Hello Fellows!
First of all let me say "Thank you very much"!
You did me a very nice present, as I read all your replies on Friday,
which was my brithday. :-)
It made me VERY VERY HAPPY to see, how many people think my idea is a
valueable add to OO!!!
Thanks very much.
I think Chris discribed it very good of how my imagination of linking a
sheet and a doc together could work. And thanks also for your nice
future-outlook on what else should be possible with other Apps on this idea.
But as I want to keep it simple, we should start on linking Calc and
Sheet together.
I'm not a programmer, neither do I understand very much of GUIs or
something else. I'm just a user and searching for a solution in this field.
Ok, let's try it in a few(!) sentences: :-)
CALC as the leading APPLICATION:
1. First Step: It should be possible to use the value of a specific
Calc-cell in Writer as it is possible in the sheet itself. So a within a
normal text or also a table in Writer it should be possible to make use
of an input like "=Sheet!C11" and present the value. And also updates
it, if it changes. Nice would be, if the format could also be taken.
Usage: Leading App. is Calc - you click on a cell, right mouse-click
"link New Writer Doc to this Sheet". A streamlined Writer Doc opens at
the right half of the screen. You write text and then you click on a
cell in the Calc sheet. The Writer adds: "=Sheet!C11"
NO LIMIT ON NUMBERS OF LINKED WRITER-DOCUMENTS!
The linking of the Writer to the Calc-sheet only tells which sheet is
the leading / organizing sheet (in terms of file-handling).
Adding values from other sheets to this "linked" Writer Doc. should NOT
be limited! As an Insert of "=Name_of _the_File:Sheet!C11" or something
like this shouldn't be a problem.
2. Second Step: The cell in the Calc-spreadsheet should know, which
Writer Doc. is now linked to it. So, if you place the cursor on it, the
second half of the screen opens a streamlined version of Writer and view
the previoulsy added and arraged content in this doc. Like a comment,
but with more functionality.
3. Calc handles the filenames of the linked Writer Docs. But you should
be able to save them as a normal document in your private folder (as a
copy e.g.) if you want.
4. You should be able to switch the streamlined Writer to a full Version
and work with the linked document as you are used to work with it in Writer.
5. In this setup the Calc-Sheet is the leading application. As you use
it for your calculation work and maybe some text in the cells. And if
you want to arrange your data in a nice view for printing or to add some
extra notes, you link a Writer Doc to your Calc-Sheet Line/Cell and
arrange everything there (maybe with an already prepared layout which
you can save and use every time you create a linked Writer Doc.)
6. Printing: Also here Calc should be the leading App.
Select:
Print all linked documents,
Print only the selected linked document,
Print from cell - to cell linked documents,
print calc sheet without linked writer documents
-> then you get a very nice possibility to get everything out of your
"WORK-SHEET" as I would call it then.
WRITER as the leading APPLICATION:
1. Vice versa in this setup: Writer Document, and for some (but fewer)
calculations you link a Calc-Sheet to this Writer Doc. Right-Click with
your mouse somewhere "link Calc-Sheet to this Writer Doc" and the second
half of the screen converts to a streamlined view of a Spreadsheet.
2. Two possibilities to insert the values:
a. Insert a "=Sheet!C11" Variable in the text or
b. mark the cells in the Sheet and Copy them but Paste them "linked" as
a table in your writer doc. So you see a view of your Calc-Sheet in Writer.
3. The same according to printing:
a. Print all linked sheets
b. Print only sheets linked to this page
c. Print only Writer Text Doc. without linked Sheets
Every linked sheet comes on a seperate page, as they are not layouted
(included in the text - they are "side-calculations" for the Doc).
If they are inserted (layouted) in the Writer Doc, you have the table
anyway printed as you like them when you print the doc.
------------------------------------
The key thing is to link them and let the Application take care of those
linkage!
Hope you find my discribtions helpful.
Best wishes
Peter
Chris Monahan schrieb:
Interesting idea
What you seem to be describing is a way of having spreadsheet data,
sort of auto filed into a report of a kind. So that a person can
insert values of the spreadsheet into the document as they would
insert fields such as page number, or author.
In this aspect there can be several advantages over the 'solution'
provided beforehand of inserting the spreadsheet object. As a user can
manipulate and format the values as they would any other element in
the document.
I have to say that the field handling in writer is sorely
dissapointing. For some reason it's impossible to edit author and
template information. Or for that matter add your own custom fields
(or if there is it's been too difficult to find so far) anyway.
2 questions:
1: is what you actually have in mind like what I suggest, where the
spreadsheet can be linked to a document thus allowing a database of
fields relationship sort of thing.
2: Wouldn't it make more sense to think of the spreadsheet-document
relation as applied to a template system. Where predefined fields are
filled into a template every time a 'print by template' request is
filed.
There already is a way of getting fields to be filled in from a
database, but that naturally doesn't have all the same possibilities
of a linked spreadsheet.
Also 3 assertions:
1: You appear to be describing several related innovations, seperate
nonetheless. For example, a new interface concept in presenting this
relationship to the user, and organising a set of documents with a
spreadsheet. Wow hold on there, i've addressed what I think as the
most valuable, namely linking documents/templates to spreadsheets to
automatically create reports. But you may want to rethink your ideas
which you clearly are quite enthusiastic about, so as to seperate them
into more clearly defined concepts, so that people can more easily
understand them
2: this could be quite a bit of implementation, especially in the full
glory you describe (again why you really should spit up your grand
plan a bit) so don't expect it to happen overnight, main first
innovation will be to get the writer to be able to import spreadsheets
as linkable field arrays. Then improving the method and means after
that.
3: There's more to the grand ever connected office idea than just
spreadsheets and documents, but there's already enough to digest here
so i'll leave that for now ;-)
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