Sharing and Exchanging Information in StarOffice 6.0

By Del Toro

Date: Feb 7, 2003

Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of Que.

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In this chapter

• Exploring Information Sharing in StarOffice

• Sharing Information the "Old-Fashioned" Way

• Pulling Information via Drag-and-Drop

• Transferring Information via the Navigator

• Sharing Information Using OLE

• Linking Data for Up-to-date Information Sharing

• Importing and Exporting Information

• Converting Files to the New StarOffice File Formats

• Coexisting with Microsoft Office Users

Exploring Information Sharing in StarOffice

Information flows freely in StarOffice—not only among StarOffice applications on the same platform, but also across platforms and other applications and application suites:

• You can transfer information between open documents the old-fashioned cut- or copy-and-paste way or via drag and drop.

• You can use the Navigator window to share objects between documents of the same type.

• You can use object linking and embedding (OLE), so you can edit the embedded information in the target document using the tools and commands of the application that created it.

• You can use the built-in file-format converters (or filters) to import or export information to or from disk files created in other applications and saved in a variety of graphic and document file formats.

• You can create custom applications by using the StarOffice Basic programming language to automate information sharing (among applications and data sources, for example).

Using these methods, you can easily build compound documents created in one application and enriched with components or objects created in another. These documents can also coexist in a heterogeneous office environment where you are exchanging information with partners, clients, or friends who may be using Microsoft Office, Lotus SmartSuite, or other applications.

Sharing Information the "Old-Fashioned" Way

When used in the standard way, sharing information with the cut- or copy-and-paste method is nothing special. Using the Cut and Copy commands (via the function bar, the Edit menu, or keyboard shortcuts), you can send selected information from a source to a temporary holding area called the clipboard (Windows) or general purpose buffer (Linux/ Solaris). You can send text, graphics, sound files, or anything else that can be selected and moved in the source document to this holding area. You can then paste the information into any application that understands the cut or copied data type.

When you choose Edit, Paste or press Ctrl+V to place the contents of the holding area into the destination document, one of two things happens:

• If the source document is of the same type as the destination document, the information becomes merged with the target document, and all connection to the original document is lost.

• If the contents of the holding area originated from an application that supports object linking and embedding, the content is automatically embedded as an OLE object—which means the object is still connected to the application in which it was created, but not to the source document (see "Sharing Information Using OLE" later in this chapter, for more details).

If you choose Edit, Paste Special, however, you can control how cut or copied information reaches the target document by choosing a format from the Selection list of the Paste Special dialog box. In general, the list of available formats varies depending on the type and formatting of the cut or copied information, as well as on how the StarOffice application can translate this format into other supported formats, based on the installed conversion filters.

Figure 3.1 shows the Paste Special dialog box as you see it when information from a Calc spreadsheet is in the holding area waiting to be pasted into a Writer document. When pasting into an Impress document, your options are slightly more limited. (Note that the Paste Special dialog box looks completely different when you are trying to copy data from one worksheet to another, because Calc treats its clipboard objects differently; for details, see "Copying, Pasting, and Moving Cells and Data" in Chapter 16.)

Figure 3.1 The Paste Special dialog box enables you to choose how an object created in another application is pasted into the current document.

Table 3.1 provides an overview of how content created in one StarOffice application and placed in the general holding area is inserted into a target document created in another StarOffice application when you choose Edit, Paste or press Ctrl+V. You can override this default behavior any time by choosing Edit, Paste Special and then selecting a different paste option or format in the Paste Special dialog box. (The default pasting method is listed at the top of the Selection list.)

Table 3.1 Copying and Pasting Information Between StarOffice Applications

Object	Source Document Created In	Target Document Created In	Result
Text (including text in cells)	Writer	Impress/Draw	Embedded OLE object
Text	Writer	Calc	Text in cell
Cells	Calc	Writer	Embedded OLE object
Cells	Calc	Impress/Draw	Embedded OLE object
Graphic	Impress/Draw	Writer/Calc	Copied drawing object
Selected text	Impress/Draw	Writer/Calc	Text/Text in cell
Text object	Impress/Draw	Writer/Calc	Copied text object

Pulling Information via Drag-and-Drop

If you have a huge screen or are running your monitor at a high screen resolution, you can use the drag-and-drop method to transfer information that has previously been saved from any open document window to another. For this purpose, you can keep the windows of the applications you use open to a decent size—each in a separate corner of your screen (it doesn't matter if they overlap slightly, as long as the drop area is visible). Next, press and hold Ctrl and select the information you want to share, and then drag and drop it into the window of the destination document. (As you drag the selection, a small square with a plus sign appears next to your mouse pointer to indicate that a copy operation is in progress.) As a rule, you can drag anything you can place in the clipboard (Windows) or general purpose buffer (Linux/Solaris) to another window and drop into place. The final outcome is the same as if you had used the familiar copy-and-paste method.

By default, objects appear at the current cursor position if the destination document were active.

Transferring Information via the Navigator

The Navigator window, first introduced in Chapter 2, not only makes navigating your documents a breeze, it also enables you to share information between documents in various ways by using hyperlinks and links or by simply copying an object from a source into a destination document. There is only one catch: The source and target documents must be of the same document type. For example, you can use the Navigator to share information between two Writer documents or between two Calc documents, but not between a Writer and a Calc, Draw, or Impress document. There is one exception to this rule: You can use the Navigator to share information between Draw and Impress documents.

To use the Navigator for information sharing, follow these steps:

1. Open the source document that has the information you want, and then open the target document into which you want to insert the information (either as a link or as a copy).

2. If it isn't open already, open the Navigator window by clicking the Navigator button on the function bar or choosing Edit, Navigator. The list box displays all objects in the currently active (target) document (see Figure 3.2). A plus sign to the left of an item indicates the presence of objects in that category; click it to expose the objects, which are identified by a generic name (unless you have previously renamed them).

Figure 3.2 Using the Navigator window, you can insert copies of objects from a source document into the current document.

3. Click the down arrow adjoining the Open Document box at the bottom of the Navigator window (see Figure 3.2) to expose a list of all currently open documents of the same type. Select the (inactive) source document that has the information you want to include in the target document. When its name appears in the Document Open box, the Navigator list box switches views, displaying all tracked objects of the source document. You can now start sharing information between the source document and the target document by selecting and dragging the object you want from the Navigator list box and dropping it in the target document. By default, StarOffice inserts the dragged object as a copy, but you can also select a drag mode that results in a different kind of drop.

4. Click the Drag Mode button on the Navigator toolbar and choose a drag mode from its drop-down menu. (You can also right-click any selected object and choose Drag Mode from the context menu for the same set of options.) Your options include Insert As Hyperlink, Insert As Link, and Insert As Copy (default). The currently selected drag mode is indicated by an icon on the Drag Mode button.

   • Depending on the current document type, Insert As Hyperlink inserts a text-based hyperlink (Writer, Calc) or hyperlinked pushbutton (Draw, Impress). When you click this link or button, StarOffice opens the source document and puts the focus on the inserted object. (You can use the Hyperlink dialog box or the hyperlink bar to edit the anchor text. For details see "Working with Hyperlinks" in Chapter 14, "Creating Web Pages and Other Online Documents.")

   • Insert As Link creates a linked object that maintains a connection to the source document. When the source changes, you can update the information in the target document accordingly the next time you open the document or by choosing Tools, Update, Links. (For more details on linked objects, see "Linking Data for Up-to-date Information Sharing," later in this chapter.)

   • Insert As Copy creates a copy of the dragged object in the target document. When you use this drag mode with heading items (in a Writer document), the program copies the heading and all text that is part of that section into the target document.

5. Select the object you want and drag it to the desired location in your target document.

The Navigator is great if you want to connect two documents or copy certain objects from a source rather than re-create them in the destination document. However, not every drag mode is available for all objects in all document types. For example, in text documents, the Insert As Link and Insert As Copy modes do not work with graphics, OLE objects, references, or indexes; in presentation documents, the Insert As Hyperlink and Insert As Link options are not available for the individual objects on slides. In general, you'll quickly find out what works and what doesn't—when a drag mode doesn't work with a particular object, it's not available.

Sharing Information Using OLE

Object linking and embedding (OLE) is a Microsoft technology that isn't really making headlines anymore. Yet it is still very much alive on the Windows platform and has its applications in StarOffice.

Generally speaking, OLE permits a document to be used as a kind of container for distinct morsels of information created in another application. Within this relationship, the application that created the embedded object is referred to as the OLE server, and the application that receives the information is identified as the OLE client.

You can open the embedded document for editing by double-clicking it. When you do, you will see the toolbars and menus of the source applications even though you have not left the container document. (As you can see in Figure 3.3, you can still see the rest of the document, and the title bar flashes the destination application's name.)

Figure 3.3 An OLE object from Calc in a Writer document.

Within a larger Windows environment, StarOffice can act as an OLE client, accessing data or graphics from other Windows applications. Using OLE is not without risks, however. Although it enables you to mix and match information from different applications, you must have continuous access to the OLE server application or you can no longer edit the information. Furthermore, using OLE can quickly drain your memory resources, especially if you are using multiple OLE servers simultaneously. Also, the file created by the OLE client application is much bigger in size than it would be if you were using standard links (such as DDE links) for information sharing. As a rule, use OLE if the target application does not provide the tools to modify the attributes of the inserted object and you want to insert the object with all formatting attributes intact. Otherwise, use DDE links.

Inserting OLE Objects of Any Type

As mentioned earlier, some methods of information sharing automatically insert cut or copied information as embedded OLE objects (see "Sharing Information the Old-Fashioned Way"). However, you can also place OLE objects into your document by choosing the Insert, Object, OLE Object command. This opens the Insert OLE Object dialog box (see Figure 3.4), which provides two basic options for inserting OLE objects: Create New and Create From File.

If the Create New option is selected, you will see a list of all StarOffice object types plus a Further Objects entry. If you select Further Objects and choose OK, the program opens the Windows system Insert Object dialog box, which lists all object types registered on your system. (Note that this dialog box also has the Create New and Create From File options.) Selecting an object type and choosing OK starts the corresponding (OLE server) application, which enables you to create a new OLE object.

Figure 3.4 The Insert OLE Object dialog box gives you many options.

The workspace of the OLE server application is marked by a thick gray border, which delineates the size of the object you want to create. If you want, you can resize the workspace by clicking and dragging any of the black sizing handles that dot the workspace perimeter.

Add and format the information you want. When finished, click anywhere outside the OLE workspace; StarOffice automatically closes the OLE server application and returns you to your document. The OLE object itself now appears surrounded by the eight green sizing handles that delineate the perimeter of every inserted object. To deselect the object completely, click anywhere outside the object.

If you select the Create From File option in the Insert OLE Object dialog box, The dialog box metamorphoses into a smaller box with a text box and a Search button. Choosing Search displays the Open dialog box, which enables you to locate the file that has the information you want. Select it and click Open to place the complete path of the file into the text box of the Insert OLE Object dialog box. If you choose OK, StarOffice inserts the file in its entirety at the current cursor position in your document; naturally, you don't want to do this with a worksheet that spans many tens or hundreds or rows.

Working with OLE Objects in Documents

After you've inserted an OLE object into a document, editing its contents is as easy as double-clicking the object. You can also select the object and choose Edit from the object's context menu or Edit, Object, Edit (this is the route to go if the object you want to edit is a multimedia object that starts playing if you double-click it). When you edit an embedded object, the title bar of your document window does not change; however, the menus and toolbars of your OLE client application are replaced with the menus and toolbars of the OLE server application.

In addition to editing the contents of an OLE object, you can also use the tools of the client application to perform the following editing and formatting changes:

• Resize and scale the selected object by clicking and dragging its green sizing handles. Pressing Shift while dragging any of the sizing handles resizes the object proportionally.

• Change the arrangement, alignment, anchor, and text-wrap around the object (Writer only).

• Copy and paste the object.

• Define a border style, color, and even area fill (Writer only) for the otherwise invisible bounding frame that surrounds the embedded object. If you inserted the OLE object into a Writer document, you can also define a frame style for the object.

• Add a caption to the object (Writer only).

• Save a copy of the inserted object by selecting Save Copy As from the object's context menu or choosing Edit, Object, Save Copy As.

Linking Data for Up-to-date Information Sharing

Depending on the method and options you choose to transfer information between two documents, transferred information is placed as a copied, embedded, or linked object. At first glance, you may not see any difference between these types of objects. As soon as you start working with the transferred information, however, you'll notice some key differences:

• A copied object (or copied information) is part of the target document. It no longer maintains any link to the source document from which it originated, nor to the source application in which it was created. It can be edited with whatever tools the destination application provides.

• An embedded object is similar to a copied object in that it no longer is linked to its source document; however, it does maintain a connection to the source application in which it was created. Because of the nature of this connection, you can use the tools of the source application to edit the embedded information in the destination document. Unless you save an embedded object as a separate file, however, it has no life of its own. Also, your options for modifying the embedded object with the tools the destination application provides are limited to moving or resizing the object. (For details, see "Sharing Information with OLE" in this chapter.)

• A linked object is linked to all or part of its source document, depending on the object. (For example, in the case of a linked graphics object, the source document is the actual graphics file; in the case of linked cells, the source document is probably a spreadsheet that holds more data than appears in the linked cells.) This link ensures that any changes to the source are reflected in the destination document. It also limits you as to the changes you can make to the linked object. For example, you cannot alter the structure of a linked table by inserting additional rows. Likewise, if you need to change the information in the linked object, you must edit the source file. Any data changes you make to a linked object are lost when you update the links in your document or the next time you open the document.

Figure 3.5 shows the same Calc data inserted (from top to bottom) as a copied, embedded, and linked objects into a Writer document.

Figure 3.5 The same data shared in different ways.

Using Linked Objects

If you're working with dynamic data that changes all the time, or with a long document that contains numerous graphics, consider working with linked objects. When you insert a graphic into a document—from a file, as a background image, or by dragging it from the Gallery media organizer—you can select the Link check box in the corresponding dialog box or the drag mode on the Gallery context menu to insert the selected item as a linked object.

StarOffice also supports dynamic data exchange (DDE) between documents created in Calc and Writer. Like OLE, DDE uses a client-server model in which the application requesting data is considered the client and the application providing the data is considered the server. A DDE linked object thus maintains a live link to the source document in which it was created. You can use DDE linking when inserting spreadsheet data or a spreadsheet chart into a text document—whenever the spreadsheet data changes, the information in the text document updates accordingly. To insert a Calc or Writer object as a DDE linked object into a Writer or Calc document, select and copy the object you want to transfer; choose Edit, Paste Special; and select the DDE Link item before choosing OK. You can also create DDE links between documents of the same type.

Editing and Updating Links

If your document contains linked objects, you can use the controls in the Edit, Links dialog box to manage those links (see Figure 3.6).

• Clicking the Update button updates the selected link to match the current contents of the source file. You can use this control if the link is set to manual updating (see the last item in this list).

• Clicking the Modify button opens the Modify Link dialog box, where you can edit the application, file, and category of the selected link. This option is most useful for rebuilding a broken link after a source file has been moved.

• Clicking the Break Link button removes the link between the object and the source file. What is left is just a snapshot of the original data as it appeared at the time you broke the link.

• The Update group at the bottom of the dialog box enables you to choose between two update modes. Select Automatic to keep the data in the document always current with the source file; select Manual if you want to update it on command (by clicking the Update button).

Figure 3.6 The Edit Links dialog box lists the complete pathname of all links in your document. You can use the Modify command to change a source file's path or substitute a different file.

When updating files, however, you don't have to use the Edit Links dialog box; you can just choose Tools, Update, Links. This updates all links in the current document.

• When DDE links are updated, any existing data is overwritten by data from the source document. If StarOffice cannot find the source document, it leaves your data as is.

• When graphics links are updated, StarOffice just checks and confirms that the file is still where its path promises.

• When linked text sections in Writer are updated, the section is refreshed to reflect any changes you have made to the source document.

Importing and Exporting Information

Having access to information is essential these days. Having the application in which the information was created, however, is not—at least if you are a StarOffice user.

StarOffice has a large number of import and export file-format converters (or filters) that translate foreign data formats, so you can access information stored in a foreign file format or save information in a foreign file format for others who don't have StarOffice yet—but, like everything (and everybody) else in this world, they are not perfect. As in every translation, some information invariably is up for interpretation and gets lost when taken out of its original context. Although the raw data typically is translated with fidelity, some of the information that defines how the data appears in the original document (including fonts) may get lost in the translation.

The retail version of StarOffice comes with converters for a large number of more or less common file formats of various types that fall into five groups: text documents, spreadsheet and database files, vector graphics, raster images, and sound files. Some of these converters are automatically installed, but you can select among many optional text converters when you run StarOffice setup (see "Installing Additional File Format Converters" in this section).

Out of the box, StarOffice 6.0 does a good job configuring the font-substitution table to find the best possible match for a missing font. If there are marked differences between the appearance of the original document and the converted document that can be traced to a differences in fonts, however, make a note of the fonts used in the original document and specify a replacement font for each font that causes appearance problems. For more details on working with font replacements, see "Replacing Fonts in Documents" in Chapter 5.

Importing Information

StarOffice identifies foreign file formats by the file name extension of the file in question. If it recognizes the extension and if the corresponding conversion filter is installed, you should have no trouble importing the information. Depending on the file type and what you want to do with the file, you can access information stored in a foreign file format by using the File, Open; Insert, Graphic; or Insert, File command. Use File, Open if you want to import the information as a separate document; use Insert, Graphic and Insert, File to merge the information with your current document. In the case of graphic files, you can also choose to insert the file as a linked object by selecting the Link check box in the Insert Graphics dialog box (refer to "Linking Data for Up-to-date Information Sharing" for details).

Converting Files to the New StarOffice File Formats

Opening files saved in a foreign file format enables you to access the information stored in those files. If you want to work with the information, taking full advantage of the StarOffice features, you have to complete the file conversion process by saving the imported information in the new native StarOffice XML file format.

Introducing the New StarOffice XML File Format

In response to customer demands for content stability, performance, and the flexibility to create, manage, and access complex documents and Web pages, StarOffice engineering has replaced the previous binary file format with a new, XML-based file format. XML provides a platform- and application-independent environment for defining document markup that enables you to output and exchange content of StarOffice documents for years to come.

The new StarOffice XML-based file format saves the content, layout, and formatting information of each StarOffice document as a set of XML streams or subdocuments. To make it easier for users to manage and share files, these XML streams—alongside binary data for embedded bitmap graphics and objects, if any—are saved in one compressed package using the popular zip format. The default file extensions for the documents, however, are different for each document type. Table 3.2 provides an overview of the new file extensions for native StarOffice documents and templates.

Table 3.2 StarOffice File Extension by Document Type

Document Type	Document Application	Template Extension	Extension
Text	Writer	.sxw	.stw
Spreadsheet	Calc	.sxc	.stc
Draw	Draw	.sxd	.std
Presentation	Impress	.sxi	.sti
Formula	Math	.sxm	n.a.
Master document	Writer	.sxg	n.a.

Using a zip archive utility (such as PKZip or WinZip), you can easily view and unpack the streams that make up the full StarOffice document, as shown in Figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7 The new StarOffice XML file format enables you to work with files in new ways.

A typical StarOffice document that does not contain macros, pictures, or embedded objects consists of five streams:

• content.xml, as the name suggests, stores the main content of the document, including text, tables, and graphical elements. Embedded bitmap graphics and objects, if any, are stored in the Pictures and Objects directory, respectively (refer to Figure 3.7). Depending on the type, embedded graphics are stored in the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format or their original binary format. StarOffice objects are saved as XML representations, with each object having its own directory; all other objects are stored in their native binary format. Storing embedded bitmap graphics and objects in their own directories allows for easy searching and extracting of the files. The content.xml stream contains only references to these files.

• styles.xml stores the properties and attributes of all character, paragraph, page, object, and numbering styles that have been used to provide a consistent look to the contents of the current document. For example, the attribute-value pairs in the following snippet (taken from the styles.xml stream of a text document) map to the attributes defined on the Organizer tab page of the Paragraph Style: Text Body dialog box, shown in Figure 3.8.

• The name attribute maps to the Name text box; the family attribute indicates that this style is a paragraph style (as opposed to a page style, for example); the parent-style-name attribute maps to the Linked With text box; and the auto-update parameter maps to the AutoUpdate check box.

Figure 3.8 The properties for the Text body paragraph style.

• meta.xlm stores general information about the current document—including title, type, location, user, time of last save, and more. The contents of this file map to the information defined in the File, Properties dialog box.

• settings.xml stores application-specific document and view settings for the document, such as selected printer properties and print options, zoom level, and window size.

• manifest.xml provides additional information about the XML files such as MIME type and encryption method. Like graphic files and objects, the manifest.xml stream is stored in its own directory.

If the document contains macros, the compressed package will contain additional XML streams and directories. For example, StarOffice Basic macros are stored as separate XML streams in the Basic directory. In Figure 3.7, you also see a version stream, which indicates that another version of the same file is stored with this document.

The advantages of the new StarOffice XML file format over binary file formats are three-fold: It ensures better long-term compatibility because user data is stored independently from the source application that created it in a human readable format; it facilitates open information publishing because of better indexing and hyperlinking support and the option to apply templates during publication rather than document creation; and it encourages third-party development because developers can use widely available tools to open, modify, and share StarOffice content. All this will become critical as enterprises move their data and information from networks and hard disks to Web-based content stores (such as Microsoft Exchange or WebDAV-enabled Web servers) and as users begin to publish documents to these online content stores rather than distributing them as email attachments.

Converting Files Individually

Converting individual files is as easy as opening the file in question in StarOffice and then saving it in the StarOffice format. Follow these steps:

1. Select File, Open; locate and select the document you want to convert in the Open dialog box and then choose Open. Based on the file's extension, StarOffice opens the file using the application that has the appropriate conversion filter.

2. Select File, Save As to display the Save As dialog box, and then select the new StarOffice 6.0 document description in the File Type drop-down list (for example, StarOffice 6.0 Text Document).

3. Remove the document extension (for example, .doc) from the file's name in the File Name box and click Save to save the document with the same name but a different extension.

Complex templates contain form fields and automation features that may not convert easily and may have to be re-created in the appropriate StarOffice module, or as in the case of complex document-based scripting solutions, reengineered by an experienced StarOffice developer.

Converting Files in Batches

Needless to say, opening and saving each file you want to convert to the new StarOffice file format individually gets old fast if you are stuck with a batch of files that needs converting. If this batch of files consists of documents and templates that have been created in StarOffice 5.2 or earlier, or of Microsoft Office documents and templates created in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you can rely on the built-in StarOffice conversion utility to convert these files for you.

To convert your files in batches, follow these steps:

1. Place the source documents you want to convert in one location. (The documents can be located in the same folder or in separate subfolders within the same parent folder.)

2. Choose File, AutoPilot, Document Converter to open the first pane of the StarOffice conversion utility (see Figure 3.9).

Figure 3.9 Use the Document Converter to batch-convert binary StarOffice 5.2 or Microsoft Office documents and templates to the StarOffice 6.0 XML file format.

3. Select the document types you want to convert. By default, the program assumes you want to convert binary StarOffice documents. If you want to convert Microsoft Office documents, you must first select the Microsoft Office option and then select the document types you want to convert. (Note that you can select multiple document types.) The program also gives you the option to generate a log file of the entire conversion process. The finished log consists of a two-column table, listing the name of the source file on the left and the target file on the right—nothing special if it weren't that the names are text-based hyperlinks that give you one-click access to your files. To generate this log, select the Create Log File check box, and then choose Next to advance to the second window.

4. For each document type you selected in step 3, you must specify, in consecutive windows, the location of the source templates and documents as well as the location of the converted files (see Figure 3.10).

   • By default, StarOffice saves templates in the <StarOffice6.0>\user\template\ (StarOffice documents) and <StarOffice6.0>\user\template\Imported_Templates (Microsoft Office documents) directories. Although you can specify a different path for your templates, if you accept the default setting for templates, StarOffice automatically registers the converted templates with its template-management system, so you can access the templates via the Templates and Documents dialog box without having to import them first.

   • Converted documents by default are saved to the work directory, but you can save them anywhere you like. When specifying paths, you don't have to type the new path information in the respective boxes; you can click the push buttons to the right of each path box and then navigate to and select the appropriate parent folder in the Select Path dialog box that opens (see Figure 3.10).

   • Also by default, StarOffice earmarks files located in subfolders of the currently specified Import path for conversion. If you want to convert only those templates and files located in the current parent folder, clear the Include Subdirectories check box.

   • When you're all set, choose Next to specify the path information for the next document type you selected in step 3 and so on. After you've finished setting up the import information for all selected document types and choose Next, StarOffice provides you with a list that summarizes your selections.

Figure 3.10 Specify the location of the StarOffice 5.2 and Microsoft Office files.

5. Review the summary list to verify that you've specified the proper paths. (At this point, you can still choose Back at the bottom of the dialog box to return to a previous window and make any necessary changes.) When everything is set, choose Convert to start the process. This may take a while, depending on the number and complexity of the documents and templates the program has to convert.

   • If you selected the Create Log File option in step 3, the program creates a new text document called Logfile.sxw and inserts a two-column table. During conversion, the file doubles as a progress indicator. When the conversion of a file has been completed, the program inserts a new row for the source file and target file.

   • If you didn't select the Create Log File option, you can trace your progress by the numbers on the final window of the Document Converter. When the process is completed, choose Finished to exit the Document Converter.

Customizing Your Microsoft Office Conversion Options

All necessary Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP import and export filters are automatically installed during StarOffice setup, regardless of the setup method (Standard, Custom, Minimum) you choose—so no additional action is required on your part. In addition to conversion filters, however, StarOffice 6.0 provides a number of Microsoft Office compatibility settings options that give you a certain degree of control over the import and export of files in the Microsoft Office formats. To access these features, select Tools, Options from within any StarOffice document window. The options you may want to set can be accessed through the Load/Save, Text Document, and Presentation portions of the Options dialog box.

Load/Save

This is where you define general settings for opening and saving documents in external formats. Using the following options, you can control the behavior of macros or OLE objects in Microsoft Office documents (as well as define settings for HTML documents):

• General. Select various default settings for saving documents as well as the default file format.

• VBA Properties. Specify the general properties for loading and saving Microsoft Office documents that contain macros. For each document type (text, spreadsheet, and presentation), your options include

• Load Basic Code To Edit. Use this if you plan to convert macros from a Microsoft Office to a StarOffice environment. Check this box to load and save the source code of the document-based Visual Basic macro as a special StarOffice Basic module with the document. Using the StarOffice Basic IDE, you can then edit the source code. When you save the document to the StarOffice format, the source code is saved as well. When you save to another format, however, the source code from the StarOffice Basic IDE is lost.

• Save Original Basic Code Again. This option is recommended in co-existence scenarios, when exchanging documents with Microsoft Office users. Select this option if you want to protect the source code of document-based Microsoft Visual Basic macros. With this option selected, the source code is placed in a special internal memory location until the user decides to save the document.

  • When you save the document in a Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP format, the source code of the macro is saved as well, unchanged, so it can still be used by the Microsoft Office user.

  • When you save the document in any other format, the source code is lost. To prevent users from accidental losses, you get an alert informing you that the existing Microsoft Visual Basic code will not be saved.

Figure 3.11 StarOffice enables you to coexist with Microsoft Office users.

• Microsoft Office. Here you can specify the settings for importing and exporting Microsoft Office OLE objects. In the list box, you find entries for the pairs of OLE objects that can be converted when you load a Microsoft Office document into StarOffice or save a StarOffice document in a Microsoft Office format. For example, if a Microsoft Word document contains a Microsoft Excel table as an embedded OLE object, a StarOffice user who loads this text document can edit the spreadsheet table in StarOffice Calc if the respective option is selected.

• Mark the box in the [L] column in front of the entry if a Microsoft OLE object is to be converted into the specified StarOffice OLE object each time a Microsoft document is imported into StarOffice.

• Mark the box in the [S] column in front of the entry if a StarOffice OLE object is to be converted into the specified Microsoft OLE object when a document is saved in a Microsoft file format.

Specifying Compatibility Settings (Writer and Impress)

Formatting definitions are not always the same in all word-processing and presentation programs. Fortunately, Writer and Impress provide Microsoft Office compatibility settings that you can turn on or off in the Compatibility group of the Options Text Document General and Options Presentation General dialog boxes. Using these options enables you to mimic certain behaviors of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents in the current StarOffice Writer or Impress document:

• Add Spacing Between Paragraphs and Tables in the Current Document. Writer and Impress documents use different definitions for paragraph spacing than Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint documents. For example, if between paragraphs you have defined spacing above and below each paragraph, then the actual spacing between paragraphs in a Word document is the sum total of the spacing above and below each paragraph. By contrast, Writer uses only the larger of the two definitions. If you want Writer and Impress to mimic the Microsoft Word and PowerPoint behaviors, respectively, then select this check box.

• Add Paragraph and Table Spacing to Start of Pages. If this box is checked in the Text Documents General settings, the paragraph spacing to the top is also effective at the beginning of a page or column if the paragraph is positioned on the document's first page. The same applies for a page break. When you import a Word document, the spaces are automatically added during the conversion.

• Aligning Tab Positions. If this check box is selected, centered and right-aligned paragraphs containing tabs are formatted as a whole in the center or aligned to the right. If this field is not marked, only the text to the right of the last tab, for example, is aligned to the right, while the text to the left remains where it is.

Reviewing Converted Documents

As a rule, review the converted documents carefully to verify document fidelity. More specifically, keep an eye on the following elements:

• Character size

• Margins, tabs, and indentations

• Line length (how much text fits on a line)

• Line spacing (space between lines within a paragraph)

• Paragraph spacing (space between paragraphs)

• Tables

• Headers and footers

• Lists

• Graphics

To verify the proper appearance of elements and document fidelity, do the following:

1. Review documents onscreen to ensure the converted document looks and functions the same onscreen as in the original document. For example, you can open the original document in the source application and the converted document in StarOffice 6.0, arranging the windows side by side or one on top of the other and then scrolling through the documents.

2. Print and compare documents to ensure formatting and layout are correct. If you notice any strange formatting or layout changes in text documents, turn on the Non-printing Characters feature and look for tab stops, extra returns, or spaces. Also compare the styles in the original document to the styles in the converted document.

Coexisting with Microsoft Office Users

Apart from its attractive price and its features, a key selling point of StarOffice is its Microsoft Office import and export filters. One of the goals of the StarOffice team has always been to provide users with seamless interoperability between Microsoft Office documents and the StarOffice desktop environment. To accomplish this, the StarOffice team has put together a database containing all available features within Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP files and the Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel applications. With more than 12,000 entries collected over the years and regular updates to achieve compatibility with the latest Microsoft Office file formats, this database serves as the basis for implementing, testing, and evaluating the quality of the existing Microsoft Office filters.

Although this comprehensive database lays the foundation for solid and extensive filter development that is unrivaled in today's office suites, don't expect the engineers behind these filters to be miracle workers. Creating conversion filters is tricky and time consuming at best. The key to creating filters that translate as much as possible of the functionality and formatting of the source document is the availability of good documentation that describes all aspects of an application's file format (as is the case with the openly documented StarOffice XML file format). In most cases, however, these descriptions are not readily available, and when they are published, they are typically incomplete and unsupported. Hence, improving the interoperability between applications through conversion filters is mostly an incremental process that gets closer to but can never achieve 100% compatibility.

In short, when importing and exporting a document from and to the Microsoft Office file formats, be prepared for the document to appear differently in the receiving application than in the application in which it was created. Depending on the complexity of the document, you may lose some layout features and formatting attributes. In addition, if a certain feature is not supported, you may also lose the content or data that was associated with this feature (as is the case with some document properties fields that cannot be mapped to StarOffice equivalents during the conversion process, for example). In general, however, features or attributes that pose serious conversion challenges are few and will not affect your ability to use or work with the content of the converted document.

The following sections provide an overview of the conversion challenges you may face when working with Microsoft Office files in a StarOffice environment.

Text Documents

In most cases, the text contents of Microsoft Word documents convert accurately, because both Word and Writer recognize the same ANSI character mappings. In some instances, however, content may be lost if text appears in hyperlinks or fields that are not supported or is linked to a non-supported font set to create internal characters, letterheads, or logos.

Likewise, StarOffice does a good job importing most of the layout information of Microsoft Word documents. Because each office application defines formatting and layout differently, however, parts of the converted document may look slightly different than in the source in some cases. In most of these instances, the result of the conversion can be largely improved by adjusting those formatting and layout features that may cause problems prior to conversion. For example:

• Use character and paragraph styles instead of direct formatting. Most formatting discrepancies between the original and the converted document can be attributed to improper formatting techniques. This can be avoided in large part by using styles instead of direct formatting when applying attributes to characters and paragraphs.

• Remove unnecessary hard returns between bulleted- and numbered-list items. The inclusion of extra returns (empty paragraphs) in a list results in extra numbers or bullets within the list. If you want to increase the spacing between items or paragraphs, define the spacing attribute in the respective paragraph (or list) style's properties dialog box. (For more details on formatting with styles, see Chapter 8.)

• Do not align table columns with multiple tabs. To align text in columns, define tab stops so that only one tab separates text between columns. Alternatively, you can use the Table feature instead of aligning text with multiple (default) tabs. Otherwise, the table appears out of alignment in the converted document because both programs use different default tab settings.

• Use only commonly available fonts. As with any document, the reliability of the document layout and appearance is very dependent on the fonts used. For more details, refer to the sidebar "A Note About Fonts" earlier in this chapter.

Some discrepancies in formatting and layout you may notice are also the result of functional differences between both applications. Although these differences cannot be avoided, they also don't create problems for the user of the documents. Here's a list of things that may change and their causes:

• Character styles for lists. In StarOffice, list numbers have the same font style as the list items. Word has an option for setting the font style of the numbers.

• Indents and spacing in lists. In the default style, Microsoft Word and StarOffice use different indents for the lower levels of a hierarchical list.

• Font and spacing metrics. In general, Microsoft Word font metrics are tighter, allowing more text on a line, though occasionally the situation is reversed. Likewise, both applications use different default measures for vertical spacing. For example, StarOffice measures vertical spaces in inches, whereas Microsoft Office uses points; when a paragraph format in Word has "Auto" spacing, StarOffice uses .07 inches. As a result, the number of lines on a page may change during conversion. Note also that Writer does not support animated character font effects, which are lost during import. Writer also handles hidden text differently—in Word, hidden text is an attribute; in Writer it is a field, which you have to select manually (Insert, Field, Other).

• Page breaks in tables. Unlike Microsoft Word, StarOffice Writer does not support page breaks within a table row. Instead, in the case of tables that stretch across pages, the application breaks the table after the last row that completely fits on a given page; it then automatically inserts the table's column headers across the top of the new page (which is something that Microsoft Word doesn't do) and continues with the next table row.

• Fields. In general, Writer supports the import and export of reference tables and most standard fields such as the bookmark, cross-reference (import only), date and time, hyperlink, and page numbers fields. The Show Number On First Page and Include Chapter Number field options, however, are not supported in StarOffice. To achieve similar results in Writer, you have to assign a different page style to the document's first page without header or footer regions as containers for page numbers. To include a chapter number with your page numbers, you have to add a Chapter Field after import (Insert, Fields, Other). Note also that Writer does not have the equivalent of a CreateDate or SaveDate field, which by default shows both the date and time a document was created. In Writer, date and time are two separate fields. You should also know that Word does not have an equivalent of the Time Fixed and Date Fixed fields in Writer. During export, the contents of these fields are saved as plain text.

• Merge fields. Although both Writer and Word support the use of merge (or form letter) documents, in Word this functionality is implemented in a slightly different way, which is not supported by the current import filters. As a result, you have to make some changes to merge fields in the converted documents if you want to use this functionality after import. If you can access the same data source with the converted document as you can with the original document, choose Edit, Exchange Database and use the resulting dialog box to select the database and table you want to use. If the names of the merge fields do not map to fields in your data source, you have to reinsert the form letter fields into the converted document or template after import. Note that Writer merge fields do not export to Word.

Spreadsheet Documents

When it comes to the spreadsheet basics, everything Excel can do, Calc can do as well—but not necessarily better. Although Writer at times wins out over Word in terms of what it has to offer, Calc also lacks some of the features that make Excel stand out from its competitors. The following list summarizes the key differences between Calc and Excel that may affect document conversion:

• Worksheet size. Excel supports 65,536 rows on a single worksheet and a total of 256 worksheets in one document. Calc worksheets, on the other hand, are limited to 32,000 rows and 256 sheets. If an Excel worksheet contains more than 32,000 rows, Calc automatically starts a new worksheet when importing the data. However, any formula that may have referenced a row below the 32,000 row limit has to be edited manually—Calc does not automatically modify cell references in formulas when distributing data across worksheets during import. If you are trying to import data that exceeds the Calc 256-sheet limit, an alert informs you of data loss. Just for the record, an Excel workbook can hold a total 16,777,216 rows of data; Calc cuts off at 8,192,000.

• Named ranges in formulas. As power worksheet users know, defining a name for a range of cells makes it easier to reference the range in a formula (for example, instead of using A1:E8, you can refer to the same range as Expenses by naming it that). This feature is supported by both Excel and StarOffice. Excel users, however, can also define another range with reference to two range names (for example, name1:name2). Calc does not support this feature. If an Excel formula or function refers to a range with reference to two range names, Calc imports these formulas with the "#Name" (invalid name) error message. You can fix this error by replacing the named ranges with standard cell references in the affected formula. Note also that Excel users can use the same name for different ranges on different worksheets. In Calc you cannot use the same range name twice in the same workbook.

• Constant arrays in arguments. Excel supports constant arrays in matrix formulas such as =mdeterm({1,2;3,4}); Calc does not. If used in an Excel worksheet, these formulas are imported with empty arguments. If you want to use these formulas in Calc, they must be modified in Excel before you import the workbook into Calc; specifically, the Excel users must replace the constant arrays with array values in a cell or range of cells (for example, =mdeterm(A1:B2)).

• Optional parameters. Excel supports functions with missing optional arguments as in this generic example: =function(arg1;;arg3). These functions are imported with an "Err:504" error code. For these functions to work in Calc, you must manually insert a vaid (optional) argument (for example, =function(arg1;arg2;arg3)).

• Form controls. In brief, form controls, which are a form of custom solution, are neither imported nor exported, because of some fundamental programmatic difference between each application's object model. In each case, controls must be rebuilt in the target application. In terms of functionality, form controls in StarOffice are not fully compatible with Microsoft Office controls. (For more details on custom solutions, see Part VI of this book.)

• Charts. The StarOffice chart engine does not have quite the edge of the Microsoft Office chart engine. As a result, some Excel chart types lack StarOffice equivalents or appear differently. Excel chart types that are not supported in StarOffice are Radar Filled, Bar of Pie, Pie of Pie, and Surface, which the import filter maps to the Columns (Normal) and 3D Columns (deep) (Surface only) StarOffice chart types. Although the Radar (Radar with Symbols) type has a StarOffice equivalent in the Net with Symbols chart type, each chart reads the information provided in the base table differently. In Excel, the information is read clockwise; in Calc, it is read counter-clockwise, resulting in two different charts. Chart types that appear differently but have a similar functionality are Bubble and Doughnut Exploded, which are imported as XY-Chart (Lines with Symbols) and Pies (Ring), respectively.

  Excel also defines the start and end points of the X and Y axes differently, which has the effect that Excel charts never begin or end on the axis but always leave a small gap. In StarOffice, chart lines begin and end on the axis lines. Furthermore, Excel users can specify data labels for their charts that are part of a range of cells that may be separated by multiple rows from the range on which the chart is based. In StarOffice, labels must be the first row in the range on which the chart is based. If the Excel document you are importing uses charts of the type described, the imported chart appears without data labels.

Presentations

In general, the StarOffice PowerPoint import filters do a fine job with the basics and contents when importing a PowerPoint presentation. Some might even say that any differences between the original and the converted presentation are cosmetic. That said, when it comes to presentations, cosmetics of any size and shape can make or break an image. The following list provides an overview of the key changes you can expect when importing a PowerPoint presentation:

• Object shadows. Impress supports only the PowerPoint shadow types 1, 2, 4, 6, 14, 17, and 18. During the import, unsupported shadows are mapped to the closest existing shadow types, or as is the case with the horizontally oriented or tapered shadow styles, ignored.

• Object attributes. Unlike PowerPoint, Impress does not support three-color gradients, double and triple borders, or round-dotted borders. Import can be largely improved by changing three-color presets to comparable two-color gradient fills and changing double and triple border lines to a single border line with appropriate width. The round-dotted border lines that are mapped to rectangle-border lines look very close to the original style in PowerPoint, so manual editing should not be necessary.

• Color schemes. Impress does not support the same concept of color schemes in presentations as PowerPoint; it uses graphic and presentation styles instead. Because both concepts are completely different, color schemes do not migrate smoothly. To allow PowerPoint to set the color of StarOffice elements correctly, StarOffice sets fixed color attributes for each object. This results in StarOffice presentations looking virtually identical in PowerPoint after export; however, it also disables further use of the color-schemes concept within PowerPoint. As a result, PowerPoint users can no longer specify color schemes in presentations that have been exported from Impress.

• 3D AutoShapes. StarOffice has a real 3D graphics engine; PowerPoint, however, only simulates 3D graphic objects through the use of a pseudo 3D engine. The StarOffice import filter converts these pseudo 3D objects to true 3D objects, which can result in a slightly different appearance. However, the StarOffice 3D engine makes it easy to change the appearance of the object during post-cleanup to ensure a smoother and more accurate look.

• Object transition effects. Impress uses different names for object-transition effects, and in some cases slightly different appearances, than PowerPoint. As a result, object transition effects have different names or appear differently after the import. Furthermore, StarOffice does not support the Random Effects feature; the import filter maps the unsupported effect to the Vertical Lines effect. This can be avoided if the effect in the source document is changed to one particular effect. (Table 3.3 at the end of this section provides an overview of how the StarOffice Impress filters map PowerPoint object transitions.) PowerPoint users also can assign an effect to a word or letter within a block of text or to a group of paragraphs. However, effects of this type cannot be imported, because you can assign a text effect only to individual paragraphs in Impress.

• Slide transition effects. Impress uses different names for slide transition effects, and in some cases the effects appear slightly differently in Impress than in PowerPoint. Table 3.4 at the end of this section provides an overview of how the StarOffice conversion filters map PowerPoint slide transitions.

• Headers and footers on slides, handouts, and notes. Unlike PowerPoint, Impress does not support a conventional "header and footer" concept. However, you can insert fields such as slide number, date, time, filename, and author anywhere on a slide in Impress. When importing PowerPoint presentations, the Impress import filter adds the content of the header and footer regions as static text to the master (or background) page of the presentation. You can replace the static text with corresponding StarOffice date, time, and author fields if you must. However, when exporting Impress presentations to the Microsoft PowerPoint format, the current export filter does not preserve dynamic date and number fields; instead, it replaces them with static text.

• Dynamic date formats. Every dynamic date field in PowerPoint is associated with a language locale attribute that controls the date format. With the help of this attribute, you can easily switch the date format. However, the StarOffice import filter does not read the locale attribute from the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation; it uses instead the default locale for StarOffice documents. Therefore, if the locale settings between StarOffice and Microsoft PowerPoint differ, StarOffice imports the date in a different format. To prevent this from happening, you can either modify the default locale in StarOffice to match the locale of the PowerPoint presentation, or you can replace the dynamic date field in PowerPoint with a fixed one. To change the locale in StarOffice, choose Tools, Options, Language Settings, Languages and select the language from the Default Languages for Documents drop-down list. When importing PowerPoint presentations, users will now see the correct date format.

• Document property information. The Impress Properties dialog box does not provide as many pre-defined and custom user fields as Microsoft PowerPoint. As a result, any information that cannot be mapped to Impress document property fields is lost during import, including the information listed in the Manager, Company, and Category fields. If you really, really need this information, make a note of it and insert it into the available custom fields of the Properties dialog box.

• Pre-defined page sizes. StarOffice does not have as many pre-defined page sizes as PowerPoint; however, using the flexible User-Defined Page Size feature on the Format, Page dialog box, you can specify the page sizes you want. When importing documents, however, Impress imports the proper page size of the original slide.

• Action Setting "On mouse over." StarOffice does not support the "on mouse over" actions on objects. The import filter maps these actions to the equivalent "on mouse click" action. Although this mapping is a pretty good match, the behavior of the presentation changes, and a presenter has to be made aware of this. All presentations that use this feature should therefore at least be flagged or provided with a note highlighting this new behavior.

• Re-record or split narrations or lose them. Unlike Microsoft PowerPoint, Impress does not support voice-over narration. The recorded narration voice is lost during import. However, Impress enables users to assign a sound file to each slide or object. To add the equivalent of a voice-over narration to an Impress presentation, the user must separate the existing PowerPoint narration into blocks (or rerecord it) and then assign these sound blocks as slide effects to each individual Impress slide.

Table 3.3 Microsoft PowerPoint Object Transitions and Their StarOffice Impress Equivalents

PowerPoint	StarOffice	Comments
Blinds	Fade Horizontally
Box	Fade to Center
Checkerboard	Checkerboard
Diamond	Appear
Crawl	Fly In from Bottom
Dissolve	Dissolve
Flash once	Appear	StarOffice does not support the Flash Once effect, therefore the appearance after the import is different; the text does not flash, it simply appears and remains visible.
Peek	Short Fly In from Bottom
Random bars	Horizontal lines
Spiral	Spiral Outward Clockwise	In Microsoft PowerPoint, Spirals move over the full slide area. In StarOffice Impress, they move only in the paragraph area.
Split	Close Vertical
Stretch	Stretch Vertically	StarOffice Impress supports only the Stretch Vertically effect; all PowerPoint stretch variations are mapped to this variant.
Strips	Fade from top to right
Swivel	Rotate Horizontally	StarOffice Impress does not support the Swivel effect; the effect is mapped to the Rotate Horizontally effect instead. To get the same result as in PowerPoint, the user has to shrink the text area's to the length of the longest sentence.
Wipe	Cross fade from top
Zoom	Fade from center	StarOffice Impress does not support the Zoom effect; the Fade from Center effect approximates the Zoom behavior.
Random effects	Vertical lines	StarOffice Impress does not support the random use of several effects. The user has to decide which effect to use before import; otherwise, the import filter imports this effect as the Vertical lines effect.

Table 3.4 Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Transitions and Their StarOffice Impress Equivalents

PowerPoint Slide Transition	StarOffice Slide Transition
Blinds Horizontal	Fade Horizontally
Blind Vertical	Fade Vertically
Box In	Fade to Center
Box Out	Fade from Center
Checkerboard Across	Horizontal Checkerboard
Checkerboard Down	Vertical Checkerboard
Cover Down	Fly in from Top
Cover Left	Fly in from Right
Cover Right	Fly in from Left
Cover Up	Fly in from Bottom
Cover Left Down	Fly in from Upper Right
Cover Left Up	Fly in from Lower Right
Cover Left Down	Fly in from Upper Right
Cover Right Down	Fly in from Top Left
Cover Left Down	Fly in from Upper Right
Cover Right Up	Fly in from Lower Left
Cut	(Not supported; no effect assigned)
Cut Through Black	(Not supported; no effect assigned)
Dissolve	Dissolve
Fade Through Black	(Not supported; no effect assigned)
Random Bars Horizontally	Horizontal Lines
Random Bars Vertically	Vertical Lines
Horizontal In	Close Vertically
Horizontal Out	Open Vertically
Split Vertical In	Close Horizontally
Split Vertical Out	Open Horizontally
Strips Left Down	Fade from Top Right
Strips Left Up	Fade from Bottom Right
Strips Right Down	Fade from Top Left
Strips Right Up	Fade from Bottom Left
Uncover Down	Uncover Downwards
Uncover Left	Uncover to Left
Uncover Right	Uncover to Right
Uncover Up	Uncover Upwards
Uncover Left Down	Uncover to Lower Left
Uncover Left Up	Uncover to Upper left
Uncover Right Down	Uncover to Lower Right
Uncover Right Up	Uncover to Upper Right
Wipe Down	Cross-Fade from Top
Wipe Left	Cross-Fade from Right
Wipe Right	Cross-Fade from Left
Wipe Up	Cross-Fade from Bottom
Random Transition	Automatic (random)

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