Re: [opendocument-users] Adding tables to ODP (presentation) files

[Michael Brauer - Sun Germany - ham02 - Hamburg <Michael.Brauer@Sun.COM>]

On 04/16/09 07:10, rjelliffe@allette.com.au wrote:
>> Not directly in the current ODF 1.1 spec, the next version (ODF 1.2)
>> will support table:table directly inside a presentation (draw:frame).
>>
>> But you can achieve something similar by embedding a spreadsheet file
>> in a presentation
>> (<draw:object xlink:href=... inside a <draw:frame>)
>>
> 
> It is not a matter of ODF as much as the application you are using.

The question was whether one can store a table in an ODF presentation
document. That is a matter of ODF, but not of any application. And the
answer is: Yes. In ODF 1.2 one can embed the table directly into a
<draw:frame>. In ODF 1.1 one can store the table as a spreadsheet data
and embed that.

> 
> If your application does not support tables in presentations, then no
> matter what the ODF has, the tables will not be there, or will be
> simulated or messed up.
> 
> The ODF spec has a (non-normative, IIRC) list of features for typical
> applications to st OASIS OpenDocument Specification v1.1.  In this list,
> presentation applications don't need to support tables.
> 
> This issue of supporting feature mismatches is why ODF needs to adopt
> OOXML's alternative content mechanism (MCE) so that the ODG can have the
> table both as table markup and as a graphic, with the application choosing
> according to its feature-support.  IMHO.

Well, actually ODF allows to store a replacement image for
presentation tables, because it support the concept of alternative
content for frames, and does so since ODF 1.0.

Anyway, alternative content may be helpful in the case where a document
that has been created with one application is displayed by an 
application that does not support a particular feature. But it doesn't
help you if you want to store a table (or some other feature) and the 
format you are using does not support this feature. It also does not 
help you to have an alternative representation of the table if you want 
to edit the document with an application that does not support tables, 
or if you want to do something with the table data in that application. 
And of cause, even if your format support alternative content, the 
question is whether everyone who creates a document wants to provide an 
alternative representation.

In other words: Having an alternative representation may be useful in a 
few situations. But if you want to store a table, then what you want to 
store is a table, and the possibility to store an alternative content, 
let's say an image, does not solve your problem.

Best regards

Michael
> 
> Cheers
> Rick Jelliffe
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Michael Brauer, Technical Architect Software Engineering
StarOffice/OpenOffice.org
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