Tab Stop Compatibility

OpenOffice.org 2.0

Document - ID	Specification Owner	Last Change	Status
	Frank Meies	2003-12-05	Final
Conforms to	PCD particle “MS Interoperability” MS-32
Applies to	Writer
Task ID(s)	Parent Task: 114143: Tab stop compatibility.sxw Child Tasks: i20871: Tab stops at line end, i19704: Minimum tab width, 109182: Decimal tabs in table cells 114144: UI for compatibility flag 114145: Paint tab stops outside right margin 114146: Specification 114166: Change default for “Number Recognition” to “off”
Category	Feature

Abstract

The “Q” MS-Interoperability PRD identifies various text formatting related issues that limit the interoperability between MS Word and StarOffice Writer. This limitations affect the conversion of Word documents into Writer documents. This specification addresses the ability of Writer tab stops to be formatted like MS Word tab stops.

i-Team Members (The specification Owner is part of the i-Team)

	Name	E-mail Address
User Experience	Christian Jansen CJ	cj@openoffice.org
Development	Frank Meies FME	fme@openoffice.org
Quality Assurance	Stefan Baltzer SBA	sba@openoffice.org
Documentation	Uwe Fischer UFI	ufi@openoffice.org

Approved for Implementation

	Approved by	Date
User Experience	Christian Jansen	2003-12-11
Development	Frank Meies	2003-11-28
Development	Andreas Martens	2003-12-05
Quality Assurance	Stefan Baltzer	2003-12-09
Documentation	Uwe Fischer	2003-12-05
String Review	Elizabeth Matthis	2003-12-18

Document Change History

Rev. Level	Change	Initials	Date
1.0	Initial collection of issues	FME	2003-11-28
1.1	Proposals by CJ	FME	2003-12-01
1.2	Added section 5.5 and 6.5, edited section 6.2	FME	2003-12-05
1.3	Added new dialog mockup	FME	2003-12-05

Contents

Glossary	1

1	Motivation	1

2	User Scenarios	1

3	Goals	1

4	Requirements and Dependencies	1

4.1	Requirements	1

4.2	Technical Dependencies	1

5	Competitive Analyses	1

5.1	MS Word: Minimum tab stop width	1

5.2	MS Word: Tab stops exceeding the right margin	1

5.3	MS Word: Handling of decimal tab stops	2

5.4	MS Word: Handling of decimal tab stops within table cells	2

5.5	MS Word: Tab stops and line breaks	2

6	Detailed Specification	2

6.1	Minimum tab stop width	2

6.2	Tab stops exceeding the right margin	2

6.3	Handling of decimal tab stops	2

6.4	Handling of decimal tab stops within table cells	2

6.5	Tab stops and line breaks	2

6.6	GUI Changes	2

6.7	Error Conditions	3

7	Future Tasks	3

8	Notes	3

9	References	4

Glossary

Term	Description
<Term 1>	

Motivation

Microsoft (MS) Word uses different formatting algorithms for tab stops.

User Scenarios

MS Word documents containing tab stops have a different layout if opened in Writer because of the different formatting algorithms for tab stops between MS Word and Writer.

Goals

The goal is to improve the document import of MS Word documents containing tab stops. The currently available compatibility option 'Align tab stop position (in current document)' will be extended to cover more general tab stop related differences between MS Word and Writer.

Requirements and Dependencies

Requirements

none

Technical Dependencies

The automatic Number Recognition in Writer tables (and the automatic alignment of numbers caused by it) interferes with the handling of decimal tab stops in Writer tables. Therefore the default for Number Recognition will be changed to 'disabled'.

Tab stops exceeding the right margin need to be shown in the ruler. We will allow to set them into the right margin and to move them in this region.

Competitive Analyses

MS Word: Minimum tab stop width

The minimum tab stop width is one twip for both user defined and default tab stops. This holds if the formatting device is the printer independent virtual device. If the printer is used for text formatting, the minimum tab stop widths seems to depend on the printer.

MS Word: Tab stops exceeding the right margin

Tab stops exceeding the right margin do not force the line the break. In case there is any text following after the tab stop, the text does not break to the next line.

MS Word: Handling of decimal tab stops

The character that aligns at a decimal tab stop is determined as follows:

The first digit behind the tab character in the string is determined. Going forward in the string, either the first decimal separator, or the first non-digit character (excluding the digit grouping symbol) will define the character that is aligned at the decimal tab stop.

Examples

123.456,00	',' will be aligned at the tab stop position

abc123(4)567,00	'(' will be aligned at the tab stop position

MS Word: Handling of decimal tab stops within table cells

Paragraphs within table cells, which have a decimal tab stop, are aligned as if there was a tab stop character at the beginning of the paragraph.

MS Word: Tab stops and line breaks

If the line break position is right behind a tab stop character, the tab stop character is moved into the next line.

Detailed Specification

Minimum tab stop width

The minimum tab stop width in Writer currently is 50 Twips for default tab stops, and 1 Twip for user defines tab stops. This will be changed to 1 Twip for default and user defined tab stops, if the tab stop compatibility option is set. This new minimum width will be used for both formatting devices: printer and virtual device.

Tab stops exceeding the right margin

Tab stops exceeding the right margin currently break into the next line. If the tab stop compatibility option is set, tab stops exceeding the right margin do not force the line to break if there is no text following after the tab stop. In case there is any text following after the tab stop, the text breaks to the next line, taking the tab stop with it if there is any text in front of the tab stop (see 6.5).

Handling of decimal tab stops

If the tab stop compatibility option is set, the alignment of text due to decimal tab stop will be as described in section 5.3.

Handling of decimal tab stops within table cells

If the tab stop compatibility option is set, Paragraphs within table cells, which have a decimal tab stop, will be aligned as if there was a tab stop character at the beginning of the paragraph.

Tab stops and line breaks

If the line break position is right behind a tab stop character, the tab stop character is moved into the next line if there is any text in front of the tab stop.

GUI Changes

The name of the current tab stop compatibility option 'Align tab stop position (in current document)' has to be changed to match the more general tab stop compatibility. The default for new documents will be set to MS Word compatibility. Existing documents keep their setting.

String list for OpenOffice.org 2.0:

Item	English	German	Comments
Checkbox	Use %PRODUCTNAME 1.1 tab stop formatting	%PRODUCTNAME 1.1 Tabulator-Formatierungen verwenden	Previously named 'Align tab stop position (in current document)'; %PRODUCTNAME will be replaced at runtime by “OpenOffice.org“

String list for StarOffice 8

Item	English	German	Comments
Checkbox	Use %PRODUCTNAME 6.0/7 tab stop formatting	%PRODUCTNAME 6.0/7 Tabulator-Formatierungen verwenden	Previously named 'Align tab stop position (in current document)'; %PRODUCTNAME will be replaced at runtime by either “StarOffice“ or “StarSuite“

Error Conditions

There are no new error conditions introduced.

Future Tasks

none

Notes

The Documentation should explain in the Help what's behind this option.

References

This feature relates to PCD particle “MS Interoperability” MS-32. The “Compatibility tab page” specification can be found at http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/compatibility/compatibility.sxw

Tab Stop Compatibility

Page 4

http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/compatibility/tabstop_compatibility.sxw

Frank Meies

2003-11-28T08:14:59

Stefan Baltzer