Re: [office] Feature under evaluation at Redflag 2000

[Peter Junge <peterjunge@RedOffice.com>]

Hi Thomas,

Thomas Zander wrote:
> On Wednesday 14. October 2009 10.31.05 ext Peter Junge wrote:
>> 2) Considering such feature seems to be quite obvious, as well it is
>> quite easy to add, hence I would like to know if there is a telling
>> argument, why it hasn't made it into ODF yet?
> 
> The solution KWord always used for this is using a new draw:frame which holds 
> a text document with a table.

I have been playing around with KWord. Using draw:frame seems to be the 
preferred method for embedding objects. Right?

> I'd argue that thats a better way to solve this issue than adding a feature to 
> the tables.

Well, yes and no, we have a similar discussion at Redflag 2000. Of 
course, using draw:frame generalizes the embedding of objects. On the 
other hand one could argue the position of the table should be a 
property set of the table itself, but outsourcing it to a container 
object increases ambiguity.

> 
> If you try out KWord you will notice that frames are actually more powerful 
> than you can see in implementations like OOo. There are settings like auto-
> growing of a frame and min/max sizes etc.

The consistent use of draw:frame eases at least the implementation of 
embedded objects, when looking at it from the user interface 
perspective. However, it is certainly arguable, that other use cases 
might become more complicated when 'hiding' native objects within 
draw:frame, for example automated processing of ODF and also 
interoperability with file formats, that do not know this concept.

> 
> I'd suggest perusing the placement of a frame anchored to a page with a text 
> document and a table in it. Modularity is what makes ODF great :)

Yes, this would also be the main argument for me to leave things as they 
are, to use only one method. Defining similar sets of attributes for 
positioning of all kind of objects would certainly blow up the extent of 
the ODF spec, as well might be hard and error-prone to maintain.

Thanks a lot for commenting.

Best regards,
Peter

-- 
Peter Junge
Open Source Strategy Director

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