In this short introduction, of course, we cannot describe all the rich possibilities OpenOffice. We will provide guidance only on installing the system, as well as basic actions in the word processor and HTML file editor. Information about the rest of the work OpenOffice available in the help system (though in English).
In many ways, work in OpenOffice is similar to working in any other office suite. Wherein OpenOffice able to work with data files of many common formats. Therefore, we hope that the start of application OpenOffice will not cause you any particular difficulties.
Launching components OpenOffice produced from the menu OpenOffice V KDE or Gnome:
Immediately after the first launch, you should make some additional settings to work correctly with the Russian language.
Initial package installation OpenOffice produced during installation ASPLinux. Launch any of the components OpenOffice you can directly from the toolbar by clicking on the corresponding icon. We recommend starting with Writer(you can also select a submenu item "OpenOffice"KDE or Gnome"Text Document"). When launched, a window will appear prompting you to import the address book. Click the button "Cancel".
For correct operation OpenOffice with the Russian language, including checking and editing HTML files, some additional settings must be made. To do this, select the item in the main menu "Service", then "Options". The settings window will open OpenOffice.
In this window you can change many settings regarding the operation of various components OpenOffice. However, we will only describe the settings that need to be made for the system to work correctly with the Russian language.
On the left side of the window, select "Language settings". The tree of sub-items will open. Select "Linguistics".
The item should be selected in the upper right part of the window , and there should be a check mark next to it. If this is not the case, turn on the checkbox with a mouse click. Click on the button "Edit..." in the upper right part of the window. A window will appear "Editing modules" \.
The language field must be selected "Russian"; if not, click to select. Then turn on the checkbox in front of the item "OpenOffice MySpell SpellChecker".
In addition to Russian, you can enable spell checking for Ukrainian, German and French in the same way. For English it is enabled initially. After turning on spell checking for the languages you need, click the button "Close". Window "Editing modules" will close. You will be returned to setting options OpenOffice. Select an item on the left side of the window. The tree of sub-items will open. Select "HTML Compatible".
In field "Set of signs" you should select the encoding in which you want to save HTML files.
Standard encoding for the Internet - "Cyrillic (KOI8-R)". Select an item "Text Document" on the left side of the window. The tree of sub-items will open. Select "Basic fonts".
Here you need to select the fonts used for different types of text. You must specify fonts installed on the system that correctly support the Russian language - for example, Helvetica. When you have finished setting the parameters, press the button "OK" at the bottom of the window. Now you can work with the office software package OpenOffice.
Working with basic functions Writer- entering text, moving through text, selecting a block, cutting it, copying or pasting it is almost the same as working in any of the known word processors with a graphical interface (for example, for Windows or Macintosh).
IN OpenOffice Writer There are two modes for viewing and editing text on the screen - "page layout" And "online markup". When you use page layout, the screen displays the page as it would appear when printed. If installed "online markup", the text is shown without pagination and with a width that fills the entire window Writer- i.e. the way text is typically displayed in web browsers. Mode "online markup" convenient for preparing documents distributed electronically, as well as for writing large texts. Switching between modes "page layout" And "online markup" done in the main menu - item "View", then "Online marking". In addition, on the panel located to the left of the text, there is an icon that allows you to switch the viewing mode.
Writer allows you to set the text viewing scale (zoom) as a percentage. To change the scale, select the item in the main menu "View", then "Scale". In the window that appears, you can choose from several fixed scale options or by selecting "Smooth", specify an arbitrary scale value.
Then you should press the button "OK". The new scale will be set. The scale selection window can also be called up by double-clicking with the left mouse button on the scale value, which is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window Writer.
Writer allows you to check spelling both while typing (underlining misspelled words) and when calling the check function. To turn on or off underlining misspelled words, select the item in the main menu "Service", then "Spelling", "autocheck".
When a word is underlined, you can choose from the correct options offered by the system or add this word to. To do this, right-click on the word. A menu will appear showing the correct options and also include an option "Add". To check spelling in all text, select the item in the main menu "Service", then "Spelling", "Examination", or press the key. The verification process will begin.
When a word is found that is not in the dictionary, a window appears "Spelling" .
In this window, you can indicate whether this word should be corrected (you can select one of the options offered by the system or enter your own), replace it with the selected option throughout the text, skip it (leaving it unchanged) or skip it throughout the entire text. Button "Add" allows you to add a given word to the dictionary.
Interesting feature OpenOffice Writer- auto-completion of words. If you have typed the first few letters of a word that you have previously typed, Writer automatically substitutes this word. If the suggested option doesn't suit you, just keep typing. And if it fits, press - the word will be typed in full, and you can continue typing from the next word. Sometimes this feature can significantly save time, and with normal typing the behavior Writer does not change. If auto-completion annoys you, you can disable it. If the system often suggests a specific word that does not suit you, you can delete this particular word. To perform these operations, select the item in the main menu "Service", then "AutoCorrect/AutoFormat..." and click on the item "Word Completion" at the top of the window
To disable auto-completion, click the mouse to remove the “tick” in the item "Complement words". To prevent the system from suggesting a particular word, you should find it in the list on the right side of the window (it is sorted alphabetically), select it with a mouse click and delete it by clicking the button "Delete entry".
Like any modern text editor, OpenOffice Writer allows you to search through text and replace the found sequence of characters with another. To search or replace, select the item in the main menu "Edit", then "Find and Replace...", or press the keys. A Find and Replace window will appear.
In it you can enter a string of characters that you need to find, and, if necessary, another one with which it should be replaced. Button "Find" allows you to find a given string. Button "Replace" replaces the found line with a new one and finds where this line appears in the text next time (new button click "Replace" will replace and search for the next line, etc.). To replace one line with another throughout the text, use the button "Replace All".
As with most well-known word processors, formatting text in Writer is carried out separately by characters and by paragraphs. Character format includes font, size, underlining/italics, etc.; to paragraph format - indents (horizontal and vertical), alignment, etc.
To change the format of characters (letters), select these characters. If you specify a character format change without highlighting characters, it will apply to the characters you enter immediately afterwards (without moving the cursor).
The simplest formatting change - turning on/off bold text, italics and underlining - is done by clicking on the corresponding buttons on the toolbar ([F], [K], [H]). To change the font, you can select it from the list present on the toolbar.
For more complex formatting of characters, select the item in the main menu "Format", then "Signs". A window will appear "Sign" .
In this window, by switching the items at the top of the window, you can configure all possible formatting options related to characters. It is important that the text language is also set in this window. IN OpenOffice Writer language is a property of the sign. Each word is spell checked according to the language specified for it.
parform To change the format of a paragraph, just place the cursor in this paragraph. To change the formatting of several paragraphs at once, select them. Changing the alignment is done by clicking on the corresponding buttons on the toolbar.
For more complex paragraph formatting, select the item in the main menu "Format", then "Paragraph". A window will appear "Paragraph" .
In this window, by switching the items at the top of the window, you can configure all possible formatting options related to the paragraph. In particular, you can specify the design of paragraphs in the form of a numbered or unnumbered list (item "Numbering").
Like many common office word processors, OpenOffice Writer allows you to format text using styles. The main type of styles is paragraph styles.
The paragraph style determines the formatting of both the paragraph itself (indents, etc.) and the formatting of characters in the paragraph (font, size, etc.).
If a paragraph is formatted with a style, changing the style automatically changes the paragraph formatting. This is the first benefit of using styles. For example, if you wanted to change the font and size of all the headings in a text, without using styles you would have to make changes to each heading individually. But if all the headings are formatted using styles "Heading 1", "Heading 2" etc., it is enough to change only these styles.
In addition, paragraph styles allow you to create logical text layout, i.e. indicate the boundaries of sections, chapters, etc., as well as special types of paragraphs (for example, quotations or examples). The beginning of sections and chapters is determined using styled headings "Heading 1", "Heading 2" etc. Writer can automatically generate a table of contents of text, specifying paragraphs with these styles as section titles. It is also possible to automatically number sections.
In addition to paragraph styles, character styles are supported. The character style controls character formatting without affecting paragraph formatting. Character styles are convenient to use, for example, to highlight quotes in text.
A window is used to work with styles "Stylist" .
To call this window, select the item in the main menu "Format", then "Stylist", or press the key. Initially in the window "Stylist" a list of paragraph styles is shown.
To specify a paragraph formatting style, place the cursor on that paragraph, and then select the desired style by clicking in the window "Stylist" . (If the cursor is placed on an empty paragraph, the style will still be assigned, and subsequent text will be formatted using that style.)
To specify a style for several paragraphs at once, you need to select these paragraphs, and then select the desired style by clicking in the window "Stylist" .
To apply character styles, you must switch the window "Stylist" to character style list mode. To do this, left-click on the icon with the letter [A] in this window. After that, to format a section of text using a character style, you should select that section, and then click in the window "Stylist" specify the desired style. If you specify a character style without highlighting, it will apply to the characters you enter immediately afterwards (without moving the cursor). To switch window "Stylist" back to the paragraph style list mode, you should select in this window the icon with a letter similar to [P].
To change any of the styles (paragraph or characters), select this style in the window "Stylist" "Change". The style editing window will appear.
The options at the top of the window allow you to change various character formatting properties and (for a paragraph style) paragraph formatting properties. Paragraph "Organization" used to set style properties. Field "Name" defines the name of the style. Field "Associated with" specifies the base style for this style; If the base style is changed, similar changes are automatically made to this style.
There is also a field for paragraph styles "Next Style". In it you can specify which style the next paragraph is automatically formatted (when entering text) if the previous paragraph is formatted with this style. So, the header style is usually set to the following style "Main text"; This allows you to enter text immediately after entering the title, without wasting time on choosing a style. To create a new style, right-click in the window "Stylist" and select the item in the menu that appears "Create". A style editing window will appear in which you can specify all the necessary style properties. If the window "Stylist" is in paragraph style list mode, a paragraph style is created; if it is in character style list mode, then a character style is created.
In addition, the system allows you to format a paragraph using conventional means, and then automatically create a style with exactly that formatting. To do this, after formatting the paragraph, click in the window "Stylist" second icon from the right in the upper right corner. The system will prompt you to enter the name of the new style, after which it will be created and appear in the list. You can also delete a previously created style. To do this, select a style in the window "Stylist" click the mouse, and then press the right mouse button and select the item in the menu that appears "Delete". However, the system does not allow you to delete styles that are present in Writer initially.
Writer allows you to customize the page size, as well as the header, footer (that is, the lines at the top and bottom of the page) and other page formatting properties. Moreover, you can set different formatting for different pages using page styles.
To set the page format, enable a header or footer, etc., call the item in the main menu "Format", then "Page". The page style editing window will appear.
In this window you can set, in particular:
Having set the required page format, click the button "OK".
To enable page numbering, you must first enable the required header or footer. By turning on the header and footer, you can edit it (in text viewing mode "Page layout") as normal text.
With the cursor in the footer, select the item in the main menu "Insert", then "Field", then "Page number". The page number appears. On each page it will automatically appear and be set to the desired value.
To move the page number (along with the rest of the header text) to the left corner, center or right corner, place the cursor in the header and switch the paragraph alignment (left, center or right) using the corresponding button on the toolbar Writer.
If the number should be located differently on an even and odd page, you should disable the “tick” for the header in which the page number is located in the page style editing window. “Same content left/right”. After this, place the number as desired in the footer on one even and one odd page.
In many cases, you want to ensure that different pages are formatted differently—for example, disabling the page number for the title page.
OpenOffice Writer allows you to set completely independent formatting for different pages - up to different sheet sizes. Page styles are used for this. (Using page styles is quite complex and beyond the scope of this quickstart.)
If chapter headings are marked with row styles "Title", and the level of headings is reflected in the use of styles (i.e., for example, for top-level sections it is used "Heading 1", for subsections - "Heading 2" etc.), OpenOffice Writer allows you to automatically number chapters and create a table of contents.
To automatically number chapters, select the item in the main menu "Service", then "Chapter Numbering". A window will appear "chapter numbering" .
Here you can configure the chapter numbering. The right side of the window shows an example of numbering in the form that is currently configured. You can find the numbering you want by trying different settings and watching the example change.
To automatically create a table of contents, position the cursor at the point in the text where the table of contents should appear. Select the item in the main menu "Insert", then "Pointers", then "Indicators...". A window will appear "Insert Pointer"
In this window, you can insert various pointers, but the initially proposed option is the table of contents. In field "Rate to Level" You can specify which level headings should be included in the table of contents.
For example, with a value of 3, the table of contents will include all paragraphs with the style "Heading 1", "Heading 2" And "Heading 3". After pressing the button "OK" the system will generate a table of contents and place it where the cursor was located.
OpenOffice Writer allows you to insert pictures (taken from files) into the text and specify their location, as well as whether they will be “flowed” by the text. To insert a picture into the text, select the item in the main menu "Insert", then "Drawing", then "From a file..." A window for inserting a picture from a file will appear.
Here you can select the desired file.
When selecting a file with a mouse click (if the checkbox is enabled "View") turns on its preview in the right part of the window. To insert the selected picture into the text, click the button "Open".
By right-clicking on the picture, you can call up the picture settings menu. Using this menu you can set, in particular:
OpenOffice Writer saves and reads files in .sxw format. This format is fully published and based on open standards. In addition, it allows you to save and read files in .rtf (Rich Text Format), .doc (Microsoft Word 95 or 97/2000/XP) and other formats.
To save the current text on disk as a file, select the item in the main menu "File", then "Save", or press the keys. If the file has already been saved, it will be saved again under the same name. If it has not yet been saved, a window will appear to select the name and format of the saved file.
In this window, you can select the desired directory to save the file, specify the file name, and select its format (type). After specifying the file name and type, click the button "Save". After this, the file will be written to disk.
If you are working with a file that has already been saved and want to save it under a different name (or in a different format - for example, .rtf or .doc), select the item in the main menu "File", then "Save as…" A file name selection window will appear (see Figure 23), and you can specify the new file name and format.
In this window, you can find the desired directory and select the file in it that you want to open. After clicking on the desired file, click "Open". Writer reads the file and, if the reading is successful, you will be able to view and edit the contents of this file.
Editing HTML files (format for WWW pages) in OpenOffice very similar to text editing in OpenOffice Writer. (In reality, HTML editing is done precisely Writer, operating in a special mode). This allows you to create WWW pages without special training, and also easily convert text documents into WWW pages. You can use almost all the techniques described above for editing HTML documents. Writer.
HTML documents can be formatted in the same way as regular documents. However, the resulting WWW pages will be quite inconvenient to view. To correctly format HTML documents, you should use special paragraph styles that are automatically offered in the window "Stylist" when editing such a document.
For body text, use a style "Main text", for headings - group styles "Title", for quotes - "Quote" etc. You can specify paragraph alignment, and highlight sections of text in bold, italics, or underlining. But changing the font is very undesirable - this can lead to difficulties for some users when viewing your page.
As you know, an important element of HTML is the ability to create hyperlinks to other documents.
In this window you should indicate the document to which the link is made, as well as the text of the link. The link text is indicated in the field "Text". The method of specifying the document to which the link is made is switched on the left side of the window.
When selecting an item « » You are given the opportunity to enter a link to the document on the Internet in full format (URL). Paragraph "Letters and Messages" allows you to describe a link to an email address (mailto) or news group usenet(news). By selecting the item "Document", you can insert a link to an existing document on disk. It should be taken into account that although in the field "Path" the full path to the document is indicated; in fact, if the documents are in the same directory, a link is created only to the document name - therefore, if both files are transferred to the Internet, the link continues to work.
Finally, the point "New document" allows you to create a link to a document that has not yet been created on disk. The system provides the opportunity to immediately create this document (to do this, select the item "Edit Now" at the top of the window) or create a link without creating a document (item "Edit later"). It is important to select the correct file type from the list (for example, "HTML Document"), rather than just specifying the full file name. When the link information is entered, click the button "Apply". The link will be created.
To edit a link, place the cursor on it and select the item in the main menu "Insert", then "Hyperlink". The same window will appear (see \Fig.25), but filled in, with the data of the specified link. In this window you can make the necessary changes and click the button "Apply".
Saving and reading when editing HTML files is done in exactly the same way as in Writer. It is important that pictures are not saved as part of HTML files. Therefore, when you transfer a file to another computer or to the Internet, they may be lost. Even if both the file and the pictures for it are transferred to another computer, but they are located in different directories, the pictures may disappear from the document. To prevent this from happening, it is best to keep all the pictures you insert into the document in the same directory as the document itself, and transfer them to another computer or to the Internet along with the document. It should be taken into account that OpenOffice can read almost any file in HTML format, but Russian letters will not always be displayed correctly. This is not a bug in OpenOffice, and the disadvantage of such files is that the encoding of Russian letters is not indicated or is indicated incorrectly. Instead of koi8-r, the encoding of Russian letters in this file should be specified; the most common encodings are koi8-r, windows-1251 and utf8.
OpenOffice allows you to switch from editing the content of an HTML document in visual mode (i.e., in the form in which it will be visible in a web browser) to working with source text in HTML. This can be useful in a number of cases where you need to check and correct the HTML text itself. To enable or disable HTML source text editing mode, select the item in the main menu "View", then "HTML Source Text".
OpenOffice contains "Autopilot of WWW pages", which allows you to create a standard and quite beautiful WWW page in a short time and without additional effort. To take advantage "Autopilot", select the item in the main menu "File", then "Autopilot", then "Web page..." A window will appear "Web page autopilot" .
By selecting field values, you can immediately see on the screen what the created page will look like. Having selected the desired type, press the button "Ready". You can edit an HTML document that immediately has the desired appearance. Now you just need to fill it with information.
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In the table processor and table editor OpenOffice And LibreOffice You can configure two types of page orientations: portrait orientation, that is, vertical (the usual page view), or landscape orientation, that is, horizontal page layout. To configure the page orientation, you must sequentially select the following items: Format/Page... Next, in the “Page Style” dialog box that appears. Normal”, you must select the “Page” tab. On this tab, in addition to setting the page orientation, you can also set margins, that is, margins from the edges, and also configure the page numbering format. In particular, when numbering pages you can use Latin letters (A, B, C), page numbering in Roman numerals, etc.
Setting page orientation in the Writer text editor in OpenOffice and LibreOffice
In the text editor of the two office applications, the page orientation is set using identical commands. The Format/Pages… After selecting these commands, the “Page Style: Normal” dialog box will appear. The appearance of this window is identical to that in a text editor LibreOffice, and in a text editor OpenOffice, which is due to the fact that LibreOffice is a fork of the open-source office suite OpenOffice.
Setting page orientation in the Calc spreadsheet editor in OpenOffice and LibreOffice
In the table editor Calc both the LibreOffice office suite and the OpenOffice office suite, setting the page orientation, that is, setting either the vertical (portrait) display of a page or the horizontal (landscape) display of a page in a document occurs in an identical manner and coincides with setting the page orientation in a text editor Writer. That is, in order to change the page orientation, for example from landscape to portrait or vice versa from portrait to landscape, you need to select the “Format” item in the main menu and select the “Pages” item in the drop-down list of commands. Next, after the “Page Style: Basic” dialog box appears, you need to select the “Page” tab and in the “Orientation” item, check the box next to either the “Landscape” item or the “Portrait” item.
Changing page orientation occurs automatically throughout the document.
1. Changing the page orientation in OpenOffice.org Writer
2. Changing the page orientation in LibreOffice Writer
3. Changing the page orientation in OpenOffice.org Calc
Page settings include paper size, page orientation, and margins. In this case, all parameters are determined using page styles. By default, a new text document uses the Normal page style for all pages. How to set the orientation of document pages
3. In the Page Style: style name window, on the Page tab, in the Orientation group, activate the desired item: Portrait or Landscape.
4. Close the window with the OK button. How to set the paper size and size
1. In the open document window, expand the Format menu.
2. In the list of commands, select Page.
3. In the Page Style: style name window, on the Page tab, in the Paper Size group, expand the list in the Format column and select a standard paper size. The default format is A4.
4. For a non-standard paper size, use the Width and Height sliders to set the desired values.
5. Close the window with the OK button. How to set the background of the pages of the entire document
3. On the left side of the Options window, expand the OpenOffice.org list and select Appearance.
4. In the right part of the window, in the Color settings group, expand the list in the Document background column and select the desired color.
The default color is Automatic, which is white.
5. Close the window with the OK button. How to set document margins Page margins are the space left between the edge of the page and the text field.
1. In the open document window, expand the Format menu.
2. In the list of commands, select Page.
3. In the Page Style: style name window on the Page tab in the Margins group, set the desired margin values using the Left/Inside, Right/Outside, Bottom and Top sliders.
For standard official documents (letters, orders, etc.), as a rule, the following margin parameters are used: top and bottom - 1.7 cm, left - 2.5 cm, right - 1.5 cm. Maximum margin sizes: 2 cm, left - 3 cm.
4. When working with double-sided documents, it is recommended to switch to mirrored margins (so that the left and right are automatically swapped on even and odd pages). To do this, in the Layout Settings group, expand the Page Layout column and select Mirror.
5. To display only odd (right) pages in the program window, select Right Only. Even-numbered pages will appear as blank pages.
6. To display only the even-numbered (left) pages, select Left Only. Odd pages will appear as blank pages.
7. Close the window with the OK button. How to set visible text boundaries For better orientation on the page, margin lines can be displayed as conventional non-printing lines.
1. In the open document window, expand the View menu.
2. In the list of commands, select Text Borders. How to set the color of the fields
1. In the open document window, expand the Tools menu.
2. In the list of commands, select Options.
3. On the left side of the Options window, open the OpenOffice.org list and select Appearance.
4. In the right part of the window, in the Color settings group, expand the list in the Text Borders column and select the desired color.
The default color is Automatic, which is gray.
5. Close the window with the OK button. How to set the display of a grid in a text field A grid (in the form of horizontal and vertical rows of dots) allows you to specify the exact position of various objects on the page.
1. In the open document window, expand the Tools menu.
2. In the list of commands, select Options.
3. On the left side of the Options window, open the OpenOffice.org Writer list and select Grid.
4. In the right part of the window, activate the Show grid item.
5. In the Resolution and Grid Spacing groups, set the necessary parameters, if necessary.
6. Close the window with the OK button.
Opens a dialog box in which you can change the properties of a field. Click the box and then select this command. In the dialog box, you can use the arrow buttons to move to the previous or next field.
You can also double-click a field in your document to open that field for editing.
Select commands sequentially Edit - Fields
The type of field being edited is displayed.
Field parameters are displayed, for example, "fixed". If desired, you can select a different option for the selected field type.
Select a format for the field content. For date and time fields and user-defined fields, you can also open the More Formats list and select a different format. The formats you can select depend on the type of field you are editing.
Displays the offset for the selected field type, such as Next Page, Page Numbers, or Previous Page. You can enter a new offset value that will be added to the displayed page number.
Changes specific values and structure levels for the Chapter field type.
The field variable name is displayed here. You can enter a new name if you wish.
The current value of the field variable is displayed here. If desired, you can enter a new value.
Inserts the field as static content, i.e. field update is not possible.
Displays the condition that must be met to activate the field. If desired, you can enter a new condition.
Here you can change the contents of the field depending on whether the field condition is true or not.
Opening a dialog box Macro selection, where you can select the macro that will run when you click the selected field in the document. This button is only available for the Run Macro function field.
The name of the macro assigned to the selected field is displayed.
Displays the placeholder text for the selected field.
This contains the text associated with the condition.
The formula of the formula field is displayed.
Hides the contents of a field in the document. This field is inserted into the document as a thin gray mark. This option is only available for the Set Variable or User Field field types.
Adds a user-defined field to the list Choice
Removes a user-defined field from the selection list. Only those fields that are not used in the current document can be deleted. To remove a field that is used in the current document from the list, first remove all instances of that field in the document, and then remove it from the list.
OpenOffice.org is a free suite of office programs that includes the following components:
OpenWriter (word processor and HTML editor);
OpenCalc (spreadsheets);
OpenDraw (graphics editor);
OpenImpress (presentation system);
OpenMatch formula editor;
data access module.
OpenOffice.org is a full-fledged free office suite, not inferior in its capabilities to such popular proprietary programs as Microsoft Office. It contains components for working with text, spreadsheets, works with databases, processes graphics, and creates complex documents for Internet publications.
The developers of OpenOffice.org, introducing advanced document processing technologies, tried to make the work of ordinary users as easy as possible. Therefore, when you first meet, you find yourself in a familiar environment, familiar from MS applications, and can immediately start working. There is no need to relearn - Microsoft Office skills are quite enough. If you have books on Microsoft Office, then they are also suitable for your first acquaintance with OpenOffice.org - the basic working techniques are extremely similar.
Once you start using OpenOffice.org, you can continue to work with all the files that you previously prepared in the Microsoft Office environment, and easily exchange documents with users of other programs.
OpenOffice.org reads and saves documents in most popular formats. These include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF, html, xhtml, DocBook files, and simple text files in various encodings. In addition, OpenOffice.org allows you to export complex documents with illustrations and graphs in pdf format. The OpenImpress presentation system allows you to export presentations to Macromedia Flash (.swf) format.
OpenOffice.org contains all the necessary components to create complex systems. It supports templates, can work with databases, contains its own OOBasic programming language, much like MS Visual Basic for Application, and runs programs written in the Java programming language.
OpenOffice.org runs on several platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and many others. At the same time, the appearance of the applications and the format of the files used remain unchanged, which allows users of a variety of operating systems to collaborate on documents.
This guide describes programs from OpenOffice.org version 1.1. However, at the moment a new, still unstable version of the package has already been released - 2.0. In version 2.0, some fundamental changes have been made: in particular, document formats have been changed; the Open Document standard is now used, file extensions have changed. Version 2.0 is currently available along with 1.1 in a separate package; they can be installed in parallel.
OpenOffice.org can be launched both from the main menu (where it appears in the “Office” section) and by command ooffice - key . You can view available launch keys using the key -help. When launched without a key, the main OpenOffice.org window starts. For each application from the kit there is also a separate command of the form oo application , For example oowriter .
Table 1. Basic keys for launching OpenOffice.org
Using command line options, it's easy to create icons to launch OpenOffice.org applications.
In file managers that support MIME file types (for example, Konqueror), you can establish an association between a file with a certain extension and one of the OpenOffice.org applications: in this case, when you open the file in the file manager, the desired application will automatically launch.
OpenOffice.org 1.1 accepts the following file extensions:
The main window of the OpenWriter text editor after launch looks something like what is shown in Figure 1, “Appearance of the OpenWriter text editor”. Currently, active work is underway on a new translation of the OpenOffice.org interface, so some Russian names of interface elements may differ from those given in this manual.
Figure 1. Appearance of the OpenWriter text editor
You can change the appearance of OpenWriter using the View menu, or by right-clicking on the desired element. This way you can add or remove an element from the screen or change the set of standard buttons. The most complex interface settings can be made through the menu Service → Settings.
The user can choose one of three options for displaying the document - standard, full screen and web layout mode. Switching modes is done in the menu View → Full screen or View → Web page mode. In addition, you can switch between standard and full screen modes using a keyboard shortcut Ctrl -Shift -j .
Figure 2. OpenWriter Full Screen Mode
The scale of the displayed text is indicated in the document status bar. You can change the scale in different ways:
select the menu item View → Scale;
double-click with the left mouse button over the scale size in the status bar to open a dialog box;
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, press the key Ctrl and, holding it, rotate the scroll wheel.
When entering text, you don't have to worry about breaking the end of the line; OpenWriter will do it automatically. The enter key should only be pressed when a new paragraph begins.
The most convenient way of working is to first enter the text in full, then correct typos, and only then format the text.
After a while of filling a document with text, OpenWriter begins to suggest options for continuing long words. One of the most convenient features of OpenOffice.org - autocomplete - has started working. To agree with the proposed option, just click Enter; If the suggested word continuation option does not suit you, just continue typing. This feature is very helpful when entering long terms or words in another language, especially for those who have not yet learned to type quickly.
If there are several words in the text that begin with the same combination of letters, then using key combinations Ctrl -Tab or Shift -Ctrl -Tab, you can select the words you need from the list of words that OpenWriter has remembered.
To configure auto-fill, select Tools → from the menu. AutoCorrect/AutoFormat → Completing a word. In the same section of the menu, by entering the Replace item, you can set up automatic correction of the most common typos. Now, even if you type a word incorrectly, OpenWriter will change it without waiting for the spell check. In the Exceptions item, you can assign abbreviations after which the sentence does not automatically begin with a capital letter.
Figure 3. Dialog box AutoCorrect/AutoFormat
You can use the cursor keys in conjunction with the Ctrl- in this case, the left and right arrow keys move the cursor one word (before the space or punctuation marks) to the left or right, and the PageUp And PageDown- to the beginning or end of the document.
When working with large documents, problems often arise with orientation in the text and rapid movement through it. To make it easier to work with multi-page texts in OpenWriter, there is a special tool - “”. It can be called by the function key F5, the "" button on the function bar or double-clicking on the page number in the status bar.
Figure 4. Navigator
The navigator is an interactive table of contents of a document, in which all the elements that make up the document are presented in a hierarchical form.
In the Navigator window, there is a function panel at the top, possible document objects are listed in the center, and a drop-down list at the bottom contains a list of all open documents.
To quickly move between document objects, it is convenient to use the “Navigation” window, which can be called up with a button from the Navigator function bar or a button located at the bottom right of the vertical scroll bar.
Figure 5. Window "Navigation"
By selecting the required document element in this window, for example “Page” or “ Graphic object", you can click on the "up" or "down" arrows to move between the selected elements. To move to the desired page, enter the number of this page in the window on the Navigator function panel and click Enter .
The central window of the Navigator lists all possible text elements. The objects used in this document are presented as a drop-down list. By double-clicking on it with the left mouse button, you can see the structure of objects and their hierarchy, and using the group of tools in the right corner of the function panel you can change the levels of these objects and move them.
OpenWriter provides several alternative methods for highlighting text. You can select text character by character by holding down the key Shift and moving the cursor using the keys. Holding Ctrl -Shift, you can select text not character by character, but word by word. Key combination Shift -PageUp highlights the text up the page, and Shift -PageDown- down the page. Key combination Ctrl -A Highlights all document text. You can also select all text through the menu item Edit → Select all.
You can also select text character by character by holding down the left mouse button and moving the cursor. Double-clicking the left mouse button selects a word, and triple-clicking a line of text. When a key is pressed Shift left-clicking will highlight the text from the text cursor position to the mouse cursor position.
You can select several pieces of text in different places in the document by pressing and holding the key Ctrl, left mouse button to select the necessary text fragments. This function is called " Group text selection».
You can change the selection mode by clicking on the status bar above the STANDARD label. You can also switch between STANDARD and ADD modes by pressing F8. The following abbreviations are used in this line for the different modes:
Selected text can be moved by holding the left mouse button and dragging the selected fragment to the desired location; you can also copy it to the clipboard, paste it from the clipboard, or delete it (cut it from the text and place it in the clipboard). There are several ways to do this:
via the Edit menu;
through a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking;
key combination: copy - Ctrl -c, insert - Ctrl -v, cut - Ctrl -x .
You can save the document using the menu File → Save, the “Save" button on the function bar or the hot key Ctrl -s. If the document has already been saved, the button on the toolbar will be inactive. When you save a document for the first time, a dialog will open where you need to enter a file name and, possibly, specify the document type (if you are not satisfied with the default document type).
Figure 6. Save Document Dialog Box
The file name is entered in the “File name” field; it can be entered indicating a relative or absolute path. To go to another directory, double-click on the directory name in the list. To make it more convenient to navigate through the catalogs, you can sort the list by clicking on one of the column headings. For example, to sort by file type it is obviously "Type"; Clicking the same heading again means sorting in reverse order (indicated by an arrow).
The up level button is used to go to the parent directory; If you hold it for more than one second, a menu will appear that allows you to go up several levels at once.
The next button is used to create a new directory (in the current directory): you will need to enter the name of the new directory and confirm its creation.
The rightmost button is used to navigate to the directory where all documents will be saved by default. You can change this directory in the dialog: Tools → Options → OpenOffice.org → Paths → My Documents.
Option " Automatic file name expansion" is used to set the extension according to the " File type " field. Option " Save with password» allows you to save a file that can only be opened by entering a password (at least 5 characters).
In addition to saving in its own format, OpenWriter allows you to export and import documents in formats such as:
Microsoft Word various versions;
Rich Text Format (rtf);
StarOffice format versions 3–5;
text file;
Portable Document Format (PDF);
into formats for handheld computers with PalmOS and PocketPC operating systems.
To export to a simple text file, you must select the file type " Coded text", specify the file name and click the "Save" button. In the window " ASCII Filter Options» you can select the required encoding. To open a plain text file with an encoding other than Latin-1, you must specify the file type " Coded text» and select the required file encoding in the dialog box.
Figure 7. Selecting encoding when saving a text file
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal format for the electronic presentation of documents developed by Adobe, including typography, layout and graphics. By creating a document like this, you can be sure that anyone will be able to see and print it exactly as it was originally intended. The appearance of the document does not depend on which operating system you are viewing the document on; viewing and printing do not require any additional fonts or other components - everything necessary for display is already included in the document.
In order to convert the created document into a pdf file, click the “ Export to PDF" button on the function bar and specify the file name in the dialog box. In order to set the parameters of the created file, select the menu item File → Export to PDF, set the file name in the dialog box and click the “ Export” button. A dialog box appears in which you can select the area of the document to export and optimization options.
On Linux operating systems, received PDF documents can be viewed using xpdf, GhostView, or KghostView.
OpenOffice.org provides a special command for printing and utilities for setting up the printer. Printers are configured through the File menu → Printing options, where you can select the printer and set its properties.
The fastest and easiest way to send a document for printing is by clicking the button with a stylized image of a printer on the function panel - immediately after clicking, the entire document will be printed.
Sometimes you need to set special printing options. To do this, use the menu item File → Print or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl -p; in the dialog that opens, select the printer to which you will print and, by clicking on the “Properties” button, set its properties.
Perhaps, before printing, you would like to see on the screen how the document will look on paper. To do this, you can use the menu item File →. Tools for setting viewing properties will appear in the toolbar, but you cannot edit the document in this mode. Button " Close preview" on the toolbar serves to return the editor to normal operation.
Figure 8. Dialog " Page Preview»
The button for full-screen viewing of a document hides menus, toolbars, scroll bars and leaves only the preview panel. The next two buttons allow you to print the document and set viewing options accordingly.
In Preview mode, you can display multiple pages at a time. In addition, from the window " Page Preview» You can print the text in such a way that on one standard sheet there are several reduced copies of the pages of the document. To do this, set the required number of document pages per sheet by clicking the button Page settings → several pages on the lower context panel, and then click the “Print” button with an image of a printer and two sheets on the same context panel.
In OpenWriter, spell checking can be done automatically as you type, or you can call it manually. To automatically check you need to press the button " Automatic spell check» on the left on the main toolbar or through the Tools menu → Spellchecking → Automatic spell check. In this case, words that OpenWriter could not find in its dictionary will be underlined with a wavy red line. If you right-click on a highlighted word, you will be offered options for correction, opening a spell check dialog, adding the word to the dictionary, skipping the word throughout the document, and automatically replacing the word with one of the options selected in the submenu.
To check spelling manually, click on the " Spellchecking» on the left on the toolbar, or through the Tools menu → Spellchecking→ Check or key F7; the check starts from the current cursor position. The icon behind the “Word” field shows its status.
Figure 9. Dialogue for working with a specific word
A certain word can be skipped if it is spelled correctly. Alternatively, you can set the option " Always skip”, if this word appears more than once in the document.
If a word is spelled incorrectly, you can either enter the correct spelling in the “Word” field, or select the appropriate one from the list of options. To replace a word only in this case, click the “Replace” button; to replace it in all similar cases (in the entire document) - “Replace always”.
The Thesaurus button is used to add synonyms to the dictionary; this dialog can also be opened using the Tools → Thesaurus menu or a keyboard shortcut Ctrl -F7. It requires you to enter a word to replace. Please note that not all languages are currently supported.
The "Options" button is used to set parameters and dictionaries that are used to check spelling and hyphenate. The same parameters are set in the settings dialog Tools → Options → Language settings → Linguistics.
If a word is spelled correctly, but it is not in the dictionary, then it can be added to the dictionary. To do this, select the required item in the “Dictionary” field and click on the “Add” button. In this case, all added words that appear later and in other documents will be considered correctly written.
It is possible to check spelling only in part of the text - to do this, before checking, you will need to select a fragment of the text that needs to be checked.
Sometimes words that are known to be correctly spelled are highlighted as incorrectly spelled. This may occur due to the wrong document language being selected. To change the language, you need to select the word, right-click, select Font from the drop-down menu and specify the required language of the word in the Font tab. The same dialog is available through the menu Format → Font.
Figure 10. Language selection dialog
There are no words with the letter e in the standard dictionary, so all words with this letter will be considered incorrect. In order to check texts with the letter ё, you need to install an additional dictionary.
When working with files containing Cyrillic alphabet, some problems may arise. One of the most common is the incorrect conversion of files created in Microsoft Office 95 to the OpenOffice.org format.
To display such a file correctly, open it in OpenWriter or OpenCalc and select the entire file. Then open the Macro dialog from the menu bar Tools → Macros → Macro. Select the Tools section in the list of macros, and in this section the macro
For the convenience of working with Cyrillic documents, Vladimir Bukhal and Alexey Kryukov developed the CyrillicTools package - a collection of various macros on OpenOffice.org Basic, designed for working with Cyrillic text in the OpenOffice.org 1.1 and higher environment. This package can be downloaded from the website openoffice.ru. In addition to correcting the encoding of Microsoft Office 95 files, the package allows you to enter the amount in words and correct Cyrillic text incorrectly entered in English letters.
After the text has been typed and checked, it is advisable to give it an appearance that makes it easier to perceive what has been written. To do this, it is customary to highlight different semantic parts of a document using different typefaces (for example, serif and sans serif) or different styles (italic, bold), indents, additional line spacing (spaces) and other methods.
For example, it is advisable to type the title of the document in larger size and place it in the center of the page, captions to pictures should be in italics, and page numbers should be placed in the lower right corner of each page. Assigning design parameters to certain parts of a document is called formatting.
Formatting can be tough or soft. At hard formatting each specific part of the document - a character, word, paragraph or page - is given certain display parameters. At the same time, formatting is in no way connected with the logical structure of the document and objects that logically belong to the same type may turn out (and almost always turn out to be, as practice shows) designed differently. For example, one of the figure captions will not be in italics, unlike the others.
At soft formatting describes the appearance not of a specific fragment of text, but of the logical part of the document - headings, body text, footnotes, footers, and for each specific part of the document only its role in the document is specified: for example, “ caption for the picture" The description of the design for a certain logical part of a document is usually called a style.
When using styles, it is necessary to logically mark up the document, i.e., indicate its structure. It is noted what in the document is the heading, what is the main text, and what is other elements. In this case, each element will take on the appearance in accordance with the style that is defined for it.
Using logical document layout and soft formatting makes it easier to work with large and complex documents and allows you to automate many stages of working with text - automatically create tables of contents, easily navigate through large documents, quickly change the design, and much more.
When you create a new document, a set of styles from a standard template is automatically loaded. When typing text in a new document, the default style is normal. In the window of used styles, which is located on the left of the context panel, other styles are not displayed.
For logical (soft) document markup, you need to launch the “” function key F11, button on the function bar or from the menu item Format → .
Figure 11. Style Wizard
In the Style Wizard window, the toolbar at the top left contains five buttons for the following style groups: paragraph, character, frame, page, and list. On the right there are three buttons: style fill, create a style from a selection, and update a style based on a sample. The window displays the styles of the current group according to the parameter specified in the list at the bottom of the window. If you set this list to “Automatic”, the Style Wizard will try to select a suitable set of styles for the document you are editing.
To assign a style, you need to place the cursor in the desired paragraph or on the desired page, select the appropriate style in the Style Wizard, and click Enter or double-click with the left mouse button - a new style will be assigned. To assign a style to a symbol or group of symbols, they must be selected in a standard way.
Let's show how to work with styles using an example. We've already looked at page numbering. However, you can notice that after the numbering is arranged, the number is also on the first page. This is inconvenient in many cases. To remove the number from the first page, you need to assign it the First Page style. To do this, call the Style Wizard, go to the Page Styles section, select the First Page style and click Enter .
The standard template contains a large number of styles, and among them you can almost always choose the most suitable one. However, there are times when the standard set is not enough and you need to change the existing style or create a new one.
The easiest way to create a new style is to use the Style Wizard feature Create style from selection. To do this, give the paragraph, character or page the desired format using hard formatting, select this fragment and click the " Create style from selection» on the Style Wizard toolbar. In the window, enter a new name for the style and click OK. A new style has been created. You can now assign a new style to document sections.
Figure 12. Creating a style from a selection
You can make changes to any style in a similar way. Select the required fragment of text and set the fragment to the style to which you plan to make changes. Then format it the way you want using Hard Formatting and in the Style Wizard, click the " Update style based on sample" The style will take the form you want.
For fine-tuning, open the style editing window. You can call it from the menu Format → Styles → Catalog → Edit or right-click on the desired style and select Edit.
Figure 13. Edit style dialog box
A set of styles created while working on a document can be reused. You can import styles from another document or save them in a template.
To import styles from another document, select Format → Styles → Load from the menu and click the “From File” button. Then select the required document. The downloaded styles will be added to the Style Wizard. However, for reusing styles, it is more convenient to use templates.
A template is usually understood as a file that contains document formatting elements, but does not contain the text itself. When you create a new document from a template, the document inherits styles, page settings (size and orientation), built-in macros, margins, and other values. At the same time, the template itself is protected from accidental changes. Templates are convenient to use when creating documents of the same type - letters, memos, reports, etc.
To create a template, select the required document, remove unnecessary text from it, check the styles and remove unnecessary ones. Please note that styles that are loaded by default cannot be deleted. To make it easier to find and manage a template, give it a name by opening the menu item File → Properties → Description → Title. Then save the new template by selecting File → Templates → Save from the menu. In the dialog box that opens, specify the desired directory and save the new template in it. To create a new directory, click the “Manage” button. In this dialog box, you can create new directories for templates and move templates between directories.
Figure 14. Saving a new template
Now the saved template can be used to create a new document. To do this, use the menu item File → New → Templates and documents and select the desired template.
Users are often unhappy with the default settings that OpenWriter loads. They can be changed by loading a different template by default. To do this, open the dialog box " Template management", select the template you want, right-click and select " Set as default template" Now, when creating a new document, the necessary parameters will be loaded.
Figure 15. Defining a default template
To format a page, you need to call the menu item Format → Page. In the Page Style dialog box, you can set its orientation (portrait or landscape), paper size, presence or absence of headers and footers, and other parameters.
Figure 16. Page Style dialog box
Page numbering in OpenWriter causes some difficulties for novice users. The fact is that, unlike other editors, in OpenWriter the page numbering is part of the footer.
A footer is a reference line above or below the main text of a page. In addition to numbering, this line can display other reference information, such as the title of a section or the entire document.
To arrange page numbers, include a header or footer. This can be done using the Insert menu → Page header or Insert → footer, as well as through the Page Style dialog box.
Once the footer is enabled; Select Insert → Fields → Page Number from the menu and page numbers will be automatically placed in the document. If header and footer support is not enabled, the page number will appear at the current cursor position.
A paragraph (from the German absetzen - to move aside) is usually understood as a structural part of the text, which consists of one or several sentences containing a complete micro-topic. When typing, one paragraph is separated from another by a carriage return character, which is entered by pressing a key Enter .
Before formatting paragraphs, it is advisable to remove all unnecessary characters, such as extra spaces at the beginning of lines. In order to make such symbols visual, click the " Non-printing characters» on the vertical main toolbar.
Figure 17. Display of non-printing characters
To format a paragraph, there is no need to select it; just place the cursor anywhere in the paragraph and select the menu item Format → Paragraph, or the Paragraph item in the right-click drop-down menu. In the dialog box that appears, you can configure all the paragraph formatting parameters: line spacing, indentation for the first line (paragraph indent) and for the entire paragraph, tabulation, as well as the border and background of the paragraph. Buttons for paragraph alignment are placed on the context panel by default.
Figure 18. Paragraph dialog box
The button for changing the tab mode is located to the left of the horizontal ruler. Consistently clicking on it with the left mouse button changes the tab type:
Left
The text will be limited to the left and typed from this position to the right.
On rightText is constrained to the right and flows to the left from that position.
CenteredText appears evenly to the left and right of the tab stop.
DecimalText printed before the delimiter character (the "Mark" field) will appear to the left of the tab stop, and text after it will appear to the right. This type is primarily needed to align columns of numbers with an unequal number of digits before and after the decimal point. When using it, all commas in such numbers will be exactly one above the other. However, if you change the value of the Sign field, you can use this type of alignment for other purposes.
Using paragraph alignment in many cases increases the distance between words in the text, which is especially noticeable when there are long words. In this case, it is advisable to use hyphens.
In order for OpenWriter to be able to hyphenate text, you need to set the language properties to Russian (menu Tools → Options → Language settings → Languages, field “Western”).
Hyphenation can be done automatically or manually. Automatic hyphenation is set in the paragraph properties - in the “Paragraph” dialog on the On page tab in the section Hyphenation you need to enable the “Automatic” option.
You have the opportunity to manually designate the location for the desired transfer: to do this, you need to place a so-called soft transfer. Place the cursor at the position in the word where you can hyphenate, and insert a soft hyphen using a key combination Ctrl -- . You can search for all words that can be hyphenated using the function Hyphenation in the Service menu.
Figure 19. Dialog box " Hyphenation»
The = sign indicates the location of possible transfer; - indicates the place where it will definitely be produced. To set up a transfer, click the “Transfer" button; To stop hyphenation, use the “Cancel” button. You can move to the next word without hyphenating the current one by clicking on the “Next” button. A previously installed transfer can be canceled using the “Remove” button.
To ensure that a word is never hyphenated, you need to add it to the dictionary with an = sign at the end.
OpenWriter has extensive list formatting capabilities. Numbered and unnumbered lists with great nesting depth are supported. To format a list, place the cursor on the paragraph with which you intend to start the list and click the “Numbering" or "Bullets" button on the context panel, depending on what type of list you need. All paragraphs following the current one will be converted to a list.
When working with a list, the context panel will change its appearance. An arrow-shaped button will appear in the right corner, which opens or removes the contextual numbering panel. By calling this panel, you can adjust the nesting depth of lists, appearance and methods of text marking.
Figure 20. Contextual numbering panel
The contextual numbering panel can also be accessed using the function key F12, and the dialog box Numbering/labeling right-click from the drop-down menu, or through the Format menu → Numbering/labeling.
Figure 21. Dialog box " Numbering/labeling»
To format a group of characters, you first need to select them. Then you can select the required font, its style and size, design effects, position of the group of characters relative to the line in the menu Format → Font.
Figure 22. Symbol formatting dialog
Some sections of this dialog box are placed on the context panel to speed up formatting. From the default context panel you can select the font name, its size, main styles and color. You can add or remove a button from the context panel by right-clicking over it and selecting Show Buttons from the drop-down menu.
After loading OpenCalc, the main window appears on the screen. The main difference between this window and the similar one in OpenWriter is that an input line appears under the context menu. It is intended for entering values and formulas into table cells.
Figure 23. OpenCalc main window
The sheet field consists of cells. A cell is the smallest structural unit of a spreadsheet; it has an address determined by vertical and horizontal coordinates. The first is the column name (the first part of the address); it can have values from A to IV. The second is the line number (the second part of the address) and has a value ranging from 1 to 32000.
To the right and top of the worksheet there are rulers with the names of the columns and rows. To select an entire column, click on the cell with its name in the top ruler; to select the entire row - by the cell with its name on the left ruler. The name of the selected row or column appears in bold font; If you select one cell, both parts of the address located on the rulers will be displayed in bold.
IN status bar information about the operating modes of the table is displayed.
Selecting a sheet for work is done by clicking the left button; if you right click on sheet navigator, a dialog box will open where the following operations will be available:
Insert - creates a new sheet.
Delete - used for unnecessary sheets.
Rename - allows you to assign a different name to the sheet.
Move/copy - allows you to make copies of sheets, transfer existing sheets to other documents, and change their order.
Select All - selects the entire sheet.
Data is entered into a specific cell: before you enter anything, you need to select the cell. The text you type will appear in the cell where you type and in the input line (above), which is especially useful since the cell may contain more characters than its current width allows for display.
If the adjacent cells to the right do not contain values, then the entered string will be displayed in full; otherwise, only part of the line will be displayed and a red arrow will appear in the cell.
To display the entire information, you must either stretch the cell width or allow line breaks.
Figure 24. Entering data into a cell
You can change the width (height) of a line in several ways:
Automatically
Double-click on the right-hand border bar of the column title and OpenCalc will adjust the width for the column, choosing the width needed to display the cell with the longest content. The same can be done through the menu: Format → Column → Optimal width
ManuallyLeft-click on the column title border strip and, without releasing it, move it to the desired width.
ExactlySelect any cell in the column whose width you want to change, and then select the menu Format → Column → Width; In the window that opens, enter the exact size.
To enable line breaks, click Ctrl -Enter, or right-click on the cell and select Format Cells, or select the menu item Format → Cell and then select the “Alignment” tab; Here check the box “Line break”.
Figure 25. Cell Attributes dialog box
In the same window, you can set the vertical and horizontal alignment of the text and the direction of writing (the angle of rotation of the text). Alignment allows you to determine the position of text in a cell (left, right, center, bottom, top). Writing direction allows you to write in cells at a given angle.
It should be noted that if text begins with an = sign, it will not appear in the cell because OpenCalc considers such text to be a formula. If you need to print text starting with the = sign, then you must put a single quote as the very first character. If you need to start a line with a quotation mark, you must enter the quotation mark twice.
One of the purposes of spreadsheets is calculations, so we will now look at the basic rules for typing formulas.
As already noted, entering a formula begins with an equal sign, then the formula itself is written. For example: =4+16. By writing this formula and clicking Enter, we will see the number 20 in the cell. Of course, formulas without variables usually don’t make much sense, so now let’s see how to use variables, which are cell addresses in OpenCalc. For example, if we wrote the number 20 in A1, then if we write the formula =A1^2 in B1 and press Enter the number 400 appears in cell B1.
Basic arithmetic operations available to OpenCalc:
In addition to these operations, OpenCalc offers a wide range of functions in the following categories:
working with databases;
time and date processing;
financial;
informational;
brain teaser;
mathematical;
working with arrays;
statistical;
text;
additional.
For the convenience of writing formulas in OpenCalc, "". To call it, click the "" button to the left of the input line.
In the Wizard window, you can enter functions and check that they are entered correctly; The list of available functions depends on which category you select. In addition to the categories listed above, for convenience, “All” and “ Recently Used».
Figure 26. Function Wizard
The “Formula” edit field displays the current formula, which can be directly edited, or you can, by placing the cursor in the required position, double-click on the function name from the list, and the selected function will be inserted into the input window. All that remains is to either enter the argument from the keyboard, or press the button with the cell image and select the cell whose value will be the argument.
In the “Structure” tab, the typed formula is expanded into a tree, which is very helpful when editing formulas, allowing you to track the order in which the formula is calculated.
For the case when the formula is quite simple (contains the signs +, -, *, /, ^), but consists of a relatively large number of variables, consider the following example:
Let it be necessary to calculate A1+C5*B4 ; for this:
Press = , then use the cursor arrows to select cell A1 (the first time you press the cursor key, a red rectangle cursor will appear). Then press + and select C5, press * and finally select B4. In this way, you can quickly create formulas using the keyboard (cells can also be selected with the mouse pointer).
After entering = followed by a letter, OpenCalc automatically displays the name of the function starting with that letter. This feature allows you to type not the entire formula, but only its first letters, and then, if the proposed function is exactly the one you need, all you have to do is press Enter .
It happens that when entering formulas, you need to pass not a cell address, but an entire area as their arguments - for example, you need to sum all the values in column A, starting from address A2 to address A11. Of course, you can write =A2+A3+...+A10+A11 - but it is much easier and in any case more correct to write =Su, then use the hint (Sum) and click Enter, enter the range A2:A11 in brackets.
The worksheet area is specified by indicating the address of the upper left cell, followed by a colon and indicating the lower right cell. The area can also be specified using the mouse.
Sometimes you need to perform similar calculations for a large amount of similar data. The spreadsheet allows you to enter the formula only once - when you copy it to another cell, the parameters will be automatically replaced with new values.
Let the task be to calculate cos(x), where x is given in degrees. To solve it, we perform the following steps:
Enter the text “Angle” in cell A1, the number “0” in cell A2, and “1” in cell A3. Select cell A2 and, without releasing the mouse button, also select cell A3. Cell selection can also be done using the cursor keys: select A2, then press Shift -arrow to down .
Next, move the mouse over the lower right corner of the selected area; the cursor will take the form of a cross. By clicking and holding the left mouse button, select an area of 360 cells with a red rectangle, that is, the last cell selected should be cell A361. In this case, the number 360 will appear in the yellow tooltip rectangle.
An example of auto-completion has just been discussed. OpenCalc automatically increases cell values by one when the red selection area expands. In principle, it would be enough to just enter "1" and simply multiply the cell, since OpenCalc by default multiplies cells by arithmetic progression in increments of "1". If you hold Ctrl, then the cell values will be multiplied by simple copying.
Now we can just as easily calculate the values of the cosines of all angles; first you need to return to the top of the page using Ctrl -Home(return to the beginning of the sheet) or Ctrl -up arrow (go to the top field of the block).
Enter “cos(angle)” in B1, and “=c” in B2 in Latin and press Enter; further, switching to Russian, “r”; Enter, left arrow and Enter. So, with just a few clicks, the formula “=COS(RADIANS(A2))” was entered. Now, by clicking the cross-shaped cursor on the lower right edge of the cell, you can apply the formula to all angle values. The result is the values of the cosines of all angles.
OpenCalc, like any modern spreadsheet, supports various data formats in cells, which determine their display in the table. For example, the text 3/4/01 will be assigned the format Date. If we change the cell format to a number, we get 36954.
To change the cell format, right-click on the cell and select Cell Format in the context menu and the “Numbers” tab in the window that opens.
In our cosine example, change the number of decimal places displayed (parameter value fraction) by 7 . Our format will automatically be listed in the Number and User Defined categories.
Let's return to the example of calculating cosine. Suppose now we need to calculate the function “cos(angle+phase)”. Let's say the phase is a constant and should be stored in cell C2. Then change the formula in B2 from “=cos(radians(A2))” to “=cos(radians(A2+C2))” and multiply by all 360 values. There will be practically no effect: the fact is that we did not say that our phase is constant, that is, the formula “=cos(radians(A3+C3))” was written in cell B3. There is no data in C3, so OpenCalc thinks that "0" is written in C3. To prohibit changing a variable by column or row, you need to enter a $ sign in front of the coordinate. Now let’s prohibit changing the row coordinate by changing C2 to C$2 in our formula.
To quickly insert $ into an edited address, it is convenient to use the keyboard shortcut Shift -F4. If you press this combination once, a $ sign will be added to the column coordinate and row coordinate; twice - only to the row coordinate, three - to the column coordinate. The fourth press is equivalent to the first.
Since an OpenCalc document contains multiple sheets, addressing between sheets is also possible. Up to this point, we have considered local addressing, which operates within a single leaf; The full cell address looks like this:
<Название листа>.<Локальный адрес ячейки>.
Now all that remains is to insert the diagram of our calculation. This is done very simply: Select two columns A and B. Select Insert → Diagram from the menu
Figure 27. Chart auto format
In our case, the first line is the x-axis label, so leave the “ First line as signature" The range of values written in the “Area” field was determined automatically; as expected, it is equal to “$Sheet1.$A$1:$B$361”.
Our diagram can be placed either on one of the existing sheets or on a new sheet. If you place a diagram on a new sheet, it will occupy the entire sheet, which is very convenient for printing diagrams on a whole sheet. In our example, Sheet1 is selected to place the chart.
After filling out each dialog box, you need to click the “Next" button and select the chart type in the next window:
2D charts
Lines; with regions; bar chart; ruled; circular; XY chart; mesh; stock exchange
3D charts3M schedule; with 3M areas; histogram 3M; ruled 3M; circular 3M.
Since in our case the diagram is built using two columns, we will choose an XY diagram. Data series are specified in columns.
Figure 28. XY chart selection
Then we will refine the diagram version. We indicate the name of the diagram; Since there is only one dependency on it, we uncheck the legend box. Enter the labels of the X and Y axes. Then you need to click the “Finish” button.
Figure 29. Diagram constructed
With OpenDraw, you can add high-quality illustrations to any OpenOffice.org document—whether it's a text document, spreadsheet, or presentation. In addition, it is possible to export the drawing to other applications using widely used graphic formats.
OpenDraw allows you to create both vector and raster drawings. Raster pictures consist of a limited number of dots and the image in such pictures is formed by a combination of dots of different colors. As a result, raster-type drawings do not scale; more precisely, they look unimportant after resizing. At the same time, raster images are easily transferred from one program to another, since they are essentially reduced to a simple array of dots.
Vector designs are those that consist of objects (lines, rectangles, circles, gradients, etc.) and do not have a fixed resolution; however, they can also include raster images as objects. Vector graphics are highly scalable and can be converted to raster form at any given resolution at any time. Thanks to this property, vector drawings are preferable when creating illustrations for documents; at the same time, when exporting a document to any format external to OpenOffice.org, vector drawings cannot always be used and in such cases are converted to raster images.
OpenDraw is primarily designed for creating vector drawings; There are applications such as gimp for working with raster images.
The remainder of this tutorial will primarily discuss vector drawings; raster images will be considered only from the point of view of their use as part of a vector image, and also in the context of converting vector images to raster images.
Figure 30. General view of the OpenDraw main window
At the top of the main window there is a menu area; below - panels of functions, hyperlinks, objects; On the left there is a vertical toolbar, a little to the right - a ruler, even lower - a panel of symbols, colors, and finally, at the very bottom of the main window - a status bar. Any of the listed panels can be turned on or off through the menu View → Character Panels.
In the central part of the main program window there is a drawing worksheet. The display scale of the worksheet is set via the menu View → Scale or using the “Scale" tool on the toolbar.
Under graphic primitives refers to the minimal graphic objects that make up a vector drawing. Graphic primitives in OpenDraw include: lines and arrows; rectangles; circles, ellipses, arcs, segments and sectors; curves; connecting lines; three-dimensional objects (cube, ball, cylinder, etc.); text. More complex objects can be composed from graphic primitives using the combination function and logical operations on shapes; this will be discussed later.
To create a primitive of one of the listed types, click and hold the button for the corresponding group of primitives on the toolbar. Then, having selected the desired primitive from the drop-down list of icons, release the button. As a result, the primitive creation mode is activated, in which you need to specify the location of the key points and distances of the primitive using the mouse. Different primitives have different numbers of parameters: for example, a simple line has only two parameters, while a curve has an unlimited number. Below we will talk about the features of creating various primitives.
Lines and arrows
To create a line, specify the starting and ending points of the line on the drawing sheet: the starting point of the line is set with the left mouse button; then, without releasing the button, place the cursor on the end point of the line and release the button - the line is created.
Connecting lineThis object is created in exactly the same way as a regular line. A special feature of a connecting line is its ability to snap to objects, so when creating a connecting line, instead of the start or end point of the line, you can specify an object - the program itself will select the best point for attaching the line to it.
RectanglesHere you need to indicate the position of two opposite vertices of the rectangle: select the first one by clicking the left mouse button; then, without releasing it, move the cursor to the second point and fix the figure by releasing the button.
Circles, ellipses, arcs, segments and sectorsTo create a circle or ellipse, it is enough to indicate the size of the primitive with two points: specify the first point by pressing the left mouse button without releasing it, move the cursor to the required distance to the second point and release the mouse button. The circle or ellipse will be inscribed in the rectangle defined by the start and end points. To get an arc, segment or sector, you need to specify two more points on the contour of the circle or ellipse, also by pressing and releasing the left mouse button.
3D objectsTo define a three-dimensional object, you must specify its maximum size in one of two dimensions. A three-dimensional object is created in fixed proportions, which can be changed after its creation.
TextA text object is created by simply clicking the left mouse button in the desired place on the sheet: a typing frame with a text cursor will appear.
When creating text inscribed in a frame, first define the frame with two points: right-click at the first point, move the cursor and release the button at the second point. The font size will be automatically adjusted so that the text occupies the entire area of the specified frame.
LegendA legend is a box with an arrow that is usually used to explain some part of a drawing. It is set, like a regular frame, by two points using the right mouse button. You can then insert text inside the legend frame by double-clicking the left mouse button on the frame. As you enter text, the legend frame automatically resizes.
Bezier curvesBased on trigonometric equations, the French mathematician and engineer Pierre Bézier created a special way to simply and at the same time flexibly describe complex contours for metal-cutting machines used in the automotive industry; this method was called Bezier curves and, due to its simplicity and flexibility, subsequently became one of the most important computer graphics methods.
Bezier curves are built using several points and guide lines. The points along which the curve is constructed are called reference points; each of them is characterized by two segments located on the tangent to the Bezier curve at the reference point (they are called guides). The length of each of them sets the steepness of the next or previous segment of the curve, and the angle of the tangent sets the direction in both directions from the reference point.
When creating a curve in OpenDraw, its anchor points are sequentially indicated using the left mouse button. If, after pressing the button to create a reference point, you do not release the button, you can set the angle and length of the guides; if you do not hold the button, then the length of the guides will be zero, and such a point will be a corner one. The guide of the first anchor point must be specified, otherwise the operation is cancelled. Double-clicking the left mouse button finishes drawing the curve.
Note that when creating a curve, the length of the guides in both directions is the same. You can change the lengths of guides individually after creating the curve using the point editing tool.
Hold the button Shift when creating a curve, it allows you to specify angles that are multiples of 45 degrees; you can use the button to close the curve Alt .
When working in the X Window System, the button Alt may be used by the window manager, which will prevent this operation from being performed. For example, KDE defaults to Alt combined with left-click to move the window. However, you can close the line by pressing Alt after the right button. The line will be closed, but the last anchor point will become a corner point. This can be easily fixed using the point editing tool. You can also change the window manager settings by giving it a different modifier instead of Alt .
hand drawn lineTo create a drawn line, you need to press and hold the left mouse button and draw the desired curve by hand. The drawn line is also a Bezier curve, only the number of control points, the values and angles of the guides are determined automatically by the program.
PolygonsCreating polygons consists of specifying all the vertices of the polygon. The first vertex is indicated by pressing the left mouse button; to specify the second one, release the mouse button, otherwise the operation will be cancelled; the remaining vertices are indicated by a regular left-click, and the last vertex by a double click. Just like when creating a curve, you can use Alt to close the polygon and Shift for drawing with angles that are multiples of 45 degrees, respectively.
Each object - already modified, combined, transformed, or simply a graphic primitive - has a certain set of characteristics, such as size, color, rotation angle, font family and size, etc. Moreover, from the point of view of modification, objects can be divided into three groups:
graphic objects characterized by an area (most objects);
graphic objects characterized by private properties (lines, connecting lines, legend);
text objects (plain text).
To change the parameters of objects, first select the object by clicking on any part of it. The program will confirm the selection by highlighting the area where the object is placed with square dots. In this case, primitives that are characterized by an area, as well as text objects, are highlighted by a field of eight square green dots, the rest are highlighted by turquoise dots, which indicate the key points of the object.
You can select several objects at once using the left mouse button while the button is pressed Shift- in this case, the selected objects will be highlighted with one field of eight dots and all further operations will affect all selected objects.
The selection area of an object can be stretched, moved, rotated, etc. Stretching a plain text area does not change the size of the text; in all other cases, changing the size of the selection area results in scaling the object.
The vertex points of a rectangular area of an object are used to resize the object in two dimensions simultaneously, while the points on the sides are used in only one. To perform these actions, “grab” the desired point with the mouse, stretch the area and release the button.
For objects of the second type, when changing the size, control points are used - approximately the same as when changing the size of an area, however, in this case, resizing occurs according to the rules of the object itself: for example, for a Legend, lengthening the index arrow does not lead to a change in the explanation area.
The text object area frame specifies the typing field and line width; changing its size does not change the font size. On the contrary, the text inscribed in the frame depends on the size of the specified area, in this case the text is scaled automatically so that all the text fits in the specified area.
To move an object, left-click on any part of the object, move the object without releasing the button, and releasing it, commit the change.
Almost all objects (except three-dimensional ones) can contain text in one form or another. For text objects this is, of course, the main function; for others - additional.
If you double-click the left mouse button on an object, a cursor will appear that allows you to enter or correct text inside the object. Its properties can be changed in the same way as for text objects - using the tools of the object panel, the Format menu, or using the context menu.
For other operations on objects, such as rotation, mirroring and others, the effects panel is used.
By selecting the rotate tool in the effects panel, you will see that the object's selection points will take on a circular shape. Depending on the type of object selected, each point gives access to different functions. When you hover the mouse over the desired point, the cursor changes appearance, indicating a possible operation; In addition, when an operation is performed, the name and detailed data on the current operation appear in the status bar. If the function corresponding to the control point is not applicable for the selected object, the cursor changes to a crossed out circle.
The vertices of the rectangle that bounds the object's selection area can be used to rotate the object in the plane of the sheet. Moreover, the rotation will occur relative to the center, shown as a small circle with a crosshair. By default, the center of rotation is set exactly in the center of the object's selection area, but you can move it with the mouse to any point on the page. For 3D objects, points at the vertices of the selection area allow them to be rotated in the paper plane.
Points on the sides of an object's selection area are used to distort the object in the appropriate direction. For 3D objects, these points allow them to be rotated in a plane that is perpendicular to the paper plane and parallel to the side of the rectangular selection containing the selected control point.
The “Effects” panel allows you to perform other useful operations on objects, such as deformations, mirror reflections at any angle, constructing an object by rotating a flat prototype, and adjusting transparency.
The point editing mode can be called through the Edit Points tool on the objects (or options) panel, the contextual drop-down menu (Edit Points item) or from the keyboard with the button F8 .
This mode is available for objects built from Bezier curves. If you want to change the shape of another type of object using the point editing mechanism, you will need to first convert the object to Bezier curves using the Convert contextual drop-down menu item (this applies to most objects).
In point editing mode, you can change the point type, close a curve, add and delete points using the point editor tools that appear in the object panel after enabling point editing mode. Select the desired point with the right mouse button - you will be able to change the angle and size of the guide lines of the selected reference point. In this way, you can change the degree of bending of the line on different sides of this point.
The anchor points themselves can be moved, deleted, added, and changed their type. In addition, the Edit Points panel has tools for closing or opening a curve and converting a line to a Bezier curve.
For convenience, OpenDraw distinguishes three types of anchor points:
Symmetrical transition
A reference point with guide segments of equal length. When you change the length of one symmetrical transition guide, the second one also changes its length.
Smooth transitionThis is a regular reference point with guides of different lengths and separately adjustable.
Corner pointThis is the reference point at which the curve seems to break. The guide segments of the corner point may not lie on the same line and may have different lengths.
Having selected the desired anchor point, you can easily change its type using the tools in the “Edit Points” panel.
The area of an object, if it exists, can be very flexibly configured through the tools of the object panel (menu Format → Area or context menu Area). It can have different contents, cast a shadow and be transparent. The filling can be a color fill, a gradient fill, hatching, or a raster texture. Shadow and transparency also have their own settings, which can be found on the corresponding tabs of the area properties window.
Every OpenDraw object contains lines - even if it is a text object and its border is not shown by default. A dialog box that allows you to customize the appearance of these lines can be called up through the tools of the object panel, menu Format → Line or through the Line context menu. In this case, you can change the color, thickness, set transparency and provide the ends of the line with arrows of various types.
For text and text-containing objects, it is possible to change the appearance and properties of the text through the tools in the object panel, the Format menu, or the context menu.
Text properties are called up using the tools of the object panel, menu Format → Text or context menu Text. Here it is determined whether the text will fit into the frame or vice versa - the text will determine the size of the frame, as well as whether various creeping effects will be applied when displaying the text on the screen.
To change the properties of characters and paragraphs, use other menu items Character and Paragraph of the context menu or the same items of the Format menu.
To simplify working with drawings of complex structures, OpenDraw has the ability to assign names to certain types of objects, which then appear in the status bar every time you select an object. In addition, named objects are displayed by the Navigator as separate elements of the drawing structure.
You can only assign a name:
group of objects;
inserted objects: raster image, OLE object, formula, etc.
Like a text document, a drawing can contain styles, but only one type - graphic. Graphic style is a comprehensive set of attribute values for a wide variety of graphical objects. When applied to an object, a style overrides the values of the object's attributes, replacing them with the values specified for this style.
Graphic styles are especially useful for creating complex designs with repeating elements; they are indispensable for drawings, various diagrams, diagrams, etc. To create, modify, apply and delete them, it is most convenient to use the Style Wizard, which can be called up from the Format menu → button F11 or instrument (" On off. Style Master") in the function bar.
By selecting an object or several objects using the Style Wizard, it is easy to apply any style: just double-click on the desired item in the Style Wizard window.
To change a style, just click on it and select Edit from the drop-down menu. Changes to the style will affect all graphic objects to which it was applied.
Any object in OpenDraw can be converted into one form or another depending on its type; the options are contained in the Transform context menu, which displays a list of valid transformations for the selected object. So, for example, for three-dimensional objects there are only two options, but for a rectangle there are already seven. By transforming objects, you can obtain new objects with completely different properties than the original object, as well as different in appearance.
OpenDraw has powerful tools for positioning objects. Often there is a need to align objects relative to each other, page or line; To perform these actions, use the tools on the “Arrangement” and “Alignment” panels, as well as the Distribution item of the context menu or the Actions menu. The tools on the options panel help you accurately place objects.
Any object can be aligned relative to the page margins using the appropriate tools in the Alignment tear-off panel.
There are separate tools for horizontal and vertical alignment - in the center and along the edges of the sheet. If you select several objects at once (while holding down the Shift), then using the same tools you can align objects relative to the edges or center of the selection area.
Depending on the order of creation, an object may overlap part of another object(s) or be occluded by other object(s). To control the location of objects in depth, use the tools of the “Arrangement” tear-off panel.
The panel contains tools for moving an object directly to the foreground or background, sequentially changing its position (behind or in front of an object), changing its position relative to a specific object. It is also possible to swap places (in depth) of two objects.
This feature makes it possible to align multiple objects relative to each other so that the distances between objects relative to the outlines or centers of the objects are equal. In this case, the outermost objects in the chain do not move.
To use this feature, you must first select three or more objects, and then select Distribute from the context menu or from the Actions menu.
The OpenDraw Options Bar has a number of convenient tools to make it easier to accurately position objects relative to each other or to the sheet. Precise positioning is achieved by creating special marks or markers in the form of dots or lines on the drawing field, which can subsequently be used to facilitate the alignment of objects. Such marks are called bindings.
OpenDraw supports several types of snaps:
net
A grid is superimposed on the page margin. When this snap is enabled, objects can be moved or scaled strictly along the grid nodes.
guide lineCan be horizontal or vertical. To create this snap, you need to left-click on the vertical or horizontal ruler and drag the line to the desired location on the sheet.
custom bindingThe user has the ability to set a reference in the form of a line or point anywhere on the sheet with an accuracy of millimeter. This binding is created using the Insert menu → Line/Anchor point
To perform actions on several objects at once, it is convenient to use the grouping function. To create a group, you must first mark several objects by holding the button Shift, and then select Group from the context menu (or Actions menu) or use the hot button Ctrl -Shift -G .
If you are using Ctrl -Shift as a keyboard switch and noticed that similar combinations are used in many applications, try setting up language switching by Caps Lock(in this case, register fixation is switched according to Shift -Caps Lock), it's more productive.
The created group behaves like a persistent selection of multiple objects. The advantage of a group over the usual selection of several objects is that it eliminates the possibility of forgetting to select an object before the operation.
A group can always be split using the item Ungroup context menu or Actions menu, or using a button combination Alt -Ctrl -Shift -G .
To edit objects included in a group, there is no need to split the group - the operations of entering and leaving the group are intended for this. You can use the Entry to group (Exit group) items of the context menu or the Actions menu, or the hot button F3 (Ctrl -F3 ).
You can leave the group by double-clicking the left mouse button outside the group area, and enter, respectively, by double-clicking on the area of any object included in the group.
After you have entered a group, objects not included in this group are displayed more faded. This is done to make it easier to distinguish objects included in this group from others, as well as to indicate the mode of being in the group.
Unlike grouping, which is necessary mainly to perform a series of identical operations on a large number of objects, when combining selected objects, a new object with new properties is created. The resulting combination inherits the properties of the object created first, or more precisely, the one that is behind all other objects selected for the combination. You can only combine objects that can be converted to Bezier curves.
Creating a combination is as easy as grouping objects. To create a combination, you must first mark several objects (by holding down the button Shift), and then select the Combine item from the context menu (or Actions menu) or use the hot button Ctrl -Shift -K .
Transparent holes appear at the intersections of objects in the combination; this property is a payment for the opportunity to break a combination. This method can also be used as a temporary union of objects before performing logical operations on them.
The resulting combination can always be disconnected using the item Disconnect combination context menu (or Actions menu) or using a button combination Alt -Ctrl -Shift -K .
When you combine some types of objects, the object is (irreversibly) converted to Bezier curves, so although the combination can always be unlinked, the combining operation is not completely reversible.
OpenDraw allows you to logically add, subtract, and intersect objects. To perform logical operations, you must select multiple objects (while holding down the Shift), then using the Merge, Subtraction or Intersection items of the Forms context menu or the Actions → Forms menu, perform the desired operation. As a result, a new object is formed that inherits the properties of the oldest one (or, more precisely, the one located deeper than all the other selected ones).
Logical operations are irreversible, so if you want to undo an operation, then the only way is to use the OpenDraw undo function, which is available through the Edit → Undo menu or the hot button Ctrl -Z .
The next time you boot, check the box " Don't show this dialog again" If you want to have an idea of what the presentation will look like, leave a checkmark in the “ Preview” box.
You can move to the next window by clicking the “Next” button. In the second step you will need to set the slide style and " Presentation Presenter" In the third window, you can select options for switching between presentation frames.
Next, click the “Finish” button. A window with a slide creation dialog will open. Here enter the name of the new slide, decide on the layout (view) of the slide and the options “show background" and " show objects in the background».
To add a new slide, right-click in an empty space and select Slide → Insert Slide from the context menu or through the Insert → Slide menu - the slide creation dialog will open.
OpenImpress allows you to make a copy of a specific slide and paste it as a new slide: select Insert → from the menu Duplicate slide.
On the right side of the control panel, on the scroll bar, there are six tools for controlling the mode of working with the presentation.
The top button “Drawing mode" is used to view and edit slides individually. When you select this operating mode, tabs with slide names will be visible at the bottom left of the horizontal scroll bar - to go to the one you need, just click on the tab with its name.
The next tool allows you to switch to viewing mode for the slide structure, which is presented as a hierarchical list; The first level of the hierarchy is slides (their titles are displayed). To go to a slide, you need to select any element related to it; You can also edit the title here. To add a slide, just enter text and make it the first level of the hierarchy (use the keys to change the level Shift -Tab , Tab or toolbar).
The next tool, Slide Mode, controls the order of the slides. To change the order, simply drag the slide from one place to another.
Tool " Notes mode» allows you to enter text that will only be visible in Notes mode.
“Abstract mode” allows you to place slides on one page and enter their descriptions.
In the lower left corner there is a toolbar that allows you to add a background to your slides; You can switch between slide mode and background mode (the first two buttons do this).
In " background mode" You can add a background that will be visible on all slides, but it cannot be edited. You can add, for example, a text message or a picture. To make the background visible or invisible on a specific slide, right-click on the slide and in the context menu select Slide → Slide Style and then style the slide with or without a background. In the same dialog, you can select one of the possible styles by clicking on the “Load” button, and, having selected the one you need, confirm your choice.
To work with a slide, you can use the tools located on the main tools panel (on the left):
The arrow tool is used to select objects. The next tool in the form of a sheet of paper with a magnifying glass is used to change the scale of the document; its menu has several buttons that allow you to select the optimal document scale.
The next group of tools is used to insert various objects onto a slide - text, rectangular shapes, ellipses and circles, three-dimensional objects, curves, lines and arrows, connecting lines.
To change the position of an object, the following group of tools is used. For example, to rotate an object, you can select the object, click the rotation button and, using the mouse to “grab” the red markers around the object, rotate the object in different directions. To align an object on the page (both horizontally and vertically), use the following tool. The Arrangement tool allows you to change the order of overlapping (“layering”) objects.
A group of elements that change the effects of objects can make a presentation more attractive; it “hides” behind the “Effects” button. Effect selection buttons allow you to select the object to which they will be applied. The first allows you to select options for the appearance of the slide, the second - only text effects.
Below, in the drop-down list, the category of effects is specified, from which the required one is ultimately selected; the speed of its execution is also set. To evaluate the consequences, click on the button " Preview Window" To apply an effect to an object, use the Assign button.
After clicking on the “Order” button, a list of the order in which objects appear in the presentation slide appears; you can change it by simply dragging the selected object to the desired position.
The next button on the left toolbar is “ Interaction", which allows you to determine what action should be performed when you click on an object. This could be moving to a slide, executing a program, and much more.
The penultimate tool allows you to apply 3D effects to an object. The last tool provides a presentation view mode.
Once you create a slide, you can always edit it. The title of the created slide can be changed by clicking on the object labeled “ Add a title with a mouse click" The name of the created slide is displayed on the tab next to the scroll bar. If you right-click on it, you can rename the slide, delete it, insert a new one, or change the slide layout. Text properties can be changed by selecting one of the items in the drop-down context menu.
The Text item allows you to set the properties of the text and the creeping line effect. On the “Text” tab, set the properties of the frame: size and position of the text. On the “Crawling line” tab, you can set effects for text animation.
To add a picture, click on the icon with the house and select the picture in the dialog that opens. Right-clicking gives access to the following properties of the picture:
Text
Text effects overlaid on an image. (Text can be superimposed on the image by double-clicking the left mouse button.)
Position and sizeSets the position, size, rotation, tilt of the image.
Original sizeSets the initial image size.
Color resolutionAllows you to set the tonal depth of the image, that is, the number of bits allocated to encode the color of each pixel. Greater depth means more colors displayed.
LocationDetermines the level of an object in the “stack”.
AlignmentSets the position of the object on the slide (left, center, right, top, middle, bottom).
ReflectAllows you to flip the image vertically or horizontally.
ConvertMakes it possible to convert an image into a polygon, contour, three-dimensional object, body of revolution, raster image. These properties are not always available.
Give an object a nameAllows you to name objects for convenience.
EffectAllows you to apply one of the available effects to an object.
In addition to the ability to arrange objects on a slide, you can specify the background of the slide. To do this, right-click on an empty space on the slide and select Slide → from the context menu. Page settings. In the dialog that opens, open the “
Transition effects between slides can be set in the second step of the Presentation Wizard. If this has not been done, correction is necessary or you need to make different transitions between slides - use the menu item Demonstration → Slide Transition: a dialog for setting the transition effect to this slide will open.
This dialog is similar to the transition effects settings dialog, but has an addition - a time control button. With its help, you can set the time between changing slides, which, in turn, can be automatic, semi-automatic or manual. The first option specifies the time after which the transition to the next slide will take place.
You can view the created presentation using the button from the Demonstration → Demonstration menu or a keyboard shortcut Ctrl -F2 .
Now it's time to talk about how OpenOffice.org works with data. Indeed, for any modern office suite, working with data is an essential necessity. After all, one of the main tasks when using computers in everyday life is precisely the processing of large amounts of data.
It is assumed that the reader has some understanding of how database management systems, or DBMS for short, work.
It is usually customary to include your own DBMS and tools for working with it in an office package. However, this doesn't make much sense. A DBMS is a complex system that requires significant resources, care, systematic archiving of data and special knowledge for such manipulations. The creators of OpenOffice.org took a different path - they included in their package a mechanism for accessing data from any application, be it OpenWriter or OpenCalc, leaving data storage to other programs.
Let's get acquainted with this data access mechanism in practice. Launch OpenWriter and create a new document or open an existing one. Press function key F4 or select in the main toolbar " Data sources" A data access panel will open at the top of the window. So far it contains only one source, entitled “Bibliography”. This is the test base included with OpenOffice.org.
Let's work with data in practice to better understand how access options are implemented. Let's create a small database for accounting books in the school library.
Quit OpenOffice.org and create a directory on disk where you will store the data, for example Documents. Return to the OpenWriter document. Right-click in the field where data sources are listed and select “” or select Tools → from the menu Data sources.
Figure 32. Managing data sources
The "" window will open. Click the button New data source" Give the new source a name - let it be Library. Now let's see what databases we can work with. The list is quite impressive - this includes the good old Dbase, access using ODBC and JDBC drivers, text files, spreadsheet documents, as well as ADO for accessing databases created in MS Access. We currently don't have any databases connected using ODBC, so we'll select Dbase. This is an old and very popular format; those who have been working with computers for a long time can remember many programs that use it, and they probably store data in this format on their hard drive. It is perfect for our task. Select “Database type” - Dbase and indicate the path to the directory that we created for the data. Open the “Dbase” tab and select “Encoding”.
It should be said right away that if you plan to use the files created by Dbase not only when working with OpenOffice.org but also in other programs, to maintain compatibility with them you should select the old encoding " Cyrillic DOS/OS2-866/Russian" and name fields only in uppercase Latin characters no longer than 8 characters per field name. For us now this does not matter, so for simplicity we will choose the “From system” encoding.
Let’s open our Library project and select “Tables”, “Labels” and “Queries” we don’t need. There are no tables, the folder is empty. And that’s right, the table needs to be created.
Right-click and the “Table Project” will open. We need fields for the serial number, author, title of the book, subject to which this book relates. Let's also add the status of the book and a field for notes where the librarian will enter official information.
It is advisable to choose the length of the fields according to the principle of reasonable sufficiency - for an author with a last name, first name and patronymic, probably 80–90 characters will be enough, for a title it is better to make 255 (this is the maximum value for a text field).
The type of fields depends on their function - for the number it is DECIMAL, let it be an integer, we do not need numbers after the comma, for the remaining fields it is CHAR (character), for notes it is VARCHAR (character variable length). Let's create the fields as shown in the figure and save the table, for example under the name book . We close the “Table Project” and see it in our data source. The table structure appears on the right and you can already enter data into it. Let's introduce some books for training. For convenience, the width of the columns can be adjusted as we did in OpenCalc Our form is good for everyone, but the field names are presented as they are created in the database (that is, in Latin and abbreviated). Let's fix the field names. In the main toolbar, find the item " Form controls" A floating form editing window will open. Turn on editing mode by clicking on the finger button. Now highlight the field to edit. Right-click and select Group to ungroup the field and text label. Select the text label. Now select " Control element" A control window will open - here you can change the title to the Russian name. Those of you who have worked with Microsoft Office's Visual Basic for Application will find many familiar values in these menus. Figure 35. Work to improve the appearance of the form
Now change all the text labels and the form is finally ready. Examine all the control elements and try adding new ones to the created form.
For example, for the “item” and “condition” fields, you can try replacing the simple field with a combo box so that you don’t have to enter the same values for the names of items and the condition of the books each time. This way you can create many simple but useful applications.
In conclusion, I would like to advise what to do if you really need a full-fledged database server. Among the free products there are quite powerful DBMSs that are in no way inferior to their commercial counterparts. These are MySQL, ADABAS, Postgres, FireBird and other very worthy products.
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The authors express their gratitude to everyone who has worked and is working to improve OpenOffice.org.
