i had posted on problems with anchors in an earlier bug
(http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=6515) but i think although i
was extremely frustrated (enough to go the point of filing an issue), i still
was way too ambiguous to be helpful, and the bug got invalidated. it was
suggested that i post to the users mailing list.

since then, i have posted a similar message on problems with anchors to the
users mailing list (on 10/18/2002, under "[users] problems with anchors:
HELP!!!") but did not (at least as of 10/22) get a single response. so i am
posting here.

in total, i have spent several days either trying to work around this problem,
or to figure it out and document it.  i hope the post is helpful.

INTRO

basically, i am trying to get OOo to act like LaTeX does with "figure floats":
the figure will be automatically placed (in the final document) as close to the
"anchor point" (place in original text document) as possible. if the latex
compiler figures out that it must move the figure to the next page, then the
resulting blank space (at end of first page) is *filled* with succeeding
paragraphs by moving them up in front of the graphic appearing at top of page two.

OOo does NOT do this (except only fleetingly -- see below). instead, OOo leaves
a big blank space after the anchored paragraph at end of first page. there are 3
other problems/bugs which, in combination with the first bug, can make it
extremely frustrating for a user.  furthermore, these bugs are tedious to
isolate and document. however, it is worth the effort because of this high level
of frustration.

bugs like these can be the the death-knell of a user confidence in OOo. in my
case, i need to do a dissertation. i was using latex, but wanted to use OOo
because it really is (potentially) highly superior in some ways, and yet still
implements the basic IDEA of latex (by implementing 'styles').

i also had high hopes for the future of OOo: if someday, OOo/SO made a deal with
Adobe for a PDF bridge, i might be able to someday create a *structured* PDF
document (complete with bookmarks and hyperlinks preserved).

now, i realize, unless some fixes are implemented rather quickly, chances are
slim that i will be able to use OOo for my dissertation. i am submitting these
bugs, however, in the hopes that fixing them will remove one more stumbling
block to users wanting to use OOo in the future.

the documentation on anchors also needs some fleshing out. even little things
like: "i see an anchorpoint between paragraph 5 and 6: does that mean it is
anchored to paragraph 5? or to 6?" would be really helpful to the user. i
suppose i should post to the docs group, too... *sigh*.. :) :)

the bugs are below. to follow them, open up the attachment
(anchor_bug_example.sxw) and follow the directions. it's probably not a perfect
description of the problems, but hopefully it gets you into the ball-park close
enough to be helpful.

finally, thanks to the OOo team for all your hard work.

=====

BUG ONE: blank space between anchorpoint and frame itself at ends of
pages

step 1: (done already, in document "anchor_bug_example.sxw")

suppose i have a graphic in a frame. frame is set for "No Wrap", and
is anchored to paragraph 6. graphic is 4" high and 5.2" wide. (i am
working with a US Letter formatted page.)

now if the anchorpoint paragraph ends less than 4" from the bottom of
the page, then OOo will shift the graphic frame itself to the second
page. all this is *fine*, so far.

BUT, the problem is that now, OOo leaves the whole rest of the first
page, *after* the anchorpoint (paragraph 6), *blank*!

that is, what it *should* (IMHO) do (and what LaTeX does) is move text
from paragraph 7 UP from page 2, to fill in the less-than-4"-of-space
after paragraph 6 at the bottom of page 1, so that there isn't any
blank space at the end of page 1.

=====

BUG TWO: any filled-in space is forgotten when document re-opened

step 2: now, with your mouse, left-click on the graphic frame
appearing at top of page 2. graphic frame is now selected and anchor
point also appears at top of paragraph 6 on page 1.

IMPORTANT: make sure you can see paragraphs 5 and 6 both in your
window.

now with your mouse, drag the anchor-point icon to paragraph 5 (one
paragraph earlier). now notice that OOo *does* fill in the blank space
at end of page 1 with subsequent paragraphs 6, 7, and 8, even though
the graphic still appears at top of page 2.

this is EXACTLY the behavior i am intending. unfortunately, :( :( it is
only fleeting:

step 3: save document. close and reopen document. notice that
paragraphs 6, 7, and 8 have now moved back down to page two. OOo
forgot the fill-in that it did before saving. :( the blank space has
returned. :(

=====

BUG THREE: view does not auto-scroll while dragging anchor-point icon

step 3: now, suppose you want to get the anchor point back down to
paragraph 6 again, from para. 5, where it is now. how to do this?

select frame again so anchorpoint icon appears. now, scroll back up so
you can see the anchor point icon which is showing at beginning of
para. 5. THIS IS IMPORTANT: be sure you scroll up far enough so
that OOo's window no longer shows the graphic frame itself. that is,
you cannot see page 2. this represents the case where the user's
monitor -- at current zoom value -- is too small to fit in both the
anchorpoint, the blank space, the new page and the graphic all at same
time.

step 4: now try to drag the anchor point icon down to paragraph 6 on
page 2. it is impossible, because in order to drag it down to
paragraph 6, you have to get to page 2, but page 2 is beyond the
visible window.

it's not unreasonable for the user to expect OOo to "auto-scroll" the
view down to page 2, in order to move the anchorpoint icon down
there. however, this does not happen, and the view does not move.

=====

BUG FOUR: anchorpoint icon lost while dragging beyond page

furthermore, dragging the anchorpoint icon above or below the limits
of the window causes the user to lose control of the anchorpoint icon:
even while mouse left-button is still pressed down, the anchorpoint
icon no longer moves: moving beyond the borders of the view has
severed the connection to the anchorpoint icon.


fortunately, i found two workarounds for BUGS THREE and FOUR:

1) reduce zoom to a point where you *can* see the anchorpoint and
frame both.

step 5: reduce zoom to "Entire Page". (View | Zoom | Entire Page).

now you can move anchor points around, but again, only within the
limits of the view

OR

2) drag the graphic frame itself instead of the anchorpoint.
anchorpoint will follow, one paragraph at a time, EVEN beyond limits
of current view (page will auto-scroll, as expected).

IMHO, however, even with these 2 workarounds, this still represents a
bug (or at least highly undesirable behavior for the user): dragging
an anchorpoint should have the same amount of flexibility as dragging
the frame itself: if auto-scroll works for the frame, it should work
for the anchorpoint icon, as well.