Contributors. www.mono-project.com TLS: __thread GC: Included Boehm (with typed GC) SIGSEGV: altstack Notifications: epoll Architecture: x86 Disabled: none $mono PublishingSolution.exe Unhandled Exception: System.ArgumentException: A null reference or invalid value was found [GDI+ status: InvalidParameter] at System.Drawing.GDIPlus.CheckStatus (Status status) [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Image.InitFromStream (System.IO.Stream stream) [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Image.LoadFromStream (System.IO.Stream stream, Boolean keepAlive) [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Icon.GetInternalBitmap () [0x00000] at System.Drawing.Icon.ToBitmap () [0x00000] at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Drawing.Icon:ToBitmap () at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.SetIcon (System.Windows.Forms.Hwnd hwnd, System.Drawing.Icon icon) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUIX11.SetIcon (IntPtr handle, System.Drawing.Icon icon) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.XplatUI.SetIcon (IntPtr handle, System.Drawing.Icon icon) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CreateHandle () [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl () [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Control.SetVisibleCore (Boolean value) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Form.SetVisibleCore (Boolean value) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Control.set_Visible (Boolean value) [0x00000] at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.Control:set_Visible (bool) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.RunLoop (Boolean Modal, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext context) [0x00000] at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run (System.Windows.Forms.Form mainForm) [0x00000] at SIL.PublishingSolution.Program.Main () [0x00000] It you wish I can run this in verbose mode (mono -v ....) which gives a lot more output. I'd have to send the output as an attachment (there's so much of it).
Thanks for your report. I will look into it.
[Solved]... well sort of. I have a solution that doesn't involve using Windows or Mono but just OOo macros + a neat program called pdfovl (pdf overlay). It is basically collecting the headers from the dictionary and pasting them into an empty .odt file and exporting both the dictionary and the header file as pdf and then doing an overlay using pdfovl. I can post the details if anyone is interested. Cheers
Yes, I would be interested in the details of the solution using pdfovl. Is the solution one that will run also on Windows?
I would be interested too although I think a more integrated solution might be easier to manage. Here is the issue: I dictionary normally will require a master document with various odt sections. I am imagining the overlay solution to be a bit fragile to being combined with the master document concept. For example what if one of the odt files in the master document (or two because in bilingual dictionaries you will have a section with the reversed entries). If these get converted to PDF, then do you have to convert all sections to PDF and combine with a PDF combiner tool? The more tools you ad the more I find my user community struggles getting things to work. They have to learn the User Interfaces and feature sets of many tools. My goal is to aim for a simple and automated solution.
I think this "solution" or kludge or workaround will work on any platform that runs Openoffice and Java. I have attached a gz file which contains the macros and 3 pdf files: the dictionary, the headers and the overlay resulting from the two files. Quick and dirty instructions: - Turn on the header in your dictionary file, but leave it empty. - Create a new file (header.odt), and set the margins so that the body text starts where the header is in your main file. Set a right tab stop on the right. - Run the macros to extract the header content (CollectHeaders) and insert it into header.odt (InsertHeaders). - Export both files to pdf. - Overlay the PDFs using pdfovl: get it here. http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~morin/misc/pdfovl/ - The number of pages in the dict file must equal the number of pages in the header file or else pdfovl will complain.
Created attachment 65282 [details] macros and pdf files for overlay solution
The macro solution for creating dictionary guide words seems to be serving pretty well so far, but I've recently run into a case where the macro was way too slow. So I'm wondering if this OpenOffice issue could be revived, and the guide word capability be built into OpenOffice itself. What would it take to accomplish this? Are there any of you subscribed to this issue who might have the know-how and inspiration to take this on?