[Libreoffice] A possible solution for .ppsx files -- and maybe some bugs.

[ropers]

> ropers wrote (27-11-11 04:19)
>> in case anyone is interested, this aforementioned thread does contain
>> a lot of good information that should allow LibreOffice developers to
>> write a .ppsx export filter and fix some LibreOffice bugs.

On 27 November 2011 22:14, Cor Nouws <oolst at nouenoff.nl> wrote:
> Since you already read the thread (I suppose) would it be possible to list
> the suggested specific improvements? That'll make it much easier at this
> side, and we could even add them to Bugzilla ;-)

This is about issues to do with Office Open XML compatibility, and the
spec for that is a 5,588-page PDF. If a 35-comment reddit thread fazes
a given contributor, then that contributor probably won't be the best
person to tackle these issues, because he who doesn't RTFM cannot
consistently rise above a shot-in-the-dark software development
technique.

Also, the most important comment in the whole reddit thread really has
the lion's share of the thread's total word count (so by the time
you've read that, you might as well read the whole thing).

But granted, some of the subthreads (e.g. on KOffice) are inapplicable
to you, so:

First, make sure to read the self-post on the thread (click the Aa+
box at the top).
Again, the thead's URL was:
http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/mohlu/is_there_a_linuxcompatible_way_to_convert_ppsx/

Having read the self-post, you could read just these following three
comments and their child comments, disregarding the others about
KOffice, etc. However, the three with all their child comments still
are 15 comments in total, and that's pretty much as small as it gets
if you actually want to understand completely  – and if you *don't*
want to understand completely, then again, shot-in-the-dark
technique...

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/mohlu/r/c32lw30

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/mohlu/r/c32ldgi

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/mohlu/r/c32w95t

tl;dr: You could (possibly very easily) write a .ppsx export filter,
you could fix LibreOffice behaviour for formats where there (still)
isn't an export filter, you could make sure there are no user-program
races, make sure LibreOffice isn't more fascist^W restrictive than MS
Office - put the user in the driving seat (this applies to .pps files
as well), and you could consider whether to make LibreOffice's Office
Open XML export filters produce XML that's sorted and nicer (maybe
with CR/LFs?) and cleaner than what Microsoft spits out. How? See
thread. (That said, I'm not *demanding* that you do any of these
things, I've got a work-around for my issues and I'm just sharing
information. Where you take things from here is up to you.)

PS: Also, the file types/filters are not currently well-sorted in the
Save menu (.pps should be below .ppt, all the MS filters should
probably be in one block, etc.).

PPS: I don't have the most recent version of LibreOffice, so some of
these issues may already be fixed. (I probably won't be available for
testing; upgrading is not on the horizon and I only run a port on a
Long Term Support OS: LibreOffice 3.3.2 OOO330m19 (Build:202) tag
libreoffice-3.3.2.2, Ubuntu package 1:3.3.2-1ubuntu2~lucid1 Sorry.)