I’ve noticed that a number of tables in the Wikipedia are sortable. Further research found that it is implemented through client side javascript, when a table has the class=”sortable”. It is available in MediaWiki 1.9 or later.
The past 2 months
It has been a couple of months now since I’ve properly written a blog post. So here is a longish catchup post.
OpenOffice.org Aqua 2nd Preview Released
The second OpenOffice.org Aqua Preview is now available for download.
- Printing now works, though it does not yet use an aqua print dialog
- PDF export now works
- Copy and Paste should now work fully
- OpenOffice.org no longer crashes after quiting
- Text and graphics are now drawn properly
- Windows and dialogs mostly now have an aqua theme
- Combo boxes now look a lot better
- Various bugs, crashes and performance improvements
- (QA only) testtool can be hacked to work properly
There are a number of things that do not work in this version. Please do not report anything in the following list, as reporting known issues, just wastes developers time. The known issues currently include:
- There is a black flash when opening new windows
- OpenOffice.org still has problems with Aqua’s device resolution indepence
- There is no Aqua file picker in this release. This is a known regression, the Aqua file picker will be back in a future build
- Opening a document to open in OpenOffice.org from another application, such as the Finder, Mail or Safari, will mean that OpenOffice.org will open with a blank document. You need to open all documents from within OpenOffice.org
- The print dialog is not the same as one in other Mac OS X Applications
- Starting OpenOffice.org from a shared/remote folder does not work
- Impress will not recognise multiple monitors for presentations
Carbon Apps produce preference files without developers doing anything
This evening I was speaking to Yvan Barthélemy (ybart on IRC) over IRC, when he pointed out something interesting about the preferences for the Aqua port.
Even so the aqua port hasn’t specifically done anything to do so, Mac OS X has created the preferences file org.openoffice.script.plist. This contains information such as the last used folder in file open dialogs, and any other Carbon components that have preferences associated with them.
The preferences filename comes from CFBundleIdentifier in the Info.plist file that is in every Application bundle. We came to the conclusion that this isn’t a good name for the aqua version. We thought that having a CFBundleIdentifier of org.openoffice would be appropriate since OpenOffice.org doesn’t have any other applications of the Mac. (Well as far as I know at the moment).
New macport OpenOffice.org meta user
At today’s Mac Port meeting, Eric Bachard created a new meta user, macport, on the OpenOffice.org web site.
This meta user is to be used for all unassigned issues relating to the Mac Port of OpenOffice.org. It is now the default owner of Mac Port issues. This means that the default owner for issues is no longer ericb, the project lead.
See all the open issues assigned to the user macport.
If there is anyone doing QA or issue triage, and you come across a Mac OS X specific issue, please assign it to the new user macport. Once a developer has started working on the issue, they should re-assign the issue to themselves.
If you would like to keep track of all issues by this meta user, please edit your OpenOffice.org Issue Tracker preferences. Log in to the OpenOffice.org web site, then head to the Edit prefs -> Email settings page. On this page you can set the “Users to watch” to include macport in the comma separated list. If you do this, you will now get an email as per your email preferences whenever an issue assigned to macport is created or changed.
This is another piece of evidence that the Mac Port is active and moving faster than before.
OpenOffice.org Aqua screenshots
Today I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the upcoming OpenOffice.org Aqua. I have 2 quick screenshots for you.
First up is the OpenOffice.org Writer window after resizing, with a native Mac menu bar.
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From OpenOffice.or… |
Second is a menu. You can currently use both cmd or ctrl to activate the menu command shortcuts. There is no native file picker yet, but it is a work in progress.
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From OpenOffice.or… |
Sun officially supports the Mac port of OpenOffice.org
This morning I woke up to some great news. Sun now have 2 full time employees with many years of experience in programming StarOffice and OpenOffice.org.
OpenOffice.org Language Pack Revamp
As sent out to some of the OpenOffice.org mailing lists:
At the moment there are a number of issues with the current language packs for OpenOffice.org. Some platforms such as Mac OS X don’t have language packs, instead they only have full installsets. The language packs currently have to be built on each platform individually. This means extra compilation time and extra storage on the mirror network since essentially the same localisation data is packaged into a different package for every platform.
I have a proposal for dramatically improving the current situation.
Let’s have cross-platform language packs. This will mean that the language packs will be built once, and can then be used on ANY platform. This will save build time, especially when a builder can just use their fastest machine, instead of having to do it once per platform. This will free up developer and builder time, as well as space on the mirror network.
With this change I’m looking at implementing a simple user installation of language packs, similar to what has just been added to OpenOffice.org 2.2 for extensions. This would enable platform integration for the language pack installation. We could possibly go as far as Firefox and deploy language packs in a very similar way to extensions. We could even have the option to install language packs just for one user or for all users of the installation. If the platform supports it, a server deployed location for the language packs should be possible.
This is just an idea, it needs more development before implementation. No implementation testing has been done yet. An initial idea check for daftness has been completed, which is why this mail is going out. I’m looking to see if there are any foreseeable problems with this proposal, and whether there is backing from the whole OpenOffice.org community.
Comments are more than welcome.
OpenOffice.org Mac Port timeline updated
Further to Eric Bachard’s mention on his blog. I have now updated the time line for the Mac Port of OpenOffice.org and added a new news item for it.
We are currently looking at a May 2007 release for the Alpha of OpenOffice.org Aqua. Around the end of the year we hope to have a beta release of OpenOffice.org Aqua available.
X11 Installation instructions now has pictures
I have added some pictures to the X11 Installation instructions on the OpenOffice.org Mac Porting Pages. This should make it easier for users to follow and understand.