Macros for Open Office 2.x
by J. de Rosny



   1. Introduction
   2. Warning
   3. First library: Save Selection as Pdf
   4. Second library: Modify formula style in a write document
   5. Third library: inverse the order of points in a polygon or bezier curve
   6. How to install the library with Open Office 2.x
   7. How to run a macro with Open Office 2.x
   8. Send me message

Introduction
A few years ago, I wrote my PhD thesis with StarOffice, the Open Office ancestor. At that time, I wrote my first startbasic macros for this software. Since then I often use Open Office for different purposes and still write some macros for OOo. In this web site, I propose three libraries that I developed. I hope you will find them useful.
These libraries have been tested only on Windows XP and OOo 2.0. They are likely to work on other systems.  Please feel free to give me some feedback (good or not!).
 WARNING
BECAUSE THE LIBRARY ARE LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE LIBRARY. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LIBRARY IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE LIBRARY PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
First library: Save Selection as Pdf
This library supplies one deficiency of OOo: When you export a selection in pdf file, the selected part is saved in a full-size page. Here the selected part is saved in a document with dimensions that fit the selection.This library may work on OOo 1.5.

Description of the library macros :
  1.   “save_selection_as_pdf” macro
    This macro saves the selected part of a draw document in a pdf file with dimensions fitting the size of the selected object. It is very useful to create pdflatex figures.
    First, select the drawing part to save. Second, run the macro "save_selection_as_pdf". Then choose the pdf file quality (see dialog bellow). Due to the macro implementation, the selection is automatically copied in the OOo clipboard when the macro is launched.
    resolution choice 
    (quality pdf file dialog)
    Then a "Save As" dialog appears. The macro works with draw and impress documents.
  2. “version” macro
    return the version of the macro.

How does the macro work? This macro copies in the clipboard the selected part of the draw document, then it creates a hidden document where the clipboard is pasted. The size of the document is automatically sets to the maximal size of the selected part. Then the classical "save as" pdf file procedure is called and the hidden document destroyed.

 Download the last version of the library (SaveSelectionAsPdf.zip)
(For Internet explorer, click right button on the download link, and select save target as ...)
How to install the library?
How to run the macros?
Any comment?


Second library: Modify formula style in a write document
The formula editor of Open Office is very convenient. However one major drawback is the default text margins. The formula is inserted in a paragraph with a lot of space before and after. These macros let you choose the space that you want around the formula. This macro does not work on OOo 1.5.

Description of the macros of the library :
  1.  « select_dialog_parameters » macro
    This macro opens the dialog:      
    select parameters dialog
    (    formurla parameter dialog)
              You can set the left and right margins and the font size of the formula. There are two kinds of margins. The margins inside and outside the formula. The formula margins should be larger than 0. Otherwise, the left and right sides of the formula are not displayed. The Text formula margins can be 0 (and it's better).
  2. « modify_all_formula » macro
    This macro modifies all the formula in the current write document with     parameters defined in the formula parameter dialog. When the macro is launched, a progress bar appears. During the modification, you have not access to your document. Warning, sometimes the macro crashes OOo. So save your document before running this macro. Sometimes when the macro is run, OOo asks you to save or not your document. Its a bug. You can choose either of them.
  3.  « modify_selected_formula » macro
    This macro modifies all the formula in the current selection with parameters defined in the formula parameter dialog.  This macro works with draw and impress doucument.
  4.  « generate_formula » macro
    You write the code of a formula expression (ex. sqrt{2}) in the write document. You select the text expression. You run this macro, the sqrt{2} command is transformed into formula with the parameters defined in the dialog.
  5. « version » macro
    Gives the current version of the macro.

Download the last version of the library (formulaTools.zip)
(For Internet explorer, click right button on the download link, and select save target as ...)
How to install the library?
How to run the macros?
Any comment?
Third library: inverse the order of points in a polygon or bezier curve
« flip_polygon_segment_order » macro
        This macro inverse the order of points in a polygon or bezier curve. This macro is useful to connect two curves together by the right extermities. See the example bellow. I created a 4 segment polygon. I duplicate it and transform it by a vertical mirror symetry (see figure 1). Now I select the two polygons, click right button and select "connect" sub menu.  By default OOo connects the wrong ends. To connect the good ends, I start from Fig. 1, I select the first polygon. I call the macro. The result is shown in fig 3. You see that the larger square of the polygon that shows the first point of the polygon is now at the other extremity. The macro inverses the point order. Now the connection of the two polygons gives the good result (see fig 4)
poly1      poly2
                                Figure 1 : The two polygons                           Figure 2 : The two polygons connected without applying the macro
poly3          poly4
  Figure 3 : The macro is applied to the first polygon                  Figure 4 : The two polygons connected after applying the macro

Here there are two ways to install the macro. Either you download the library in zip format and you install  it using the procedure describe here OR you download directly the starbasic source of the macro in txt format.

 Download the last version of the macro as the :
How to install the library?
How to run the macros?
Any comment?

How to install the Library in Open Office 2.x
Open the « tools/package manager » menu. Select my packages and click on the « add ... » button. A file manager appears. Select the zip file that you have downloaded containing the macro. That's it.

How to run a macro with Open Office 2.x
Open the tools / macros / execute macro submenu. The « macro select » dialog is opened :

 execute macro dialog
                    « Select macro » dialog (French version)

 On the left, select the library you want to use (here formulaTools). Select the "main" module. Now on the right appears the list of macros of the library. Select the macro that you want to execute and click on run.
Send me a message

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