Hi Carl: Yes, they are different. It looks like you saw my email to Paula. Long before I saw Oo around, in DOS, I was a user of generic CADD 5 and 6.
In its time it came on 6 1.44 Mb. Floppies. By the time I left it, I was filling a 100 Mb. Zip disk with the results of my work. I used it in connection with an industrial electronics service business I had at the time. On one occasion I was able to semi-automatically duplicate a schematic while renumbering all the component numbers in the process to end up with a schematic of a dual architecture machine schematic for packaging frozen vegetables. I think this would also be feasible in Oo Draw, but visually, the operation would look very different from my old DOS counterpart. If one was doing this from a text script of the vectors, they could do a lot of selective auto-creation by dumping the vector text into a spreadsheet and doing transformations, then re-dumping the contents back (through a DOS text file to get rid of the spreadsheet formatting stuff), then back to the CAD import. In the case of Draw, the spreadsheet would be of some help, but you would need to use it as a step by step guide while the actual work was done by copying the block as a group, then ungrouping and doing a find/replace on the drawing elements. This would need to be done in an extra page as a means of preventing the find/replace from tampering with the half that was not to be modified. Then group the changed objects, copy, paste and position in the original page, ungroup both halves (optional), then regroup the whole thing and size and center as a big group. BTW, Draw can also support hierarchal groups within groups, as well (I think) as parallel groups (This would depend on how Draw reads its grouping codes.) This could also be tested ad hoc. That is the kind of tinkering I always have an extra directory/folder called "experiments" for! Over the years, I have done a lot of reinventing the wheel because I was not satisfied with the wheels I found - definitely an out of the box thinker! I have also worked since with AutoCAD and seen a number of other Cad programs. Presently I prefer to use Oo Draw for that stuff as long as it can be 2D (but actually, having come from the drafting board days originally, I think one could nicely do double auxiliary projections in Oo Draw if they really wanted to represent 3D to scale in there, but I wonder how many today would know how to read them any more.) It is very possible to control object sizes numerically in Draw. It's just that the way it is done is somewhat different from a true Cad program. Recently I saw an article from someone in an American University that was using Draw somewhat this way, but I must admit that I though I felt more comfortable with Draw than the article suggested he might have. Cheers, Bruce M. ============================================================================ -----Original Message----- From: Carl Shewmaker [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: February 4, 2010 8:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [discuss] Question/Suggested addition I've used swriter for years, and never use the default page border format except for quick notes to myself and as a scratch pad to copy from and paste to another document or application. For things that others will see, I have created blank templates for the various documents I produce, eg. letters, documents, pleadings and envelopes, that I can open with as few keystrokes as the default page. I can customize them any way I find useful, and it is not hard to do. Bet students could easily do this, and enjoy taking control of their lives. My templates generally have a "first page" with a header, and a "default" second page with a footer containing a page number. Haven't thought about text boxes, Is it something different from "frames?" good luck, Carl --- On Wed, 2/3/10, Paula Cline <[email protected]> wrote: From: Paula Cline <[email protected]> Subject: [discuss] Question/Suggested addition To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 10:08 AM Dear OpenOffice, This question is in regards to text boxes in OpenOffice Writer. I was looking for a way to insert a text box, without going to the Drawing toolbar. The drawing toolbar is not visible on our student's computer in the library lab. Therefore, they search for it under "Insert", which would be a logical place to find this option. However, I do not see it listed there. Possible feature to be added in the future? Also, most documents assigned at the high school level (and possibly college) require 1" margins. Why are the defaults all set at .79? Another possible future change? Looking forward to any new editions! Sincerely yours, Paula Cline Library Media Specialist Genoa Area High School 2980 N. Genoa-Clay Center Rd. Genoa, Ohio 43430 email: [email protected] phone: 419-855-7735 ext.13 fax: 419-855-7739 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2668 - Release Date: 02/04/10 14:35:00 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
