Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 40957
improved caption management
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:35:06 UTC
as can be seen by other issues (issue 30534 about caption moving, issue 20853 about deletion and other), caption management can be improved. i'll try to describe at least first steps to improve caption handling. 1. if caption dialog is open for an object that already has caption, edit current caption instead of creating another (are there cases when two captions are needed for single object ?). this would allow easy changing caption text, cathegory, location without completely re-creating it (and cutting object out of frame, pasting it etc). 2. add 'before' and 'after' fields in caption properties (just like in outline numbering). for example, in some languages it is common to add letters "nr" (that represent "number") before the number itself. some languages require a dot after numerals. (how fortunate, i need them both ;) ). this would also be a workaround so that categories containing spaces could be imitated. probably these after/before fields should be common for category. btw, only 'before' should be created anew - "separator" already acts as 'after'. 3. to resolve issue 20853 i would suggest adding a button 'remove' (similar to one in numbering properties) which completely removes caption and frame, so that picture is the way it was before adding caption.
reassigned to rewuirements.
this is very closely related, so i'll add it here. overall more unified caption-object bahaviour is needed, especially for tables. captions shouls be treaded more like a parameter to the object, not as a separate object. for example, if the table is selected by pressing ctrl+a twice, it's caption should be selected, too and copied/cut/moved when dragging the table with it. right now reorganizing a document with several tables and captions is extremely hard work (basically, all captions must be recreated for every table moved).
Please keep in mind that formulas (equations) could use a proper caption management as well. Therefore I'd suggest to implement caption as an object property and enhance positioning options by setting the positon to above, below, left, right. One might also think about implementing the captions as a table inside a frame. Also http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=25097 is associated with this issue, BTW.
*** Issue 60053 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 60016 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Currently the user can add text before and after the caption. This should be prevented, otherwise there is a risk that the caption will be "lost" in the text. (The caption always needs to stand out from the contents of the frame, so that the reader can quickly see it.) Secondly, the user is allowed to click directly inside the frame and edit the "before" and "After" parts of the caption. In this case they are no longer part of a chain (other frames will not have the same formula). Therefore this too should not be allowed. To sum up, editing should be possible only through the "Caption" dialog.
Issue 60016 (which contained a related problem) is marked as duplicate of this issue and closed. Probably developers won't see Issue 60016 now; so I am repeating what was described there: ******* "When frames are linked, their captions get stacked in the last frame." This is because- (a) The caption in each frame is supposed to be at the end of the text; and (b) In a chain of frames, the text is supposed to flow across the frames. If the captions are treated as property of a frame (not a simple text), then this problem too will get resolved. *********** Note also the closely related Issue 60019, which requests for font+paragraph styles to be attached to the captions, so once assigned/edited, the new frames can inherit those properties.
*** Issue 73930 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 92187 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
original report.1) it is actually a bug, not a wish -- it is sane that one object has 100 captions? Caption should set caption, not just add each time a new one (after all label says "caption" not "add caption", so it refers to properties of _the_ caption). I am not sure if those issues should be separated, it is pretty difficult to handle multi-issue single report.
Created attachment 73446