Before accessing a returned object, you should therefore check whether the returned object supports the com.sun.star.text.Paragraph service for paragraphs or the com.sun.star.text.TextTable service for tables. The replacement function of LibreOffice is particularly effective when used in conjunction with regular expressions. Building on this background, the following chapters will show how the API can be used to make LibreOffice do what you want it to do. LibreOffice, the best free and open source office suite. As of LibreOffice Version 3.0, unlike variables, there is no way to make the definition accessible outside of the module. The functions for writing the HTML file, as well as a test code that checks the font weight of the corresponding text portions and provides paragraph portions in bold type with a corresponding HTML tag, have been added. For more complex statements, you can cascade the If statement, for example: If the value of variable A equals zero, B is assigned the value 0. The actual object form can be accessed through the Forms list at the drawing level. In addition to the properties for characters (com.sun.star.style.CharacterProperties service, refer to #Text Documents) and lines (com.sun.star.drawing.LineStyle service, refer to #Drawings and Presentations), it provides the following properties: For the primary axes grids and sub grids can be displayed, matching to the major and minor intervals. In its simplest variant the MsgBox only contains text and an OK button: The appearance of the information box can be changed using a parameter. The LibreOffice documents provide the findFirst and findNext methods for this purpose: The example finds all matches in a loop and returns a TextRange object, which refers to the found text passage. This automatic renaming works also in reverse when a page is deleted. Therefore, before copying the content from B to A, B has to be converted into A's internal format. The & operator is safer when dealing with strings because it assumes that all arguments should be strings, and converts the arguments to strings if they are not strings. The Goto ErrorHandler ensures that LibreOffice Basic exits the current program line and then executes the ErrorHandler: code. Extensive examples are provided to help you quickly develop your own LibreOffice Basic programs. The core of a text document consists of a sequence of paragraphs. Standard file names using this system begin with the prefix file:/// followed by the local path. However, whether the corresponding settings are based on template or direct formatting in the text is still unclear. You can also use the keyword Public instead of Dim to declare a public domain variable: A public domain variable is only available so long as the associated macro is executing and then the variable is reset. Thus, it provides a consistent interface for users who navigate by mouse or by keyboard. If the center of a paragraph, for example, contains a word printed in bold, then it will be represented in LibreOffice by three paragraph portions: the portion before the bold type, then the word in bold, and finally the portion after the bold type, which is again depicted as normal. Programmers who want to work directly with Java or C++ rather than LibreOffice Basic should consult the LibreOffice Developer's Guide instead of this guide. Note: This allows to determine the position and size of the elements using the Position and Size properties. In addition to these "real" properties, there are also properties in LibreOffice Basic which consist of two methods at the UNO level. You can page through and search in the selected tables and queries, as well as change data records and insert new data records. A TextCursor object is created using the createTextCursor call: The Cursor object created in this way supports the com.sun.star.text.TextCursor service, which in turn provides a whole range of methods for navigating within text documents. Upon closer inspection, the following code sequence. The formatting properties can be found in each object (Paragraph, TextCursor, and so on) and can be applied directly. It permits high level access to databases, regardless of the underlying database backends. These include. The legend has a gray background color, is placed at the bottom of the chart, and has a character size of 7 points. Below, you will find a list of the most important properties for control element forms. Note: For more information, see the LibreOffice API reference. This chapter provides an overview of the key elements and constructs of the LibreOffice Basic language, as well as the framework in which applications and libraries are oriented to LibreOffice Basic. Example declarations of double variables: Currency variables differ from the other variable types by the way they handle values. The Exit Do command can exit at loop at any point within the loop. It inserts a new sheet with the name specified by the first argument, at the position specified by the second argument. Two chart walls usually exist for 3D charts: one behind the plotted data and one as the left-hand or right-hand demarcation. A control element of a form has three aspects: The models of the control elements of a form are available through the GetByName method of the Object form: The example determines the model of the MyListBox control element, which is located in the first form of the text document currently open. The interface com.sun.star.sheet.Spreadsheets provides a better method to create a new sheet: insertNewByName. Here are a few example calls for the named functions: LibreOffice Basic provides the InStr function for searching for a partial string within another string: The StringToFind parameter specifies the string to be searched for within MyString. VBA: LibreOffice Basic does not support the VBA Like comparison operator. creates 4 integer variables which can be described with the expressions MyInteger(1), MyInteger(2), MyInteger(3), and MyInteger(4). Purchase or download the latest LibreOffice Calc Guide, written by community experts. The underscore must always be the last character in a linked line and cannot be followed by a space or a tab or a comment, otherwise the code generates an error. LibreOffice Basic lets you use whole numbered hexadecimal values, so long as they are preceded by &H. LibreOffice Basic also understands the octal system (base 8 system), which uses the numbers 0 to 7. Others use standard interfaces such as JDBC or ODBC. This can be done using the createUnoService function: This call assigns to the Obj variable a reference to the newly created object. A problem may arise if you click on No: the styles will not be updated, and the automatic-update feature will be turned off. It passes through a complete document and formats the first word of every sentence in bold type. The Print method of the com.sun.star.view.Xprintable interface is provided for this purpose. In its simplest form, the command for an explicit declaration of a variable is as follows: This example declares a variable with the name MyVar and the type variant. In the second example, the page is accessed by its name and the getByName method. These in turn contain the various cells. The paragraph properties are available through the com.sun.star.style.ParagraphProperties service. Once the writing process has been completed, the file must be closed using a Close call: Again here, the file handle should be specified. It concentrates on tables, text frames, text fields, bookmarks, content directories and more. While the declaration MyInteger(3) creates three integer values in VBA with the indexes 1 to 3, the same declaration in LibreOffice Basic creates four integer values with the indexes 1 to 4. can define the digits after the decimal point in an expression: In the same way, zeros can be added in front of a number to achieve the desired length: A , represents the character that the operating system uses for a thousands separator, and the # stands for a digit or place that is only displayed if it is required by the input string. In this guide, a table-based document or spreadsheet document is the entire document, whereas a spreadsheet (or sheet for short) is a sheet (table) in the document. As a function, CompatibilityMode() returns the Boolean value of the mode. This event is also used for notifying requests for a popup context menu on the control. Automatic optimization continues until the row is assigned an absolute height through the Height property. For example, in the following variable declaration, MyVar1 becomes a variant and MyVar2 becomes an integer: The following sections list the variable types that are available in LibreOffice Basic and describe how they can be used and declared. The code used in the example first checks whether the database is password protected. There is, however, one main difference: a Universal Network Object may support several services at the same time. If it encounters a corresponding paragraph portion, it deletes the direct formatting using the setPropertyToDefault method and assigns a MyBold character template to the corresponding paragraph portion. Buy a printed copy. The steep learning curve is not imposed by your chosen language. Visit Andrew Pitonyak's web page to get the latest PDF and ODT files of his book LibreOffice is a cross-platform, open source office suite. These may appear at any point in the text. In some instances, an object may contain a list of subordinate objects that cannot be addressed by either a name or an index. The method provides the result in the form of a string. If neither of these apply, FileDescription is assigned the "normal" string. Depending on the system and configuration, various types of data are saved here. It provides the functions for the frame object of LibreOffice, under which all document windows are classified. It calls a text document, which contains a StyleFamilies object and uses this to in turn make the paragraph templates (ParagraphStyles) of the document available. Here, the methods are called directly by means of the relevant object. The LibreOffice API provides you with a whole range of objects with which you can create, open and modify Office documents. At the end of the program code, the error handling is deactivated by the On Error Goto 0 call and the procedure implementation is ended by the Exit Sub command (not to be confused with End Sub). The fill mode of a drawing object is defined using the FillStyle property. To make the fill transparent, set the FillTransparence property to 100. VBA: The VBA Click and Doubleclick events are not available in LibreOffice Basic. Whereas previously there was an object called SearchSettings especially for defining the search options, in the new object searches are now performed using a SearchDescriptor or ReplaceDescriptor object for automatically replacing text. As already mentioned, the size and position of control elements can be determined using the associated shape object. Paragraphs provide their own Enumeration object for this purpose. LibreOffice positions the control elements of a form at drawing object level. The example first tests whether the B parameter has been passed and, if necessary, passes the same parameter to the internal B_Local variable. The TextCursor object in LibreOffice Basic acts independently from the visible cursor in a text document. Note: Just as with the search function, the replacement function from LibreOffice is also available in LibreOffice Basic. The Internet Standard RFC 1738, upon which this is based, permits use of the 0-9, a-z, and A-Z characters. Chapter 1. Extensive examples are provided to help you quickly develop your own OpenOffice.org Basic programs. This is needed to specify the paper size. As with the loadComponentFromURL method, some options can also be specified in the form of a PropertyValue data field using the storeAsURL method. The CellAddress structure provides the following values: The cell contents in the target range are always overwritten by the moveRange method. The service term used in LibreOffice Basic therefore corresponds to the type and class terms used in other programming languages. If a new page is inserted in a drawing document of several pages, all subsequent pages which have not been renamed will automatically see their default name change, e.g. Finally the code sets the Label property of the control element to the New Label value. If you assign a floating point number to an integer variable, the number is rounded up or down to the next whole number. For example, the TextCursor in the following example. For an understanding of the API, it is, however, useful to have the assignment of methods to various interfaces handy, since many interfaces are used in the different services. Here we rename the first page of the drawing document. With this function, LibreOffice searches for an expression that may be similar to but not exactly the same as the search expression. The Chr command is often used in Basic languages to insert control characters in a string. Logical operators allow you to do operations on elements according to the rules of Boolean algebra. The example creates an Enumeration object on the basis of this list, with which all text fields can be queried in turn in a loop. This is an object-oriented programming interface which LibreOffice sub-divides into various objects which for their part ensure program-controlled access to the Office package. Until Basic encounters the End With statement, it looks for partly-qualified names: names that begin with a period (unary dot-operator). In the same way, the following example checks whether MyTime is between 12 and 14 hours. XML-based files can be opened and edited with other programs. For example, the aforementioned object, which is based on the com.sun.star.frame.Desktop service, can also include other services for loading documents and for ending the program. Whereas in VBA the paragraphs are accessed by their number (for example, by the Paragraph(1) call), in LibreOffice Basic, the Enumeration object described previously should be used. The following functions are available in LibreOffice Basic to retrieve the system time and system date: Working with files is one of the basic tasks of an application. This supports the com.sun.star.document.OfficeDocument service, which in turn provides two central interfaces: LibreOffice documents are saved directly through the document object. You can also assign the elements to an individual tab page (for example page 1). AnchorType receives the AS_CHARACTER value. en The following code is an example of an error handling procedure: This procedure begins with the definition of an error handler, followed by the actual program code. You can use these events to, for example, determine if a user has finished processing a control element so that you can update other elements of a dialog. The text fields found are checked for the service supported using the supportsService method. The getByIndex method returns a row object, which supports the com.sun.star.text.TextTableRow service. The following example creates an object that references the top left cell and inserts a text in the cell: In addition to numerical coordinates, each cell in a sheet has a name, for example, the top left cell (0,0) of a spreadsheet is called A1. The example uses the supportsService method to check whether the TextElement is a paragraph or a table. The following focus events are available: The Event objects for the focus events are structured as follows: In addition to the preceding events, which are supported by all control elements, there are also some control element-specific events that are only defined for certain control elements. This example deactivates the cmdNext button in the Dlg dialog with the aid of the model object from cmdNext. The question remains as to which objects or services if we are going to remain with UNO terminology support which properties, methods and interfaces and how these can be determined. The following example uses the hasByName method to check if a page called MyPage exists. A database connection is needed for access to a database. The following example creates a rectangle shape and fills it with red (RGB value 255, 0, 0): If you set the FillStyle property to GRADIENT, you can apply a color gradient to any fill area of a LibreOffice document. A Const definition in the module header is available to the code in that module. In many instances, it is the case that a text is to be searched for a particular term and the corresponding point needs to be edited. The inner loop processes the paragraph portions in these paragraphs. Most word processing programs now finally provide the option of placing drawing objects, text frames and other objects within a text. You should also note the difference between text and numbers when you use formulas: Although cell A1 contains the value 100 and cell A2 contains the value 1000, the A1+A2 formula returns the value 100. The origin of the objects is explained at a later point in this guide. The counter is incremented by 1 at the end of each pass. Jumping directly to a general program procedure from a macro can result in unclear code. The double array in the definition allows you to create complex shapes by merging several polygons. Some DOS-specific properties are no longer used in functions that expect file properties as parameters (for example, to differentiate from concealed files and system files). The scope of application for LibreOffice Basic begins where the standard functions of LibreOffice end. A Draw (or Impress) document is composed of pages, also called slides. Originally, single variables were used to reduce the computing time required for the more precise double variables. Alternatively, if only an empty document without any adaptation is needed, a private:factory URL can be specified: The call creates an empty LibreOffice writer document. The dialog can be reached using Event.Source.Context. To convert local file names into a URL, LibreOffice provides the ConvertToUrl function. All of these objects can be anchored to any point within a text. Note: To do this, all option buttons of a group must contain the same name. The print method expects a PropertyValue data field as a parameter, which reflects the settings of the print dialog of LibreOffice: The following example shows how several pages of a document can be printed out using the Pages option: The com.sun.star.view.XPrintable interface provides the Printer property, which selects the printer. Whereas the dialog functions are available in all LibreOffice documents, the full scope of the form functions are only available in text and spreadsheets. 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