PDF Export - UI Spec

applies to StarOffice 6.x / OpenOffice.org 1.1
status: final version 1.1, 04/11/03

Abstract

The feature PDF Export will be implemented for StarOffice 6.x / OpenOffice.org 1.1. The present UI Spec describes how to integrate this functionality into the user interface.

iBIS BugTracking

PDF Export Toolbar: #101559

PDF Export Menu Items/Writer: #101562

PDF Export Menu Items/Calc: #101565

PDF Export Menu Items/Math: #101567

PDF Export Menu Items/Draw: #101568

PDF Export Menu Items/Impress: #101570

PDF Export Options Dialog: #101571

PDF Export as E-mail attachment: #102385

version 1.1

#107442

#108870 (change compression default)

Version History

6/19/02	MMP	Matthias Müller-Prove	first draft, contributions by Lutz Hoeger (LHo), Kai Ahrens (KA)
7/4/02	MMP	Matthias Müller-Prove	Export Dialog should remember its settings mapping between SO/OOo Document Properties and PDF Info Include Document Information is no longer an option in the PDF Options Dialog Toolbar changes: new button “Export Directly as PDF” , removed “Stop Loading”, reordered “Edit File” Specs for Compression parameters
7/4/02	EM	Elizabeth Matthis	linguistic review
7/15/02	MMP	Matthias Müller-Prove	“Screen optimized” changed to “Screen optimized (smallest file size)”
7/16/02	EM	Elizabeth Matthis	linguistic review
7/19/02	MMP	Matthias Müller-Prove	iBIS feature bugs filed
7/31/02	MMP		4.2 Export as PDF Dialog. To save implementation efforts we go with the alternative design – as already described in 4.2.
8/16/02	MMP		added missing ellipses for “Dokument als E-Mail...” and “Dokument als PDF-Anhang...”
8/19/02	MMP		update in chapter 6 new slot info texts
8/23/02	MMP		4.2.Alternative Design: Format Control keeps enabled, even if it contains just one item.
8/26/02	EM		Linguistic review of new strings
9/9/02	MMP		no permission to use Adobe PDF document icon
9/19/02	MMP		The File menu in Writer has the menu item “Export...” instead of “Export as PDF...” if the current document is HTML or a Master Document Windows-native Export dialogs have a Save button instead of an Export button.
9/25/02	MMP		mode of SO/OOo should have no effect on the generated PDF document (p. 3)
11/29/02	MMP		New section 5.1.2. Content of PDF is equivalent to printing output
version 1.1		
2/13/03	MMP	Matthias Müller-Prove	Writer, Calc and Math need a general Export menu item and dialog, because SO/OOo will support custom XML Filters for all applications Change “Export to PDF” into a general Export dialog Add “Export to PDF...” as a special menu item to SO/OOo Writer. This menu item calls the Export dialog with PDF preselected. 4.2 Export as PDF Dialog -- no longer needed 3.0 The “Export Directly to PDF” button in the toolbar opens the Export dialog with PDF preselected
2/20/03	FL	Frank Loehmann	spec review: ok
4/11/03	MMP	Matthias Müller-Prove	4.1.1: “(.pdf)” suffix 5.0.2 “Print optimized” as default (was “Screen optimized)

Contents

1 Interaction	4

2 Send & Export for File Menu	5

3 Toolbar	6

3.0.1 Legal Issues	8

4 Export Dialog	9

4.1 Export Dialog	9

4.1.1 File format control	10

4.1.2 File name and location	11

4.2 Export as PDF Dialog	11

5 PDF Options Dialog	11

5.0.1 Pages	12

5.0.2 Compression	12

5.1 Implicit Options	13

5.1.1 Document Information	13

5.1.2 Content of the PDF	13

6 Sending PDF	14

7 String List	14

7.1 Extended Help Tips – Proposal	15

Interaction

Choosing the Export command from the menu opens the Export dialog. In this dialog the user selects a file format, i.e. “PDF – Portable Document Format”, as well as a folder and filename for the new file. After pressing the Export button it is checked if the file already exists. In this case the user is asked if she wants to replace the existing file. Otherwise the PDF Options dialog is displayed directly after the Export dialog. For StarOffice 6.x / OpenOffice.org 1.1 the only settings are the range of pages and a radio-list to select the level of quality for images. Personal user data for the PDF Document Information depends on the document properties settings for user data. All other possible PDF options are predefined to reasonable default settings. They cannot be modified by the user. StarOffice 6.y / OpenOffice.org 2.0 will offer more options here.
An icon in the Function Bar offers a more direct way to create a PDF. The recent used options are taken, though the Export/PDF dialog is necessary to specify name and location for the new PDF file.

A document can also be send as PDF. Similar to “Send Document as E-mail” a PDF document is generated for the purpose to attach it to a new e-mail message. The menu command “Send > Document as PDF Attachment” opens the PDF Options dialog to select the settings for the PDF file. The generated PDF file is then attached to a new e-mail message of the user's default e-mail client.

Please note, the PDF file should be independent from the current mode of the application. Edit mode, preview, full-screen, and the like should have no effect on the generated PDF.

The next sections specify menu items, tool bar changes, the Export dialog and the PDF Options dialog. PDF attachments to e-mails are specified in the final chapter.

Send & Export for File Menu

The File menu gets a new section for exporting and sending. The current Export... menu item (Draw and Impress) and the current Send submenu are grouped directly below the section for saving documents. The menu item “Versions...” is the last item before the separator. The following table shows the order and titles of the items in more detail.

menu title	comment
Export... and/or Export as PDF...	see the next table for details which application use which menu item combination
Send	Send submenu
Document as E-mail...	submenu item
Document as PDF Attachment...	submenu item
--	separator
[current list of items]	current Writer menu items beginning with “Create Master Document”

The reason for an additional “Export as PDF...” menu item is to promote PDF in the menu structure. It will open the Export dialog with preselected PDF file format.

Complete list of menu items for StarOffice/OpenOffice.org

module	Export menu item	Send submenu items
Writer/Text Export... Export as PDF... Writer/HTML Export... Writer/Master Document Export... Export as PDF... Calc Export... Export as PDF... Draw Export... Export as PDF... Impress Export... Export as PDF... Math Export...	Document as E-mail... Document as PDF Attachment...

The Send submenu starts with the same two items for all StarOffice/OpenOffice.org modules.

The following mockup of the File menu shows how the section looks for StarOffice/OpenOffice.org Writer (for plain text documents, rather than HTML documents).

Illustration 1 File Menu with Export... menu item (mockup outdated)

The File menu e.g. for Draw and Impress looks as follows:

Illustration 2 File Menu with Export... menu item (mockup outdated – it is still ok for Math)

Toolbar

The Function Bar gets the button “Export Directly as PDF”. A click causes the Export dialog with PDF format preselected to show up (cf. 4.2). The Export button has to be labeled “Export”, opposed to “Export...” if the process is triggered by a menu action.

The slot name for this button is also “Export Directly as PDF”.

Illustration 3 Function Bar

Illustration 4 Function Bar (100%)

In order to save some space in the Function Bar the “Stop Loading” button will be removed. Though “Stop Loading” remains a customizable option.

By default the Function Bar contains from left to right with the following items:

Load URL

Stop Loading (invisible)

-- Separator

New

New Using Template (invisible)

Open File

Save Document

Save Document As (invisible)

-- Separator

Edit File

-- Separator

Export Directly as PDF

Print File Directly

Send Default Fax (invisible)

-- Separator

... the rest remains unchanged

Legal Issues

The request to license Adobe PDF Document icon was dismissed. Therefore we have to use the fallback icons for StarOffice'/OpenOffice.org's function bar.

Illustration 5 PDF document icon and fallback option

Export Dialog

Export Dialog

Export... opens a modal export dialog to specify the target file and the desired format.

Illustration 6 Export Dialog for Windows

Illustration 7 Export Dialog for StarOffice/OpenOffice.org

The title of the dialog is “Export”. It is the same as the corresponding menu title without the ellipses. Buttons are labeled “Export” and “Cancel”. If an additional dialog to specify options for the export operation is needed the label of the Export button changes to “Export...”

Please note

Due to technical limitations of Microsoft Windows the Export button is labeled “Save”, rather than “Export” or “Export...”. The StarOffice/OpenOffice.org Export dialogs keep the “Export”/”Export...” labels.

File format control

The File format control contains all possible formats for the export operation. The title for PDF is “PDF – Portable Document Format”. The order of items is as follows:

menu title	comment
HTML Page	
PDF – Portable Document Format	
--	separator
[list of graphic filters]	Existing graphic formats in alphabetical order. Applies to Draw and Impress

The new separator promotes the formats HTML and PDF to the top of the list and makes them more obvious.

On opening the dialog for the first time the first item of the list is selected. After that the state is kept for consecutive usage. It is pre-set to the setting used for the previous call of the Export dialog.

Please note that the item in the combo box has the suffix “(.pdf)”.

File name and location

If technically possible, the filename and the location of the exported file should also be kept for a consecutive usage of the Export command.The name to be remembered depends on the selected file format, e.g. a different name has to be tracked for BMP Export and PDF Export.

Export as PDF Dialog

The Export as PDF Dialog is no longer needed. (version 1.1 of this spec)

MMP 7/31/02: Please note, that the alternative design – as described at the bottom of the section – will be implemented for SO6.x/OO.o.

Export as PDF... opens a modal dialog to specify the target file.

The title of the dialog is “Export as PDF”. It is the same as the corresponding menu title without the ellipses. The buttons are labeled “Export...” and “Cancel”.

If this dialog is called after the user has clicked on the PDF button in the Function Bar the default button has to be labeled “Export”.

PDF Options Dialog

The Export Dialog is succeeded by the PDF Options dialog. (Note, that the Export dialog closed before the PDF Options dialog shows up.)

Illustration 8 PDF Options Dialog

The title of the dialog is “PDF Options”. The buttons are labeled “Export” and “Cancel”. Export starts the creation of the PDF file, while Cancel closes the dialog and cancels the entire Export command. Note that the Export dialog is not shown again if the user clicks the Cancel button.

The PDF Options dialog has two sections.

Pages

The radio list is used to specify the range of pages that should be used for the PDF files. The control elements have the same behavior and function as the corresponding control elements in the Print dialog. On opening the dialog the option “All” is set.

Compression

StarOffice 6.x / OpenOffice.org 1.1 offers three basic levels of compression settings. “Screen optimized (smallest file size)”, “Print optimized” and “Press optimized”. The parameters are the same as Adobe Acrobat Distiller's for Resolution and Image Compression.

	Screen optimized	Print optimized	Press optimized
Resolution	600dpi	1200dpi	2400dpi
Compress Text and Line Art	yes	yes	yes
Bitmap Images			
Resampling	Average Downsampling at 72dpi	Bicubic Downsampling at 300dpi	Bicubic Downsampling at 300dpi
Compression	Automatic	Automatic	Automatic
Quality	Medium = 30%	High = 60%	Maximum =80%
Monochrome Bitmap Images		
Resampling	Average Downsampling at 300dpi	Bicubic Downsampling at 1200dpi	Bicubic Downsampling at 1200dpi
Compression	CCITT Group 4	CCITT Group 4	CCITT Group 4

On opening the dialog for the first time “Print optimized” is selected. After that the state is kept for consecutive usage. It is pre-set to the setting used for the previous Export PDF operation.

Implicit Options

Document Information

The present Properties dialog offers the option to “Apply user data” to the document. If this flag is selected the PDF creation process should include personal data for the PDF Document Information as well.

The following table shows how StarOffice/OpenOffice.org document properties are mapped to Adobe Acrobat's info fields:

General Info in Acrobat 4.0	SO/OOo Document Properties	Comments
Title	Description/Title	always include
Subject	Description/Subject	always include
Author	Options/StarOffice/User Data: First and Last name	like StarOffice/OpenOffice.org properties
Keywords	Description/Keywords	always include
Binding		set to “Left Edge”
Creator	%Productname	variable to use the actual product name
Producer	%Productname	variable to use the actual product name
Created	date of PDF Export creation	always include
Modified	date of PDF Export creation	always include
Optimized		hopefully generated as optimized by StarOffice/OpenOffice.org
File Size (Bytes)		probably calculated by Acrobat
PDF Version	1.3	clarify with engineering
-	Description/Comment	not used
-	User Defined/Info 1 - 4	not used

Content of the PDF

In general the content of the PDF file is equivalent to the output generated for printing. This means that invisible objects of a document are not part of the PDF file.

Sending PDF

The menu command “Document as PDF Attachment...” of the Send submenu directly opens the PDF Options dialog. This is possible as the generated PDF file gets the name of the current document with the extension “.pdf” by default. In order to get an unique filename the name might change to “name_n.pdf”, with n being any number. The location will be the temp-folder of the system.

For the PDF Options dialog the button “Export” is renamed to “Attach” in order to reflect the purpose of the operation.

String List

string	German translation	comment
Export...	Exportieren...	menu
Export	Exportieren	slot info
Export as PDF...	Exportieren als PDF...	menu
Export as PDF	Exportieren als PDF	slot info
Send	Senden	menu
Document as E-mail...	Dokument als E-Mail...	menu, lowercase “as”
Send Document as E-mail	Dokument als E-Mail senden	slot info
Document as PDF Attachment...	Dokument als PDF-Anhang...	menu
Send Document as PDF Attachment	Dokument als PDF-Anhang senden	slot info
Export Directly as PDF	Direktes Exportieren als PDF	help tip & slot info
Export	Exportieren	dialog title
Export as PDF	Exportieren als PDF	dialog title
File format	Dateiformat	list box label
PDF – Portable Document Format	PDF – Portable Document Format	list box entry, never translate this string for any language
Export...	Exportieren...	button label
PDF Options	PDF Optionen	dialog title
Pages	Seiten	label
All	Alle	radio control
Range:	Bereich:	radio control
Selection	Auswahl	radio control
Compression	Komprimierung	label
Screen optimized (smallest file size)	Optimiert für Bildschirm (kleinste Dateigröße)	radio control
Print optimized	Optimiert für Druck	radio control
Press optimized	Optimiert für Druckvorstufe	radio control
Export	Exportieren	button label
Attach	Anhängen	button label

Extended Help Tips – Proposal

string	German translation	comment
Use this command to export the document to Portable Document Format (PDF).		tip for “Export as PDF...” menu item
Use this command to send a Portable Document Format (PDF) version of the current document.		Tip for “Document as PDF Attachment...”

PDF Export - UI Spec	2

2	PDF Export - UI Spec

PDF Export - UI Spec

User Interface Specification

Matthias Müller-Prove

2002-05-03T10:31:00

Matthias MÃ¼ller-Prove