RE: [office-comment] Suggested addition: Binder-like file format

["Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamilton@acm.org>]

Technically, master document is only for ODF Text documents.  Also, the master document does not include the parts in a single package, the parts are separate files.

ODF Text Master is more like the Microsoft Word Master document, not the Microsoft Office Binder.

The text-master feature is not exactly already in ODF (and finding it in an implementation doesn't count).  The MIME type for text-master is defined, and it is mentioned in the Conformance section.  There is actually no description in the specification whatsoever beyond deprecation of the text:global attribute in 19.806.  That's it.  If you use some flavor of OpenOffice.org to make one of these, you'll find it is much more hairier than that in reality.

This feature is at least tied for first-place as the most underspecified feature of ODF 1.2.  Definition by MIME Type alone is an extraordinary achievement.  According to the rules, the text-master document provisions are all implementation-dependent beyond the simple statement in 19.806 of ODF 1.2 Part 1, which is snuck into the explanation for the removal of a feature.

I think an equivalent of the binder would involve a new package type.  The interesting behavior is the ability to print a binder as if it is a single document with page-numbering continuity.  I'm not clear how well that ever worked.  It has been missing from Microsoft Office for at least 10 years.

The problem with adding Binder to ODF is that it takes considerable effort to define it and it is not clear who would give priority to implementation of it, let alone specification of it.  It might be better to talk to some developers first.

 - Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Merrell [mailto:marbux@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2015 10:01
To: Kris Krehart
Cc: office-comment@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [office-comment] Suggested addition: Binder-like file format

It's already in ODF. In Libre/OpenOffice Help, search for "master document".

Best regards,

Paul

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