In the previous two blogs, first you've learned about Form Controls, where you created a Push Button http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/entry/exploring_hidden_secrets_push_buttons, and then you utilized the built-in wizards to click your way to a DVD Collection database:  http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/entry/exploring_hidden_secrets_creating_a.

May be you followed the steps using your own copy of OpenOffice.org or StarOffice. Then you might have entered some data records to your new DVD collection database.

In this blog, you can see how to create a Writer text document with some database related form controls.

The Writer document is designed to show your database records. Why not just use the ready made Base form? Well, one advantage of a Writer document over a Base form is the full control about layout and formatting, using the well known Writer menus and icons. Another advantage or disadvantage (this depends on your use cases) is the fact that the Base form is always an integrated part of the complete Base file, while the Writer document is an external document that just opens a link to the connected database.

This is the mydvds.odb Base file to start from. We already did enter some data records.

1. Choose File - New - Text Document to open a new Writer document.

2. Enter a heading and some other text as you like.

3. Choose View - Toolbars - Form Controls to open the Form Controls toolbar.

4. On the Form Controls toolbar, click the More Control icon to open the More Controls toolbar.

5. On the More Controls toolbar, click the Table Control icon.

6. Drag a rectangle of the size and position of the new table where your database records will be shown.

   The Table Element Wizard opens.

In the Table Element Wizard, select your data source and the Base table to be used.

Click Next for the next page of the wizard.

Double-click the fields that should be shown as columns in the table element. Then click Finish.

Remember that you can click the Design Mode On/Off icon on the Form Controls toolbar to switch from design mode to data entry mode and back.

Found issues: The ReleaseYear field obviously accepts date values in the default date format only. I did enter years like 1999, 2000, 2008, but they got converted to some unwanted values. Or my data did not show up at all, because I clicked the "Next Record" button instead of the "New Record" button when I did enter the records (?). I don't know and this blog is not a bug hunting blog, so let's pretend there are years in the ReleaseYear fields.

In design mode you can control the properties of the table element. A double-click opens the Control Properties window. But the more interesting window is the Form Properties window. Right-click the table element and choose Form.

On the Data tab page you can see that the Table Element Wizard did fill in the correct values for Data Source, Content Type, and Content.

Now let's add two text boxes to display the database fields of the record that is selected in the table element.

1. Switch to design mode (the Design Mode On/Off icon must be enabled)

2. On the Form Controls toolbar, click the Text Box icon.

3. Drag a rectangle where you want to show the first text box.

4. Double-click the new text box to open its Control Properties window.

On the Data tab page, select the Data Field that should be shown in this text box.

Next, switch from design mode to data entry mode and test your new Writer form document.

Do not forget to save the Writer document.

When you close the Writer form document and open it again, it will be ready in data entry mode.

In the previous blog about "hidden secrets" inside the OpenOffice.org software you've learned how easy it is to create push buttons. In the blog following this one, you will see how to add controls to your documents that display the contents of database fields.

Here and now we could need a database that is more than just a basic example. For users of OpenOffice.org, nice and useful database templates are already installed. You just rub the menu to summon a wizard that is waiting for you for eons to unveil the next hidden secret.

To create a new DVD collection database

1. Choose File - New - Database.

   You see the Database Wizard.

2. 
   Click Next>> to continue to page 2 of the Database Wizard.

3. 
   Check "Create tables using the table wizard". Then click Finish.

4. Enter a name for the new OpenOffice.org Base file, for example mydvds, and save the file.

   You see the opened Base file, but wait, something happens automatically:

5. The Table Wizard opens.

6. 
   Click the Personal radio button. Select DVD-Collection from the list box. Then click the >> button to move all available fields to the right. This instructs the wizard to add all available fields to the new table.

7. Click Next> twice to continue to the "Set primary key" page.

8. 
   Check the "Auto value" box. Then click Next>.

   In OpenOffice.org Base, every table needs a primary key. A primary key is a field with unique contents for every data record. "Auto value" inserts a unique value into that field for every new record.

9. On the final page of the Table Wizard, click "Create a form based on this table".

   
   

10. Click Finish. Next you see the Form Wizard.

    
    

11. Click the >> button to move all available fields to the right. Then select the ID field and click the < button to move that field back to the left.

    The ID field is the automatically filled primary key field. This field must be present in the table, but it needs not be shown in a form.

12. Click Next> twice to advance to the "Arrange controls" page.

    
    

13. Click the second of the four big icons under "Arrangement of the main form".

    The reason is that I personally prefer this choice from the four arrangements.

14. The remaining pages of the Form Wizard can be used for some fine-tuning, if you want so. I'm sorry for the choice of colors on the "Apply styles" page. Click Finish any time to create the form.

The ready-made DVD-Collection form looks like this now:

You see two columns with all selected fields in alphabetical order of their labels.

The form is saved automatically to the new Base file mydvds.

The form shows "(read-only)" in the title bar. That is a sign that you can enter the data records now. If you rather want to edit the form layout, you can do so from the Base file that is still open in the background.

• Right-click the DVD-Collection entry and choose Edit if you want to edit the form layout.
• You can change the form properties, for example, the size and position of the fields, or the background color.
• In the Base file, double-click the name of your form, or click Open, to open the form in data input mode.
• Enter some data records. The new or changed data is stored automatically once you go to another data record.

Now we have a database ready for the next blog. In the next blog we will learn how to create form controls inside a Writer document, and this time the form controls will be connected to some database fields. That's the plan, don't know yet if that's possible at all - stay tuned to this blog.

Many hidden treasures are slumbering beyond the menus of OOo. If you only scan the menu bar for those features you're searching for, you'll find at most 10% of them.

Well, you can argue the exact percentage, but I'm quite sure that you will miss a lot if you never explore beyond the obvious menu commands.

• Some dialogs and wizards will only show up on some actions, as with drag-and-drop from Calc to Base.

• Some cool features are only part of context menus, like the Arrange, Align, Flip, and Convert commands in Impress.

• And some useful things can be inserted into your documents, but they never show up as commands in the Insert menu. Such are the Push Buttons and other Form Controls.

Let's take an intuitive beginner's approach to explore the power of Form Controls. Or to scratch the surface of Push Buttons.

To insert an action button to open another document

You want to add a new button to your document. When you click that button, OOo will start some action, for example, open a certain document in addition to the current document. I chose this example because this is a built-in action, so it's an easy first start.

1. Open a new Writer text document. Optionally type some text.

2. Choose View - Toolbars - Form Controls.

   You see the Form Controls toolbar. As with most other toolbars, you can drag the toolbar to other places, dock and undock it to the document borders, and reshape it to show more rows or more columns of icons. And you can click the down arrow in the title bar to open a menu. The Visible Buttons command shows a nice overview of the available icons with their names.

3. 
   On the Form Controls toolbar, click the Push Button icon. (Do not click the Push Button command in the Visible Buttons menu: this would hide the icon from the toolbar!)

4. Drag a rectangle of the position and size of the push button, then release the mouse button.

5. Right-click the new push button and choose Control from the context menu. This opens one of the two main properties windows.

6. 
   Click the Action list button and select "Open document/web page" from the list.

7. The URL text field is now enabled. Click the … button next to the URL text field to select the document that should be opened when a user clicks the button.

That's it. You have created your first action push button. However, we are not finished yet.

• Currently the button is labeled "Button". Select the text in the Label text field and enter a more descriptive text, like "Open Memo Doc".

Currently the document is set to design mode. When you click the button, it gets eight handles to resize the button, and you can change the button's properties. In order to use the push button, you must leave the design mode. There are two ways to leave the design mode:

• Click the Design Mode On/Off icon on the Form Controls toolbar. You can immediately test the actions of your form controls. Don't forget to save your document before you test the actions. May be the action is defined to quit the current document.

• Save the document and open it again. By default a document with form controls is opened in "action mode", not in design mode. You can change this, of course.

To create an action button to close the current document

Now you know how to create a working push button. However, not all actions are listed in the Actions list box. If you want to define the action to close the current document, you would need a macro that does just that. Then you assign that macro to the push button.

Intuitively, you might want to use the built-in macro recorder of OpenOffice.org. But that is not a good idea when you try to record the "Close this document" action, because that also closes the macro recorder.

So the next choice is to search the web for "OpenOffice.org macro to close the current document". Some minutes later, you find this command:

StarDesktop.CurrentComponent.CurrentController.Frame.close( true )

1. In your web browser or wherever you found the macro, select the macro and copy it to the clipboard.

2. Open the Writer document where you want to create a Close push button.

3. Choose Tools - Macros - Organize Macros - OpenOffice.org Basic.

   This opens the Macros dialog.

4. Click Edit.

   This opens the Basic IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

5. Paste the macro command between the Sub and End Sub statements as follows. Rename the Sub Main to another meaningful name like Sub close_current:

6. 
   Close the Basic IDE. OOo saves your macro automatically.

Next, you create a push button as outlined above in steps 1 to 5.

1. Right-click the button and choose Control to open the Properties window.

2. Click the Events tab on top of the Properties window.

   You see the Events tab page, where you can assign macros to all possible button events.

3. 
   Normally, a button responds to a mouse click when you release the mouse button. So you assign the close_current macro to that event. Click the … icon next to "Mouse button released".

4. You see the Assign Action dialog. Click the Macro button on top right.

5. You see the Macro Selector dialog. Click to open the path "My Macros - Standard - Module1". Now you can select the close_current macro and click OK.

Almost finished. You have written the close_current macro in the Basic IDE, then you have assigned the macro to the "release mouse button" event of your own push button. Not bad for a beginner!

Again, you may want to change the Label of the button to some meaningful text like "Close this doc".

And do not forget to save the document before you try out the Close button in action mode.

Developing software (or hardware) is more rewarding if there are many potential users, now and in the future.

It might be quite nice to develop a new light bulb that is perfectly suited for the homes of Phil and his family in Punxsutawney. But it is much better to develop a new light bulb that can illuminate all homes of the world. A developer would get more help from others on this way, and there would be a wider choice of programming tools. Not to speak of any financial rewards.

You may argue that this is not possible because of the different light bulb sockets, voltages, and other technical and legal restrictions. See? That is why we need open standards that are the same wherever possible. Even for common supplies like electricity or the dimensions of nuts and bolts it is not a simple task to agree on an open standard.

• The USA agreed to use the metric system in 1866, still it is not in common public use.

• Some efforts were successful, however. September 3rd, 1967, Sweden changed the whole car traffic from left side to right side driving. That was relatively easy back in those days. Would be more difficult today. See the huge street constructions at the former Chinese/Macau border, where traffic has to change from one side to the other without crashing into each other.

Now, back to software. Is it easy to change software standards, once that people agree something should be changed? Not really. Even when people who use expensive, suppressive, proprietary de facto standards are given the chance to switch to free alternatives (free as in beer, and free as in unrestricted use), they may decide to stick to what they have.

You can take a horse to the water but you can't make him drink. But you can try to make the water so refreshing and delicious that no horse can resist.

Enter ODF. The OpenDocument Format is an approved international standard, like the meter or the second. That means that ODF based software solutions that you develop today will be valid and useful everywhere on the world, now and forever. It is not necessary to waste your time on developing exceptions for one brand of browsers or another brand of operating systems.

Imagine how a world with only open standards will look. You cannot imagine? Neither can I. But there are first steps visible everywhere.

• Extensions for OpenOffice.org and StarOffice exist for only a short time now. And already more than a hundred extensions were developed, almost all of them for free and fair use.

• The hybrid file format that is available within the Sun PDF Import extension is an example of an ingenious merger of an open standard and a publicly released de facto standard. The hybrid file format contains the same document in ODF and PDF together in one .pdf file. Users of OpenOffice.org can open this hybrid file and edit the contents like any other Writer, Calc, Draw, or Impress file, then export back to the hybrid format. Users of other PDF reader programs can open the same .pdf file and see the PDF, as they expect. (Requires at least OOo 3 Beta)
  

• Or have a look at this video by one of the StarOffice/OpenOffice.org developers which shows how to use the WebDAV support of OpenOffice.org to use Writer and Calc as editors for web sites. Perfect web sites, created and edited without the need to learn html.
  

By the way, googling for "the beauty of open standards", I found a nice blog about open standards by David A. Wheeler that is worth reading.

The intended use of PDF

You certainly know that OpenOffice.org can export your documents to Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). An introduction to this format can be found on the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format

This format was designed as an electronic equivalent of a page printed on paper. That is, it was not designed to be a format that can be edited.

Some users still want to edit a PDF file for some reasons. Workarounds were developed to enable editing of PDF files. For example, you can print the PDF document, then scan the printed page using an OCR program, edit the results, and generate a new PDF file from them. Currently, many OCR programs can open PDF files directly, thus saving the extra steps of using a printer and a scanner.

To export the current document as PDF

1. Choose File – Export as PDF.

2. In the PDF Options dialog box, select the PDF export options, then click Export.

   The application help explains the options that you can select on the five different tab pages. 

3. In the Export dialog box, select a path and type a name for the PDF file. Click Export.

If you later want to export as PDF again using the same PDF options, you can click the Export Directly As PDF icon on the Standard toolbar. This command does not display the PDF Options dialog box.

Editing PDF files

Starting with OpenOffice.org 3.0, a new extension can be used to import a PDF file for editing. This extension is still in its early stage of development, so do not expect a perfect roundtrip from PDF to ODF and back to PDF. However, the extension can be used for first tests right now.

Currently you need a recent developer version of OOo 3.0, which is available from http://download.openoffice.org/680/ or other web sites. Keep in mind that this is not a software to be used in productive environments, it is for experimental testing only.

Once you have installed the OOo 3.0 software, you can install the PDF Import extension. Download the extension from http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/pdfimport

To import a PDF file to OpenOffice.org 3

1. Choose File – Open.

2. Select the PDF file and click Open.

   You may set the file type to “PDF” to shorten the list of files, or enter *.pdf into the file name field to only select from files with that extension.

In the current state of development, the PDF file opens in OpenOffice.org Draw. Each page of the PDF file is shown on a page of the Draw document. You can double-click the text boxes and edit the text, or you can move the text boxes and the images, or use any of the Draw commands and icons.

To save a document as PDF file in OOo 3

When you are ready with editing the file, you can save the document.

A click on the Save icon will show the Save As dialog box, where you can enter a name for the new Draw document that you are currently editing. This creates an ODG file but not a new PDF file. You will get a PDF file by exporting as PDF, like before:

1. To create a new PDF file, choose File – Export As PDF.

2. In the PDF Options dialog box, you may want to enable the Create Hybrid File checkbox (see below).

3. Click Export.

4. You can enter a new name for the edited PDF document, or keep the old name to overwrite the previous document.

The ODF-PDF hybrid file 

Once you have installed the PDF Import extension for OOo 3, the PDF Options dialog shows a new checkbox on the General tab page: Create Hybrid File.

A hybrid file is a PDF file that contains the document in both formats, ODF and PDF. Most PDF viewer software will ignore the ODF bits and show the hybrid file as a normal PDF file. But in OOo 3, the hybrid file will open in the same module of OOo that created the hybrid file: Writer, Calc, Impress, or Draw. So the OOo 3 user can edit the original layout of the hybrid file, in the highest possible quality without any conversion losses, and then export as PDF again.

I bet that soon there will be many hybrid ODF-PDF files on the Web. These files enable users of OpenOffice.org 3 to edit the contents without problems. Of course you can choose to disable the Create Hybrid File checkbox, thus creating a normal PDF file without the additional ODF bits.

You can browse to the OOoNinja page for a nice report about this new feature:

http://www.oooninja.com/2008/06/pdf-import-hybrid-odf-pdfs-extension-30.html

You can write text in columns using any one of the following options:

• Set the page format to columns

• Insert a section with columns

  • Text fills all columns to the same height

  • Text fills first column, then flows into next column

• Use a multi-column table

• Use text frames or linked text frames

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Set the page format to columns

This looks like the most obvious choice if you need columns on several pages.

To apply columns to the current page style:

• Choose Format – Page – Columns.

This however changes the current page style, which most often will be the "Default" page style. If you want some other pages without columns, you must know or learn how to apply different page styles in the same document.

To define a new page style with columns:

1. Choose Format – Styles and Formatting to open the Styles and Formatting window.

2. Click the Page Styles button in the Styles and Formatting window.

3. Right-click the Default entry to open the context menu.

4. Choose New...

   
   

5. In the Page Style dialog, type the name of your new page style, for example, Two Columns.

6. In the Next Style list box, select the Two Columns style, or the Default style.

   Choosing the same style as next style will continue this page style for the following pages.

   Choosing another style as next style will define the current page style to span one page only.

7. On the Columns tab, select the columns options. Click OK.

8. Now you can apply the new Two Columns style to the current page range by double-clicking the Two Columns name in the Styles and Formatting window.

   For a definition of page ranges, see "The scope of page ranges" in the blog entry http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/entry/changing_page_orientation

You see, the obvious and simple way to apply columns is simple only if you want to apply columns to the whole document. Otherwise it turns out to become a difficult multi step instruction. Fortunately, there are other ways to get columns that are much simpler to apply.

Insert a section with columns

To apply columns to a part of a page:

1. Choose Insert – Section.

2. Click the Columns tab page and set the options. Click Insert.

The checkbox "Evenly distribute contents to all columns" is enabled by default. The text will flow into the columns so that they all are filled to the same height. The whole section changes its height accordingly.

If you disable the checkbox, text flows into the first column of the section. The section grows down until it reaches the lower page margin. Only then the text will flow into the next column.

You can press the column break key, Ctrl+Shift+Return, to manually jump to the next column. This does the same for columns that the page break key, Ctrl+Return, does for pages.

Use a multi-column table

For some applications you may prefer to insert a multi-column table and enter your text into the cells.

The table offers some formatting features that you may prefer. For example, it is easy to drag-and-drop the cell and table borders to resize the columns. Different backgrounds to the cells are possible, and other options.

Use text frames or linked text frames

This is another option that can be helpful for newsletters, for example. You can read about linked frames in this blog entry: http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/entry/text_boxes_in_writer_documents and of course the installed application Help has some helpful advice, too.

Tip: before you decide which method to use for your columns in a long document, you may want to test the results of all output options first. Some methods for columns will export to PDF or to HTML better than others.

Often a cell area of your Calc sheet or a table inside a Writer text document needs to be formatted. The first row and/or column should have a different background, the font should look bold or italic, the values should get some numbering formats.

And you have at least three wishes when applying the formatting:

• Fast and easy, with as few clicks as possible.

• Always the same style.

• Looking nice.

The answer is easy: It is called AutoFormat. AutoFormat defines a set of different formatting rules and properties with a distinctive name. Several AutoFormats are already supplied and installed in Calc and Writer.

If you don't like the supplied AutoFormats, you can add your own AutoFormats and give them the names you want. Format a table as you like, select all the formatted cells, then open Format-AutoFormat to add your formatting as a new style. Easy, isn't it?

You can add backgrounds, borders, set automatic cell width and height, use currency formats, and more. You can even apply patterns, which means defining alternating colors for alternating rows or columns.

To apply an AutoFormat

1. Select an area of cells.

2. Choose Format - AutoFormat.

3. Select a name from the left list and watch the preview in the dialog.

4. Click OK to apply the AutoFormat.

A: Look here, darling, I've got something to tell you right now, and it is of highest priority.

B: You make me curious. Continue.

A: I've found some reasons to feel some affection towards you.

B: Can you be more precise in this statement, please?

A: I've found four reasons to feel an affection towards you increased up to 100 percent.

B: Go ahead ...

A: These are the reasons, in order from top to bottom:

1. You look so beautiful.
2. You give me reason to live.
3. I get excited when I think of you.
4. We can exchange more than words.

B: This is a numbered list, shouldn't it be a bullet list?

A: You're right as always, darling. I love the way you edit my words right out of my mouth.

B: Thank you for saying that. Al least you got the punctuation right. But you could have read the Sun Editorial Style Guide, Chapter 3, and follow that advice.

A: You're welcome, darling - better I wake up now.

This can happen to a tech writer when mixing up the following:

• reviewing a newly written Sun book all day long
• reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby late at night
• trying to live a personal life, as much as possible, if possible at all

OpenOffice.org contains many useful features designed to simplify your office tasks. One of those features is the quick and easy drawing of text tables.

Imagine you write a text and need a table with three columns, the first column narrow, the other two wide. You can start drawing that table without the need to reach for the mouse, search that icon, or drag the borders between the columns. Just enter a line like this:

+------+-----------------------+-------------------------+

The very moment that you press Enter at the end of this line, it gets converted into a table, where the plus characters are turned into vertical borders.

(Note that the html format has its own mind where the column borders should be. In Writer they are where you placed the plus characters.)

If that conversion doesn't happen, you might have disabled this feature in the past. Enable "Create table" in Tools - AutoCorrect - Options. Check that Format - AutoFormat - While Typing is enabled, too.

Start the initial line with some space characters to create a table that begins at some distance from the page margin.

While you are in the Tools - AutoCorrect - Options dialog, click the Help button to see what else is available that can automatically change your text.

Now you see them, now you don't - I'm writing about those toolbars, as we call them, that keep popping up whenever you don't need them. While later, once you managed to get rid of them, you could need the one or the other toolbar, but where is it now?

OpenOffice.org by default tries to show the toolbars that you might need, according to the current context. When you use the down arrow key to scroll down a Writer text, different toolbars can appear.

• With the cursor in a table, you see the Table toolbar.

• Position the cursor inside a numbered list, and you see the Bullets and Numbering toolbar.

• A list inside a Writer table cell even shows both of the above.

• Scrolling across an image, another toolbar asks for your attention. And so on.
  

Now, if you don't want such a toolbar you can close it with the small icon on top of that toolbar. Scroll further down and back, and there it is again. This can get annoying.

But keep in mind that toolbars are there to help you with editing, formatting, inserting new objects, and so on.

These kind and helpful companions can be scared away in two different ways:

• Click the Close icon on a toolbar to close the bar temporarily. It will reappear as soon as possible.

• Choose “View - Toolbars - (name of the toolbar)” to close it forever.

A permanently closed toolbar will never again come back. Except when you summon it up by “View - Toolbars - (name of the toolbar)”.

By the way, it's easy to lose track of what all those icons do. Here are another two companions, one temporarily and one permanently: You can enable an extended help text for every icon.

• Press Shift+F1 and point the mouse to an icon. You see the extended help text. This mode is valid until you click anywhere or press Esc.

• Choose "Tools - Options - OpenOffice.org - General" and enable the extended help tips permanently.