The free and open productivity suite

1. What's new since the last build?

2. What's New since OpenOffice.org went Open Source?

3. What's New since StarOffice 5.2?

Changes since the Last OpenOffice.org build:

All Applications

• As described in http://framework.openoffice.org/proposals/macro_security/security_enhancements.html the security settings have been enhanced.

• To clarify, the security related setting checkbox for warning on executing macros was removed from the event configuration tab; it is now part of the tab for security settings.

• Butterfly-icons (used for StarOffice) are now changed almost everywhere to OpenOffice.org's own gull-icons.

• The tab for setting key bindings (pressing a combination of keys to perform an action, e.g., Ctrl+S=Save) now has two radio buttons to switch between common bindings for all OpenOffice.org components and (if defined) component specific key bindings.

• There is a new syntax for selecting a different printer on the command line:
  -pt <printer name> <file 1> <file 2> ... <file n>
  where
  -pt is the print-to command, <printer name> is the name of a printer, and <file 1..n> is a list of files separated with blanks. If filenames contain blanks, they have to be enclosed in double quotation marks (i.e., "my document").

• The Basic password functionality now has been reimplemented for the new basic library container concept. Apart from some minor changes, it should look the same as in StarOffice 5.2.

• Basic libraries, both in applications and documents can again be password protected. If the password is not known, they cannot be edited but nevertheless can be used. Unlike the old implementation they're not all scrambled with a single key but with a key derived from the password. So there's no chance to read the source if the user forgets the password.

• If a StarOffice 5.x document contains password protected Basic libraries the password is imported and the library will be scrambled with this password when the document is saved in OpenOffice.org format (it's the same as if the user had assigned this password by hand).

• If an OpenOffice.org document contains password protected Basic libraries and the password was not typed in correctly by the user then the source cannot be exported. The 5.x document then will only contain empty Basic modules with a simple hint text describing the problem. If the password is entered correctly, the library will be exported correctly to the 5.x document. But the user must be aware that neither the password protected library nor the password are really secure; as it is possible to read the data by debugging OpenOffice.org.

• Under Linux the margins in spadmin Properties->Other Settings are now absolute values in mm.rather than inches.

Database Access

The standard setting for "Open in design mode" in forms has changed from "On" to "Off".

OpenOffice.org Draw and Impress

• The pack feature has been removed from the Impress application.

• The Outliner only uses the font valid on the first position in the paragraph, not the font from stylesheet / para attributes. For a bullet only the height is used, while for numbering, all attributes except Underline, Strikeout, Emphasismark, and Relief are used. This means, for instance, that the bullet height changes after typing the first character in the paragraph or after selecting another size.

OpenOffice.org Writer

• Groups of drawing objects can be named in writer. If one grouped object is selected the menu entry "Name object" in the context menu and in the format menu below the entry "Position and size" is available. Additionally, all named drawing objects appear in the navigator.

• AltLinux has donated code to support the hyphenator for OpenOffice.org. Hyphenation dictionaries are now available and integrated into OOo 1.0 for English, Danish, German, and Russian with more coming for later releases.

OpenOffice.org Calc

• It is now possible to name an OLE object (such as a chart). The context menu (usually availalbe by clicking with the right mouse button) for objects has an additional entry "Name Object".

• If an object has a UI name, that name is shown in the Navigator instead of the internal name ("Object x"). The UI name is also kept when cutting & pasting an object. Therefore, the name is not unique, there can be several objects with the same name in a document.

Installation

To enable or disable the migration during a response file installation it is possible to use a new key within the environment section:

[ENVIRONMENT]
MIGRATION = YES | NO

The default is NO. If the key is set to YES the migration is only executed in case an old version is found.

• When trying a network installation (setup -net) under UNIX without having root permissions, a message box will appear warning the user that some steps of the installation may fail, and the option to cancel the installation process is offered.

• Under Solaris the system wide CDE integration is now for the language of the office installation and for the C locale.

• Under Solaris you can retrieve system wide CDE panel integration (for the office language only!), if the following preconditions are met:

  - network installation (setup -net)
  - the CDE integration module must be selected (which is default on Solaris)
  - root permissions

  For a standalone installation, the user $HOME integration will take place. The same will happen as a fallback if the installer doesn't have root permissions, or when a user starts the workstation setup in a locale of a language different from the office installation.

  After the network installation has finished successfully, all users logging on the same machine with a locale corresponding to the language of the office installation will find the StarOffice/StarSuite panel submenu already present.

  Upon clicking a starter icon a dialog appears asking to complete or repair the workstation installation.

  The reason why the integration is done only for the language the office installation is in, is that this way one can install multiple office suite installations on one machine and the user will allways find starter icons for the office in his/her login language.

• Double-clicking on an MS Office document or template should open OpenOffice.org loaded with this document or the template, respectively. Furthermore, OpenOffice.org is registered as the default HTML Editor. Under Windows, this behaviour can be switched off.

General User Interface

• To make things simpler, the filters "WordPerfect (Win) 6.0", "WordPerfect (Win) 6.1" and "WordPerfect (Win) 7.0" have been grouped together, now forming a single entry in the 'File Open' dialog, "WordPerfect (Win) 6.0 - 7.0".

• After changing all Japanese resource strings from half width to full width, the new release will be almost always capable of showing these relatively long strings in all dialogs without clipping. - Exceptions (that are not yet changed) are:
  - Writer/Insert table - Button AutoFormat
  - Writer/Insert indexes/Page Entries - Buttons EntryText and Hyperlink
  - Writer/Insert Frame/Wrap - One ImageRadioButton is slightly clipped.

• Filter groups, a list of all filters for writer, calc, writer/web, etcetera, are now sorted according to the global categories ("text documents", "spreadsheets", etc.) at the top of the filter list, again to try and make things simpler and more consistent.

• Smart detection of changes in the template structure:

• OpenOffice.org allows you to specify a list of folders where document templates are located (Tools/Options). However, to speed things up the information is not updated unless you use the supplied "File/Templates/Organize/Commands/Update” mechanism. If this is not updated then all of the dialogs that present template information are out-of-date.

• In this release, a mechanism has been added to check if the template folders and the configuration entries are in sync. This mechanism is used in the "Organize templates dialog" as well as in the old "New from template" dialog (which, for instance, is still used in Draw/Impress when loading a slide design). It allows to automatically perform the (expensive) update when necessary. Thus, when using the dialogs mentioned, they are now always up-to-date when opened - even if the user modified the templates structure without using OOo at all.

• When selecting a path in "Tools - Options – OpenOffice.org - Security", a dialogue is now available to select archive files (*.jar, *.zip) instead of folders. It is possible to add folders manually by editing the edit field.

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Changes Since OpenOffice.org went Open Source:

Online Help, English Spellchecker and Thesaurus now available, plus various other spellcheckers are available!

Database Access

• Under specific conditions, database forms now try to share their connections. Database (sub) forms also share connections.

• For all file system based data source types (namely dBase, file, and Spreadsheet), the URLs displayed in the dialog are decoded, for example, for a dBase data source based on the files in "c:\some where", the correct SDBC API URL would be "sdbc:dbase:file://c|/some%20where". But now the dialog displayes "sdbc:dbase:file://c|/some where".

• New auto pilot for integrating system address books / stocks.

• Data source administration dialog: file system based SDBC urls displayed in a decoded version now.

• Changed runtime representation of form (control) macros.

• You can now rename tables,views, and queries.

All Applications

• To benefit from the anti-aliasing options provided by the Graphics System under UNIX there are new options under Tools – Options -View. There's an additional check box "Screen Font Anti-aliasing", and a field where a pixel limit for the anti-aliasing can be specified.

• Ability to insert a special character such as ®: “Insert - Special Character” added.

• The temporary base directory can be configured by a user. The office creates its own temporary directories/files beneath this base directory.

• The new File Save dialogs allow saving with password only for OpenOffice.org XML file format.

• When the next document of the same type is created or opened, it gets the same window state as stored in the configuration. So you can have different default window sizes for every module in OpenOffice.org.

• Transparency color controls at the 'Fade object' TabPage of 'Interaction' dialog have been removed. These controls are not needed anymore, because all necessary transparency calculations are made internally now.

• The SDBC driver for accessing address data from various data sources (including address data of an existing Mozilla installation) now uses a configuration setting to determine which Mozilla profile should be used to log on to Mozilla.

• Now the attributes listbox of the Find & Replace dialogue (only available if the writer is the current application) contains Asian and other new attributes. “Edit - Find & Replace”

• Help on Basic implemented. When the Basic IDE is open and the cursor on one word, when you press <F1> the help application tries to open a page matching to this word.

OpenOffice.org Draw and Impress

Some names for presentation and interaction effects have been changed:
Object effects:

• "Discard From..." becomes "Fly in from..."

• "Discard Short From..." becomes "Peek in from..."

• "Drop From..." becomes "Build up from..."

Page effects:

• "Move to..." becomes "Uncover to..."

Interactions :

• "Move to..." becomes "Fly out to..."

• "Move Short to..." becomes "Peek out to..."

Other builds:

• You can now import and export Asian line break settings in PowerPoint format.

• The doctype used for SVG export has been upgraded to the latest specification.

L10N (Localisation) project

• Number of supported locales increased to 72, including 7 Asian locales.

• Euro support, including Greece.
  
  For more information on specific localisation please visit the webpage: http://l10n.openoffice.org/

OpenOffice.org Writer

• Additional label formats available.

• Softhyphens and hyphenation behaviour improved.

• All platforms now support the "Selection Clipboard" concept familiar to users on UNIX platforms (such as Linux). Select any text (with the mouse or keyboard) and click the middle mouse button to paste it in at the current mouse position.

• The width of borders in text frames and table cells is now displayed in the horizontal ruler.

• Smooth underline now available.

• HTML support is improved with both Writer and Calc now supporting all HTML4 character entities (like €). Language support in HTML export is also now available. And OpenOffice.org Writer's HTML filter now saves and loads language information.

• Individual platform (such as Mac, DOS, or UNIX) text filters have been removed. These have been replaced with the generic "Text (encoded)" filter.

• Table autoformats store Asian and complex font settings

OpenOffice.org Calc

• MATCH() now works the same as in Excel.

• The HTML import of Writer and Calc now supports all HTML4 character entities (like €).

• Table autoformats store Asian and complex font settings

General User Interface

• There are three new Japanese paper sizes available at: "Format - Page - Page":

   B4 (JIS) 257 x 364 mm
   B5 (JIS) 182 x 257 mm
   B6 (JIS) 128 x 182 mm

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What's new since StarOffice 5.2?

The program has undergone some significant changes since StarOffice 5.2 was released. Some of these changes are:

Removal of integrated desktop

The integrated desktop, which allowed you to run your whole computer has been removed. It is replaced by individual component modules such as Writer and Impress. In Windows versions of the program you can access these quickly using the Quick Start Menu. This was changed so we didn't force our own desktop on users.

Componentization of word processing, spreadsheet, and graphic application modules

The old StarOffice used the integrated desktop and all of the included applications had to use the same windows and icons. The new component architechture means that each application can concentrate on doing what it does best whilst still remaining an integral part of the complete OpenOffice.org suite.

Removal of email and calendar and the schedule server

For copyright reasons the email and calendar features (known as 'Groupware') were removed from the code. However a project to put them back in has been started. More information is availiable at: http://groupware.openoffice.org/ .

Removal of the browser

There are plenty of excellent Open Source web browsers such as the Mozilla Project. It was felt that duplicating this effort was a waste and that we should concentrate on the Office features of the OpenOffice.org suite.

Move to XML-file formats

XML is a way of describing structured information, like the highlighting in text documents, in an efficient and open way. The new OpenOffice.org file formats are much smaller than those of similar suites.

Improved Microsoft filters

Most people currently use Microsoft Office so excellent compatibility is a must. OpenOffice.org provides filters so that even the most complex features are usually decoded.

Asian language Support

Chinese (simple and traditional), Japanese, and Korean are just a few of the languages that have been added; check out the localisation project for more details: http://l10n.openoffice.org/

These are all changes that were decided upon by Sun Microsystems before the source code was released to the community.

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