Hi,

Upon examining the new Base application I felt it is insufficient and needs to 
be extended.

In order to see what others felt I raised the issue on the dba list.

It is my belief the current Base application needs to be extended to include 
all the currently available document types in OOo which can access or use data.

The following is a copy of the thread which further explains why I would like 
this change.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Frank wrote,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Frank Schönheit [mailto:frank.schoenheit@sun.com]
> Sent: Monday, 30 August 2004 9:48 PM
> To: users@dba.openoffice.org
> Subject: Re: [dba-users] New Base application suggestion
> 
> 
> Hi Kelvin,
> 
> > My first thought however from my point of view, is it is
> missing the
> > ability to include other OOo documents such as Writer,
> Calc, Impress
> > and Draw in the Base document.
> > 
> > May I suggest that these other OOo documents also be allowed to be
> > included in the Base document.
> 
> Why? :)
> 
> In more words: What would a user gain from it? What use cases
> would be eased/addressed? Would this then really be a 
> database? Or would it just be a replacement for (overstating) 
> the user's inability to use ZIP, misusesing the database 
> application as something else?
> 
> We're open to suggestions (besides such facts that there's
> probably no chance for major features anymore due to the time 
> frame), but we need to
> *justify* them :)
> 
> Thanks & Ciao
> Frank
> 

Hi,

Why not;-)

More seriously though....

How to write an answer without writing a book.

The current Report Writer is fairly weak and this means using other document 
types to provide solutions.

Eg

- Writer documents to perform Mail Merges
- Writer documents with macros to produce documents that have a parent/child 
relationship such as invoices, purchase orders, etc, which are beyond the 
ability of the report writer.
- Calc to perform very easy end user manipulation of the data.
- Charts

The advantage of the Base application is the self contained document. The easy 
transfer of an application, including all related documents and data in one 
container.

Once another user receives the document (assuming data is included) they have 
everything they need to start working.

This as they say, is a unique selling point.

Most of the MS applications I have seen developed often used external MS Word 
documents to complete functionality. IMHO this is messy. Yes it works. But OOo 
can provide a better, tidier solution.

By allowing Base documents to include all the document types which can 
currently access data in OOo, the greatest flexibility in developing 
applications is provided.

Is it what Base was designed to do. I was hoping it would be. Perhaps I am 
wrong.

Without this extra functionality (or a much, much stronger report
writer) Base applications may generally be limited to simple lists of 
information.

Perhaps others with real world applications could comment.

If the majority of OOo applications that use data sources, only use Forms and 
Reports, then what I am suggesting is a waste of time.

If however the majority of applications that use data, use Writer documents 
and Spreadsheets, as well as Forms and Reports, then what I am saying should 
be considered.

I will leave it up to others to add their experiences.

Base for me with just Forms and Reports would IMHO be a sad outcome, where in 
fact I can see a great opportunity for OOo.

My belief in the portability of the Base document, is based on the data being 
included in the Base document. (I am ever confident this will happen for 2.0)

Currently users can Zip files, but what they can't do is simply transfer a 
complete application. At a minimum the user has to also set up the data 
source. They have to worry about unzipping and ensuring everything is in the 
correct folders. Base gets around all these issue I believe.

I also don't believe it is a misuse of a database application. A database 
application is about utilising the data in any way the user wants the data 
presented, not just as a Form or a simple list style Report.  It is about 
presenting the data in a spreadsheet, as a mail merge, or as a chart. OOo has 
all these features already. Not providing them to the Base application is to 
only provide a subset of the power available to the user.

Just my opinion. I hope it helps.


Thanks

Kelvin