[Bug 35694] "Page number" automatic field stops counting before last page if offset >0 (see comment 22)

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35694

--- Comment #64 from Eyal Rozenberg <eyalroz1 at gmx.com> ---
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #62)
> How about "Reference page" for the label and "Change to display the page
> numbers of following or preceding pages" as tooltip. I'd also make it a
> spinedit.

(In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #61)
> There definitely is a bug in the wording (and maybe placement, etc.) of this
> "offset" thing. It definitely provokes the problem in understanding of its
> goal.

That  would bring the UI in alignment with the ODF attribute. It would be an
improvement in the sense of not misleading users; but there are two problems
with this approach.

The first problem is the implicit choice of legitimization. We currently have a
feature the exact semantics of which disagrees with its UI. But the UI is for a
feature users need and want much more (but see my reply to Mike below), and the
spec is for a feature of questionable semantics and motivation. Your suggestion
legitimizes and commits to the latter rather than the former. It would be
better to keep the UI, change he LO implementation to meet users' need , and
report a specification bug to OASIS which they should fix with the next
version. 

If we did that, users who used the field as specified to refer to existing
fields would still get the same effect, and it is only users who tried to do
something invalid - referring to non-existing fields - which would see any
change of behavior. And most users would get the offset feature they actually
wanted. So - everyone should be happy, or happier at least.

Alternatively, we could devise a more robust generalization of what the UI
offers now, anticipating what a future specification might provide. It might be
a field arithmetic mechanism, so that users could insert a field which is an
arithmetic expression combining other fields. That way they could insert
something like "= {PageNumber} * 2 + 7" - something they currently they can't
do.


The second problem with your suggestion is that a "refer to page by offset from
current page" should just not be placed in the Edit Field... dialog of a Page
Number field. 
 Like I wrote above, users would look to cross-reference other pages in the
Insert | Cross-Reference dialog; and the Edit Fields for that kind of a field
should be the same dialog we offer now for references to numbered paragraphs,
headings etc.

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