[GSoc 14] On "Improve Text Boxes in Draw" - towards a more specific description and starting directions

[Matteo Campanelli]

Hi,

On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 7:18 AM, Fridrich Strba <
fridrich.strba at graduateinstitute.ch> wrote:

> On 18/03/14 06:23, Matteo Campanelli wrote:
> > - /"text background color":/
> >
> >     It seems to me that it is possible to specify a text box background
> >     in color in Draw. Are we then referring to background color of the
> >     text only?
>
> Yes, it is possible to specify the colour of the text box itself, but it
> is not possible to specify the background of the text itself. The
> problem can be seen in import filters, where in the original
> applications the text, that has non-transparent (i.e. white) background,
> is describing lines (like in technical drawings). Because the background
> is transparent, the text is basically unreadable because of the line
> that is under it.
>

I see, but thinking again I'm wondering: wouldn't specifying a text box
with a certain transparency style be enough for that family of issues? Or
is there something else text background may be required for?


> In the ODF file-format, there is a possibility to specify a sequence of
> frames where text, when arrives at the end of one frame overflows into
> the next one.
>
I made a search in the specification and I believe it is
draw:chain-next-name<http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/os/OpenDocument-v1.2-os-part1.html#attribute-draw_chain-next-name>
you
are referring to. Is that correct?

So, implementing this feature would require to:
- allow Draw to parse properly the attribute above (where does parsing of
attributes and similar happens in the code architecture?);
- implement the expected overflowing behavior (this should be simple
enough, but still I am not sure where text boxes are handled in Draw's
code);
- allow text boxes to specify a next link from the UI (maybe optional for a
Summer Project?)


> >     Is there already something like this in Draw or LO in general, i..e
> >     ways. to reference other objects' properties explicitly?
>
> Not in Draw yet. We have in LibreOffice already this feature implemented
> for Writer, where you can do this kind of "linked frames".
>

I see. Could you please exemplify I could I test this in Writer?


> > - /"support of style":/
> >
> I would in the first time look what is possible to specify in the Style
> and Formatting in Draw and what is possible in Writer. The first goal
> would be to bring them at the same level.
>

I'm starting to believe that the first three features (text background,
overflow in frames and hyphenation)
could be sufficient for a summer project; adding more may make it risky.

>
> Now, be aware that we might discover that any of this task is more
> complicated then what we think.


> Thanks for your interest. I hope that I answered at least some of your
> questions.
>
You definitely did, thank you.
Now my goal is to get a better grasp of how to approach these problems in
the code and also which other subtasks they can be split it.

Cheers,
Matteo


> Cheers
>
> Fridrich
>
>
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