Proposal regarding Scripting and document specific settings

[Michael Brauer <michael.brauer@sun.com>]

Hi all,

I would like to make a few proposals regarding scripting and document
specific setings:


A) The current event specification <script:event> contains an event name
("script:event-name") that can take a value like "on-click", a script
language ("script:language"), a libary name ("script:library") and a
macro name ("script:macro-name"). The schema also has an attribute
"script:location" that can take the values "document" and "application",
but is unfortunately not described in the specification itself.

With the exception of the "script:event-name" attribute (and maybe the
"script:language"), all attributes seem to contain very application
specific values that only can be interpreted when knowing the scripting
model in place. It might also be the case that these attributes might
not be appropriate for some scripting models that are diffent than
OpenOffice.org's where the above attributes obviously have their roots.

Making assumption about the scripting model however seems to be outside 
the scope of the Open Office XML specification. For this reason, I would
like to propose to replace these attributes with a generic xlink:href
attribute that can take arbitrary URLs to reference scripts.

What looks as follows in the OOo specification

<script:event script:language="StarBasic"
               script:event-name="on-click"
               script:macro-name="Standard.Module1.Main"
               script:location="application"/>

would turn into

<script:event script:event-name="on-click"  xlink:type="simple"
xlink:href="vnd.sun.star.script://Standard.Module1.Main?language=StarBasic&amp;location=application">


B) Additionally, we might replace the plain string value for the event
names with namespaced names. This would be similar to the specification
for form control and chart types (see
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office/200308/msg00015.html), and
it might allow to include event names from other specifications, like
DOM or HTML.

The above example could become:

<script:event xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/...";
               script:event-name="xhtml:onclick"
               xlink:type="simple"
xlink:href="vnd.sun.star.script://Standard.Module1.Main?language=StarBasic&amp;location=application">


C) The current specification allows scripts to be included in the
document by using the <office:script> element. The content of this
element are script:library-embedded> and <script:library-linked> 
elements. The first one contains <script:module> elements that again 
contain script code as plain text. The second one contains a link to 
external script code. This specification seems to be very much
related to OpenOffice.org's scripting model as well. For this reason, I
would like to propose to replace the <office:script> element with an
<office:scripts> element that can contain a new <office:script> element.
This element has no attributes an can contain any (application specific)
content. As an alternative, we might specify that the <office:scripts>
element might already contain any content, so that <office:script> isn't
required at all.

For files stored in packages we might recommend to store scripts in
separate package streams, so that open office XML and other schemes are
not mixed. That's in fact something the OpenOffice.org application does
already.

Example:

<office:scripts>
   <office:script>
     <!-- Everything contained in this element is application -->
     <!-- specific and not part of the Open Office schema     -->
     <ooo:library xmlns:ooo="http://www.openoffice.org/...";>
        <ooo:module ooo:name="Module 1">
          sub main
             print "hello world"
          end main
        </ooo:module>
     </ooo:library>
   </office:script>
</office:scripts>


D) Applications specific settings are currently contained in the
<office:settings> element. The element's content are
<config:config-item-set> elements, where each of these element contains 
a certain class of settings. In OpenOffice.org for instance there is one 
class of settings that influence the document itself, for instance 
information about the printer in use, and a second class for settings 
that only influence the view of the document, like the zoom level. The 
classes are differed by its name that is stored the the "config:name" 
attribute of <config:config-item-set>. The name currently is a plain 
string. To avoid name clashes with configuations saved by different 
applications, I would like to propose to turn this name into a 
namespaced name as well.

Example:

<office:settings>
   <!--- the "ooo:" in config:name is the only change -->
   <config:config-item-set xmlns:ooo="http://www.openoffice.org/...";
                           config:name="ooo:view-settings">
    <config:config-item config:name="ViewAreaTop"
config:type="int">0</config:config-item>
   </config:config-item-set>
</office:settings>


Best regards

Michael