On 8 September 2010 10:42, Mike Scott <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 06/09/10 19:57, Harold Fuchs wrote: > >> OOo 3.2.1 Win XP Pro and Vista Home Premium. >> >> I'm trying to create a Writer template that has a series of "boxes" >> (outlined rectangular areas). Each box should have a *fixed* piece of >> text and space for editable text. The idea is that when a user creates a >> new document from the template, the fixed text is *not* editable but >> s/he can enter new text to the right of and/or below the fixed text. So, >> for example, a box might contain the *fixed* text "First Name: " and the >> user is expected to enter his/her first name in the box. In other words >> I'm trying to design a form to be filled in on the screen. I've tried >> text boxes with captions and I've tried frames with captions. In both >> cases, when I create a new document from the template, the captions are >> editable which is the exact opposite of what I want (and what I'd have >> expected). I also tried an elementary form with a label field but the >> text of the label gets overwritten with text I enter and the cursor >> isn't pre-positioned in the right place (after the ": " of "First Name: >> " for example). >> >> How do I do this? I'm obviously missing something obvious but ... >> >> > Apologies if I'm completely off the mark Harold, but what about the builtin > form facilities? eg http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/37087 for a > not-very-clear intro, while > http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/0215WG-UsingFormsInWriter.pdfalso > pops up on a google search (and I commit the ultimate sin here.... I've > not looked at it :-) > > I've had a quick play, and while I've not managed to create anything > useful, it looks a likely route to explore. > > -- > Mike Scott > > > Mike, Thanks for the thought and your'e not completely off the mark. I've played with forms for this but as far as I can see they offer no advantages over the normal frame & text box approach. A form offers two facilities which seem useful in my case: the Label and the Text Box. Text boxes can have "default text" but that gets overwritten when the use enters text into tyhe box - not what I want. Labels are uneditable but even though the box containing the label is quite big, the user *cannot* type into it. So then I tried a label inside a text box. This works but it's just as fiddly to get the positioning right as it is user Brian's two-frame approach. In fact it's sort of worse because the label actually gets overwritten as the user types in that part of the text box. Positioning a label above or to the left of a text box doesn't give the effect I want. Frankly I think this whole thing is a mess so I'm going to mull over it for a while. -- Harold Fuchs London, England Please reply *only* to [email protected]
