On Thu, 2005-06-02 at 21:20, Mathias Bauer wrote: [snipped comments about Searching in Writer and PageLayout enumeration] Thanks Mathias for offering to look into these areas. > > >> > A much higher priority for me is having more in the API such as the > >> > ability to easily have docked/floating windows in extensions. > >> > >> This is a feature we have considered for the next release. The biggest > >> obstacle is that we lack a proper GUI toolkit, but at least we should be > >> able to offer all controls you can use in a basic dialog also for > >> docking/floating windows. > >> > >> As an example, we could use the xml description of a Basic dialog and > >> declare it as a floater or a docking window. > >> > > Docked/floating windows is quite an important issue for me. > > Is there anyway that I can create a component with this functionality > > now? > > No, this is not possible with "components", means: objects created > outside the main code base like an Add-On or so. Currently you need to > create objects based on classes from our SFX library and you need to > adapt the code of an application to use that object. This is usually > nothing you want to do as an external developer because even if you took > the entrance hurdle you would need to maintain the code in case of > future changes of our code base.
Thanks for this information - it makes the situation very clear. > > Should I look into helping to change the source code for this issue > > (this would be my first attempt at writing OOo source code - so I may > > need some help)? > > The necessary code changes are not trivial: we must implement a new > splitting window class in VCL, new docking handlers in the Framework > Layout Manager and a new base class that implements the basic handling > (the current base class in in SFX2). We also must adapt the code of all > current dockable windows to use the new base class. To make this new > implementation usable for external components we must provide new APIs > and registration means and define and implement how you can specify the > content of your window, e.g. by utilizing the Basic dialog XML files. > > The easiest way to help us would be to join the discussion about the new > APIs and the XML resource stuff and later on help with creating > prototypes and test cases. Of course brave developers can also join us > in the development phase when we dig up the VCL, SFX2 and framework > modules. > > If you want to join us in one of these steps I can notify you when we > start the specification phase, further discussions then will appear on > the [email protected] mailing list. My gut feeling is that > this will be one of the first things we will attack after the OOo2.0 > release, so possibly we will start in the late summer this year. I'd appreciate being notified when you start the specification phase, and will try to be as useful as possible. I have joined the [email protected] mailing list. > > Should I just be patient and wait? > > Of course that's always an option. :-) Thanks, Ian --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
