Enhanced Table Handling

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Writer

Document - ID	Specification Owner	Last Change	Status
	Falko Tesch	15.06.2004	Final
Conforms to	20121, 20126 (partly)
Applies to	Writer
Task ID(s)	20121
Category	Feature

Abstract

Inserting a table in Writer is sometimes a quite abstract task. There is no visual support to the user, only a single dialogue ('Insert - Table') that requires the input of abstract row and column numbers.

In OO.o 2.0 the currently well-hidden icon for inserting/adding/editing a table will be relocated to a more prominent place on the Writer UI as well as adding a complete new “Table” main menu entry..

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

	Name	E-mail Address
User Experience	Falko Tesch	Ft@openoffice.org
Development	Oliver Specht	Os@openoffice.org
Quality Assurance	Stefan Baltzer	Sba@openoffice.org
Documentation	Uwe Fischer	Ufi@openoffice.org

Approved for Implementation

	Approved by	Date
User Experience	Falko Tesch	27.04.2004
Development	Oliver Specht	27.04.2004
Quality Assurance	Stefan Baltzer	27.04.2004
Documentation	Uwe Fischer	27.04.2004
String Review	Paul Compton/Elizabeth Matthis	15.06.2004

Document Change History

Rev. Level	Change	Initials	Date
1.0	First Draft	FT	30.03.04
1.1	Added chapter 6.2New Main Menu Entry "Table"	FT	07.04.2004
1.2	Added changes based on QA input	FT	26.04.2004
1.3	Added changes based on TechPub input	FT	27.04.2004
2.0	Re-worked the menu entry list	FT	04.06.2004
2.1	Added “Protect cells” to “Table” menu	FT	24.08.2004

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

6	Detailed Specification	4

6.1	New Position for Table Icon	4

6.2	New Main Menu Entry “Table”	5

6.3	Related Topic – Table in Table	8

6.4	Error Conditions	8

7	Future Tasks	8

8	Notes	8

8.1	Add table draw functionality like in Word.	8

9	References	8

Glossary

Term	Description

Motivation

Many people do not find an icon to insert, add or modify a table. Even that this icon exist it is too well-hidden within a sub-dialogue in the toolbar.

This specification will relocate and define the behaviour of this icon to a more prominent location to ease the access to insert tables as well as table formatting for users.

User Scenarios

A user that comes form other word processing tools is used to find a little icon symbol in his icon-bar of his application. With this icon he can add a table or invoke a dialogue to modify, add or insert a table to his text.

A user migrating to Writer will miss this icon and will have problems finding his way through the “Insert” menu list to find the entry table.

Goals

Ease the access to table modification and insertion in Writer.

Requirements and Dependencies

Requirements

For OO.o 2.0 a complete re-design of the current toolbar concept will be done. The realisation of this project is the pre-condition for relocating the existing table icon.

[insert a link to this spec as soon as it is published]

Technical Dependencies

See 4.1Requirements

Competitive Analyses

MS Word has a small table icon in their main toolbar that is always visible by default. Users can insert a table with various rows and columns by clicking on this icon and choosing a table range by dragging the table amount via rubber-band functionality.

The default values for creating a table via dialogue are 5 columns and 2 rows.

It also has an independent “Table” menu entry where the user can do anything on a table: inserting, creating, drawing and formatting (see screen-shots below)

Figure 1 Table menu of MS Word XP

Figure 2 Insert-Table sub-menu of MS Word XP

Figure 3 Delete - Table sub-menu of MS Word XP

Figure 4 Select - Table sub-menu of MS Word XP

Figure 5 SutoFit - Table sub-menu of MS Word XP

Figure 6 Convert - Table sub-menu of MS Word XP

Corel WordPerfect 11 also has small table icon in their main toolbar. The selection of rows and columns works once the user clicks on the small down-arrow right of the icon. A short click right on the icon opens a table creation dialogue with 2 columns and 12 row as default settings.

It also has an independent “Table” menu entry where the user can do anything on a table: inserting, creating and formatting.

Abi Word 1.99.5 behaves exactly like Word only the icon is not visible by default. The user must explicitly turn on the table icon bar via “View – Toolbars – Tables”.

Abi Word clones Word by having more or less the same menu structure for tables as Word does.

Writer 1.1.x has its icon within the floating toolbar, named “Insert”. This floating toolbar is located as the first icon/entry within the vertical toolbar of Writer. The functionality of this icon is determined by the last chosen action taken within the floating toolbar.

E.g. if one chose “Table” the table icon becomes the default icon/functionality for the floating toolbar icon.

The table icon is the 3rd entry within the floating toolbar. A single click on the icon brings up a contextual dialogue. If the text cursor is located within a table the “Table Format” dialogue opens, if the cursor is located anywhere else the “Insert Table” dialogue pops up. The default setting for columns and rows is: 5 columns and 2 rows.

A long click opens a rubber-band extendable area to freely choose the amount rows and columns via mouse movement (like the three application above).

If a table is selected new entries are inserted to the “Format” main menu, allowing the user to edit the selected table.

Detailed Specification

New Position for Table Icon

The exact position of the table icon will be determined in the specification mentioned 4.1Requirements section.

The basic functionality of this icon (long-click, single short-click) will be preserved 1:1 from Writer 1.x (see also Competitive Analyses, Writer 1.1.x).

The default values for a new table (see “Insert – Table... - Size”) will change from 5 columns and 2 rows to 2 columns and 2 rows.

New Main Menu Entry “Table”

Due to a task from Matthias Müller-Prove to clean up OO.org menu structures the entries for “Table” will get an own main menu entry.

This main menu entry will be located in between “Tools” and “Window” within Writer's main menu. All behaviour for active-inactive entries is also copied from the old location.

This is the complete content of the “Table” menu:

| Table |

------------------------.---------------.

| Insert > | Table |

. | Columns |

. | Rows |

. .---------------.

.

. .---------------.

| Delete > | Table |

. | Columns |

. | Rows |

. .---------------.

.

. .---------------.

| Select > | Table |

| Merge Cells | Column |

| Split Cells ... | Row |

| Protect Cells | Cell |

| Merge Tables ... .---------------.

| Split Table |

.-----------------------.

| Table AutoFormat .---------------------------------------------.

| Autofit > | Column width... |

| Heading Rows Repeat | Optimal Column Width |

. | Distribute Columns Evenly |

. .---------------------------------------------.

. | Row Height |

. | Optimal Row Height |

. | Distribute Rows Evenly |

. | Allow Row to Break Across Pages and Columns |

. .---------------------------------------------.

.

.-----------------------.---------------.

| Convert > | Text to Table |

| Sort... | Table to Text |

| Formula .---------------.

| Number Format |

| Hide Gridlines |

.-----------------------.

| Table Properties |

.-----------------------.

Behaviour of “New” Entries

Heading Rows Repeat

Writer 2.0 does support multiple heading row to be repeated, so this option must reflect this new feature.

The entry “Heading Rows Repeat” is only active as long as the first row is part of the selection resp. the cursor stand within a cell in the first row. The entry is disabled under all other circumstances.

Selecting this entry will turn on repeating for heading rows for all consecutive selected rows (beginning from row 1).

The entry will then receive a selection tick-mark .

Example: A selection is made spanning over row 1, 2 and 3. Now “Heading rows Repeat” is activated. This results in repeating the content of all first three rows on every new page.

String List

Where to find:	English Term (MS Word compatible)	German Term (MS Word compatible)	Former Writer 7 eqivalent English term/functinality (if applicable)
Main menu	T~able	Tabelle	[no changes]
Table menu	~Insert	Einfügen	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Table	Tabelle	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Columns	Spalten	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Rows	Zeilen	[no changes]
Table menu	~Delete	Löschen	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Table	Tabelle	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Columns	Spalten	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Rows	Zeilen	[no changes]
Table menu	~Select	Auswählen	[no changes]Liz->FT: We cannot use Markieren here because we only use “auswählen” and never “markieren” (except for Markierfelder). This may be sth to change in the future, but not in this version due to 100+ string changes necessary.
Table sub-menu	~Column	Spalte	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Row	Zeile	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	C~ell	Zelle	[no changes]
Table menu	~Merge Cells	Zellen verbinden	[no changes]
Table menu	S~plit Cells...	Zellen teilen...	[no changes]
Table menu	~Protect cells	Zellen schützen	[no changes]
Table menu	M~erge Table	Tabellen verbinden	[no changes]
Table menu	Split ~Table...	Tabelle teilen...	[no changes]
Table menu	Table ~AutoFormat	AutoFormat für Tabelle	AutoFormat
Table menu	A~utoFit	Automatisch anpassen	[new main entry w/o direct functionality]
Table sub-menu	~Column Width...	Spaltenbreite...	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Optimal Column Width	Optimale Spaltenbreite	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	~Distribute Columns Evenly	Spalten gleichmäßig verteilen	Space Equally
Table sub-menu	~Row Height...	Zeilenhöhe...	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	O~ptimal Row Height	Optimale Zeilenhöhe	[no changes]
Table sub-menu	Distribute Rows Evenly	Zeilen gleichmäßig verteilen	Space Equally
Table sub-menu	~Allow Row to Break Across Pages and Columns	Zeilenumbruch an Seiten- und Spaltenenden zulassen	[no changes]
Table menu	~Convert	Umwandeln	[no changes]
Table sub-menu ~Text to Table... Text in Tabelle... Table sub-menu T~able to Text... Tabelle in Text...	Text <-> Table (always disable/grey out the non-applicable option)
Table menu	So~rt...	Sortieren...	[no changes]
Table menu	~Formula	Formel	[behaves like pressing <F2>]
Table menu	~Number Format...	Zahlenformat...	[no changes]
Table menu	~Hide Gridlines	Gitternetzlinien ausblenden	Table Limits
Table menu	Ta~ble Properties	Tabelleneigenschaften	Format [table]

Legend:

The new entry Allow Row to Break Across Pages and Columns is specified in specification Tables: Automatic Page And Column Breaks at http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/compatibility/tables_automatic_page_and_column_breaks.sxw

While the first entry “Insert” is always active all other entries are only active if the curosr stands within a table.

The entry “Insert” equals in its functionality to its twin entry “Insert – Table”.

The entry “Format” equals to its predecessor “Format – Table”

all other entries have the same name and caption as well as functionality as their predecessors in the “Format” menu.

Note: With the new, first entry “Insert” a redundancy in between “Insert – Table” and “Table – Insert” is created. For the sake of legacy Writer users as well as to ease migration for long-standing Word users this redundancy is accepted.

String list

No new entries.

Tab Order

No new dialogues, no new tab order.

Key Board Shortcuts

No new entries

Related Topic – Table in Table

In OO.o 2.0 Writer will also support tables-in-tables. For any changes in Ui referring this issues please check specification “Table in Table” at http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/tables/table_in_table.sxw

Error Conditions

N/a

Future Tasks

Add the draw table functionality to Writer.

Notes

The original PCD suggests one more issue that is not covered in this specification:

Add table draw functionality like in Word.

This issue requires a massive re-design of tables in Writer for UI and core. This undertaking is not possible within the given timeframe of OO.o 2.0.

This issue must be postponed to OO.o Later (see 7Future Tasks)

References

This specification depends on the new toolbar specification from Christian Jansen (cj@openoffice.org). A link to the to-be specification will be inserted as soon as this spec is published on OO.org

Required - Give references to related documentation, such as engineering designs, technical specs, and other sources for related units. Also include links to documents that other sections in this spec need to refer to, such as user opinions usability test reports.

Enhanced Table Handling

Page 8

Http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/tables/enhanced_table_handling.sxw

Migration Toolkit localization

Enhanced Table Handling

Falko Tesch

2004-02-11T11:45:11