OASIS OpenDocument File Format Interoperability

OpenOffice.org 1.1.5 / StarOffice 7 (Product Update 5)

Document - ID	Specification Owner	Last Change	Status
	Frank Loehmann	07. July 05	Final
Conforms to	
Applies to	Office
Task ID(s)	34353
Category	Feature

Abstract

OpenOffice.org (OOo) 2.0 introduces a new file format. The new format is standardized by OASIS and will also be supported by other office productivity software like KOffice. This new OASIS OpenDocument XML file format is incompatible to the OpenOffice.org XML File Format 1.0 used in OOo 1.0 and 1.1, which is the same used in StarOffice (SO) 6.0 and 7. The OpenOffice.org version 1.1.5 enables OOo to read files in this new OASIS format. Saving files will still happen in the old OOo file format which can be read by OOo 2.0 and SO 8 anyway.

i-Team Members (The specification owner is part of the i-Team)

	Name	E-mail Address
User Experience	Frank Loehmann (FL)	frank.loehmann@sun.com
Development	Michael Brauer (MIB) Ingo Schmidt (IS) Oliver Braun (OBR)	michael.brauer@sun.com ingo.schmidt@sun.com oliver.braun@sun.com
Quality Assurance	Joerg Sievers (JSI) Thorsten Martens (TM) Olaf Felka (OF)	joerg.sievers@sun.com thorsten.martens@sun.com olaf.felka@sun.com
Documentation	Uwe Fischer (UFI)	uwe.fischer@sun.com

Approved for Implementation

	Approved by	Date
User Experience	Frank Loehmann	03. May 05
Development	Michael Brauer Dirk Völzke Oliver Braun	04. May 05 27. May 05 26. May 05
Quality Assurance	Jörg Sievers Thorsten Martens Olaf Felka	19. May 05 04. May 05 27. May 05
Documentation	Uwe Fischer	04. May 05
String Review	Elizabeth Matthis	13. October 04

Document Change History

Rev. Level	Change	Initials	Date
1.0	Inital draft	FL	09. September 04
1.1	Work on Management Feedback	FL	16. September 04
1.2	Feedback Jörg Sievers	JSI	Sep 28, 04
1.3	Accept/reject changes made by Joerg.	FL	Sep 28, 04
1.4	Add some screen shot in competitive analysis section	FL	29. Sep 04
1.5	Add comments from i-team meeting	FL	29. Sep 04
1.6	Add file format changes from Christian Lippka/AMA/NN	FL	01. October 04
1.7	Add warning dialog for draw auto shapes	FL	13. October 04
1.8	Remove Warning Dialog	FL	26. October 04
1.9	Rework specification based on comments from MIB and OB.	FL	03. May 05
2.0	Finalize specification	FL	13. June 05
2.1	Desktop integration will only be made for SO 7 PP5	FL	07. July 05

Contents

Glossary	1

1	Motivation	1

2	User Scenarios	1

3	Goals	1

4	Requirements and Dependencies	1

4.1	Requirements	1

4.2	Technical Dependencies	1

5	Competitive Analyses	2

5.1	Microsoft Office	2

6	Detailed Specification	3

6.1	Loading OASIS OpenDocument XML Documents in OO1.1.5 (SO 7 PP5)	3

Warning Dialog for AutoShapes in OASIS OpenDocument XML documents	3

String List	3

NEXTPRODUCTVERSION Placeholder	3

Known Limitations of the Import Filter	3

Open Documents Via File System	5

Open Documents and Insert Documents Via File Open Dialog	5

6.2	Desktop Integration	5

6.3	Saving Imported OASIS Documents in OO 1.1.5	5

6.4	G11n	6

7	Future Tasks	6

8	References	6

9	Notes	6

Glossary

Term	Description
OASIS	OASIS is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. sources: http://www.oasis-open.org and http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office

Motivation

An OOo 1.1 version is needed to enable reading the new OASIS standardized file format introduced with OOo 2.0/SO 8. It is important that OOo customers, still working with version 1.1, are also able to load this new standardized OpenDocument format.

User Scenarios

User B uses the brand new released OOo 2.0 or SO 8. He sends out a document to a friend and he knows that his friend also uses OOo/SO.

Short time after after sending the document his friend gave him a call because he can't open the document he received by e-mail. The document attachment did not load on a double click in his mail application. The mail application offers to save the unknown file (no document icon is shown) to disc only. Even if saved to disk, the file does not load on double clicking it in the file system view.

Problem / Solution: OOo 1.1.4 does not support the new OASIS OpenDocument file format introduced by OO 2.0 / SO 8. Thus they could not be loaded. Furthermore those new files have a new file extension and so the file system does not show a document icon in the file system, because the file isn't registered in the system if no OOo 2.0 nor SO 8 is installed.

OOo respin 1.1.5 and future OO respins must register the new OASIS OpenDocument XML format filter in the system, because then we could assume that the user will continue working with OOo 1.1.

Goals

Enable SO 7 to read document files written in the new OASIS OpenDocument XML file format of OOo / SO 2.0 and 8.

Requirements and Dependencies

Requirements

Load new OASIS OpenDocument XML files in OOo 1.1.5 respin version where this feature has been enabled.

Technical Dependencies

Please also note the following specification for details about the new OASIS OpenDocument format and new extensions:

http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/fileIO/FileFormatNames.sxw

Competitive Analyses

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office (MSO) does not show any dialog message or the like if a MSO 2003 file is loaded with an old version of MSO (i.e. 95 or 2000). But they do offer a compatibility and Save tab page in Tools-Options, were the user can select the export options for the target or can disable features in MSO 2003 being introduced after a specific release (i.e. 95 or 2003). These features seem to be an enterprise feature.

A drop down list box above the Options list box support the user by checking the recommended options for the listed target applications automatically.

The user can disable features, introduced after a specific release by checking an option on the Save tab page.

Exporting the file to a foreign format (i.e. Word Perfect or HTML) raises one of the following dialogs (a kind of alien warning) on saving the document. The Help button calls special help section about what might be lost. The dialog is shown depending on the target format. If HTML is chosen, simple text will be saved without a warning dialog, if a Word Perfect filter is taken instead, the warning appears even when simple text is to be saved.

Saving in a current Word 2003 document in Word 6.0/95 format raises the following security warning.

The RTF format based for Word 95/6.0 filter does not raise any warning dialog at all.

Detailed Specification

The following specification describes in detail what has to be done to load OASIS OpenDocument XML file format based documents in OOo 1.1.5. These changes will also be provided as a patch for SO 7.

Loading OASIS OpenDocument XML Documents in OO1.1.5 (SO 7 PP5)

If a new OASIS OpenDocument XML document is loaded in OOo 1.1.5, all features not available in that (older) version, will be lost on loading the document. There is no general warning dialog shown on loading OASIS OpenDocument XML documents, a general warning on loading OASIS OpenDocument (i.e. with text inside only) unsettles the user. We only warn the user after loading the file, if the document contains custom shapes. The warning dialog is described below.

Please see also 6.2 Desktop Integration on page 5 for details on system integration.

General note: Features present in OOo 1.0/1.1 and OOo 2.0 must be loaded correctly from the OASIS OpenDocument format in OOo 1.1.5.

Warning Dialog for AutoShapes in OASIS OpenDocument XML documents

The following warning dialog appears if, the user loads a OASIS OpenDocument XML document containing custom shapes.

Those custom shapes could be contained in Draw, Impress, Writer and Calc document files.

String List

Where to find:	English Term (MS Word compatible)	German Term (MS Word compatible)	Comments
Message Box Title	%PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION	%PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION	
Message Text	The original %PRODUCTNAME %NEXTPRODUCTVERSION document contains shapes. As shapes are a new feature in %PRODUCTNAME %NEXTPRODUCTVERSION, they cannot be imported or displayed in %PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION.	Das ursprüngliche %PRODUCTNAME %NEXTPRODUCTVERSION Dokument enthält Formen. Formen sind eine neue Funktion in %PRODUCTNAME %NEXTPRODUCTVERSION und können nicht in %PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION importiert oder angezeigt werden.	see description below for %NEXTPRODUCTVERSION values
Button	OK	OK	

NEXTPRODUCTVERSION Placeholder

The %NEXTPRODUCTVERSION placeholder is being replaced by the following:

If the product is a	Value
SO	8
OOo	2.0

Known Limitations of the Import Filter

OO 2.0 offers some new functionality and different behaviors. So loading (importing) OOo 2.0 files in OOo 1.1.5 could not import all attributes saved in the document. Those attributes are lost after the import. It is not possible to store them in “hidden attributes” or as notes.

The following list shows the biggest differences between OOo 1.1 and OOo 2.0 format/attributes:

Writer / Math:

XForms will be lost. (The controls will remain, but the XForms logic will be gone.)

Numbering/Outline: Use of more than one outline numbering will be lost in OOo 1.1

Numbering: Tabulators as part of the numbering will be lost.

Hidden text attribute

Enhanced tab stop compatibility

Compatibility Flag: External leading

Auto text will be lost

Linked sections (linked with another OOo 2.0 document) will cause a problem?! We have to test global documents!

Writer compatibility option 'Use OOo1.1 line spacing' is new and will cause a different layout in OOo1.x, if it's not set.

For tables some lost features may cause layout differences:

Attribute "Allow row to break across pages and columns"

Multiple repeated headlines

Vertical layout for individual table cells

Tables in tables

Collapsing table border model

Writer compatibility option 'Add paragraph and table spacing at bottom of table cells' is new and will cause a different layout in OOo1.x, if it's set.

For objects (drawing/Writer flyframes) some lost features may cause layout differences:

Automatic frame width

Compatibility flag: Object wrap behavior

Negative 'vertical' positions of Writer fly frames will be exported to the OOo file format, but will not be considered in the positioning algorithm.

Attribute 'Follow text flow' (valid values YES and NO) for frames/graphics/ole objects (Writer fly frames) is new. All Writer fly frames in OOo1.x/SO6/7 will be treated as its attribute 'Follow text flow' is set.

Attribute 'Follow text flow' for drawing objects is new. All drawing objects in Ooo1.x/SO6/7 will be treated as its attribute 'Follow text flow' is not set.

Vertical alignment of frames/graphics/ole objects (Writer fly frames), which are anchored at-paragraph or at-character, at page areas are new and will not be recognized in OOo1.x/SO6/7. The Writer fly frames won't get the same vertical position in OOo1.x/SO6/7.

The vertical alignment at the 'line of text' of floating screen objects (frames, graphics, ole objects, drawing objects), which are anchored at-character, is new and will not be recognized in OOo1.x/SO6/7. The Writer fly frames won't get the same vertical position in OOo1.x/SO6/7.

Writer compatibility option 'Use OOo1.1 object positioning' is new and will cause a different layout in OOo1.x/SO6/7, if it's not set.

Writer compatibility option 'Consider wrapping style when positioning objects' is new and will cause a different layout in OOo1.x/SO6/7, if it's set.

Draw / Impress / Chart:

Headers & Footers

Animations

Custom shapes

New Fontwork (Custom shapes)

Calc:

Cell formats: alignment / direction, border

Notices (position, size, formatting)

New DataPilot features

Furthermore the two application behave different i.e. when displaying a document. This will not change the file saved, but will change look and feel of a document when loading in SO 7.

Open Documents Via File System

A double click in the systems file browser loads the new OASIS OpenDocument XML documents in OOo 1.1.5 Therefore the respin version has to register the new OASIS OpenDocument XML file types and their file extensions in the operating system for OOo1.1 in parallel to the existing OpenOffice.org XML file format and -extensions. The new SO 8 document icons are used for the OASIS OpenDocument XML format based documents. The textual file type name, i.e. displayed in the system's file browser, will be registered as described in the "File Format Names for New OASIS OpenDocument XML Format" for OOo 2.0 specification.

Open Documents and Insert Documents Via File Open Dialog

The file open dialog and the insert document dialog have to show both formats. For example: If the type "Text Documents" is chosen in the "File of type" drop down list box, the dialog shows all *.sxw and *.oot files of the current directory. Furthermore the file types described in the "File Format Names for New
OASIS OpenDocument XML Format" spec have to be registered for OOo 1.1 as well.

Desktop Integration

Only the Product Update 5 (PP5) for SO 7 registers the new OOo 2.0 / SO 8 OASIS OpenDocument XML file types in the desktop system and associates itself with it. All respin version of OOo and SO will not. Since MS Windows® does not automatically choose the first entry in the “Open With” list as the default application, PP5 also needs to register actively as the default application for those file types. On GNOME/KDE/CDE any installed instance of StarOffice 8 / OpenOffice.org 2.0 stays/becomes the default handler for the new OOo 2.0 / SO 8 OASIS OpenDocument XML file types until it gets removed or the user chooses otherwise.

The PP5 version of SO 7 also registers the new OOo 2.0 / SO 8 OASIS OpenDocument XML file types for the Mozilla mail client. On Windows® Mozilla uses the same mechanisms to determine the default application as the file manager (Explorer), so no additional work is needed here. On Unix® Mozilla uses /etc/mailcap ($HOME/.mailcap) and /etc/mime.types ($HOME/.mime.types). Since PP5 updates the $HOME instances, which are read last, SO 7 PP5 will always be the default application for the new documents types regardless whether StarOffice 8 is installed or gets installed later.

Saving Imported OASIS Documents in OO 1.1.5

Saving in the new OASIS OpenDocument XML file format is not supported OOo 1.1.5. Thus the file formats are not shown in the save as dialog of OOo and the files are being saved in the "old" OOo XML format. If the document should be saved, the "Save as" dialog is called, no alien-warning is shown before, the filename is kept and the file format is changed to the default of OOo for that type of document (i.e. .sxw or other format defined as application default in Tools-Options-Load/Save-General).

G11n

none

Future Tasks

none

References

OASIS OpenDocument File Format Names Specification: http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/fileIO/FileFormatNames.sxw

Notes

None

OASIS is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. (source: http://www.oasis-open.org/)

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6037/office-spec-1.0-cd-1.pdf

http://xml.openoffice.org/xml_specification.pdf

Writer, Calc, Draw, Impress or Math Document

This means, that the document round trip (OOo 1.1 loaded in OOo 2.0, saved in OpenDocument and then loaded in OOo 1.1) will not lead to OOo 1.1 features being lost on that trip.

Depending on the underlying operating system

This is necessary because otherwise two documents with the same name but different extension could be created on Windows systems, because Windows uses extensions only and the extensions aren't shown by default.

Please find the OASIS File Format Names specification here: http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/fileIO/FileFormatNames.sxw

Writer, Draw, Impress and Calc1 allow to insert a document (Writer) or pages / sheets of a document. Furthermore sections, pages or sheets could be linked into a document.

JSI

In a specification no "deadlines" should be written.

---- JSI, 28.09.2004, 14:17 ----

OASIS File Format Interoperability

Page 6

http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/fileIO/OASIS_Fileformat_for_OOo1.1.sxw

Frank Loehmann

2004-09-09T15:02:47

Frank Loehmann