Bug 120628 - Imported textbox from DOCX file behaves differently to a native Writer text object
Summary: Imported textbox from DOCX file behaves differently to a native Writer text o...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: filters and storage (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
6.1.2.1 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: filter:docx
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2018-10-15 17:04 UTC by Nico
Modified: 2023-03-18 20:26 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Textfield Test (12.14 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2018-10-15 17:12 UTC, Nico
Details
Textfield test docx (18.62 KB, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document)
2023-03-18 20:24 UTC, eisa01
Details

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Description Nico 2018-10-15 17:04:17 UTC
Description:
LibreOffice Writer; Import of a Word-document generated by Pages incorporating a textfield generates a textfield that cannot be generated from within Writer

Steps to Reproduce:
Prerequisites:

Apple Pages Version 5.6.2 (2573)
LibreOffice macOS 6.1.2.1

[Version: 6.1.2.1
Build-ID: 65905a128db06ba48db947242809d14d3f9a93fe
CPU-Threads: 2; BS: Mac OS X 10.11.6; UI-Render: GL; 
Gebietsschema: de-DE (de.UTF-8); Calc: group threaded]


1. In Pages insert a textfield. It may contain text.

2. In Pages export the document to Word.

3. In LibreOffice open the document.

4. The document renders very good (tested with a setup of several textfields.) Nothing to complain about.


5. Observations with the textfield from import

5.1 Hoover the mouse pointer over the frame line and right-click. The popup-menu has an entry at the bottom "Delete textfield" ("Textfeld entfernen").

-> It appears that the object is a "Textfield".
-> Notice that the frame of the imported textfield is visible, but won't print - that's how it should be.
-> Notice that you can delete the inside text. But the textfield won't vanish - as it should be.


5.2 Now from the writer menu choose "Insert textfield" to insert a second textfield.

-> The new textfield produced from within Writer will vanish if no text is present - as it should not be.
-> If text is input and then right-click on textfield frame the popup-menu misses the entry mentioned before ("Delete Textfield").



It appears that - unless I am missing something - that both objects are textfields yet they behave completely different. I have not been able to reproduce the imported textfield from within writer.

The documentation is far too rudimentary as I could not find any entry that would match the problem - yet being able to think of proper keywords that would match the problem.

Actual Results:
As described.

Expected Results:
As described.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
Comment 1 Nico 2018-10-15 17:12:07 UTC
Created attachment 145745 [details]
Textfield Test
Comment 2 Alex Thurgood 2018-10-17 07:15:07 UTC
(In reply to Nico from comment #0)

Confirming.

The textbox imported from the Word docx file produced by Pages is considered as an officeart object in Writer.

Confirming that there is an additional menu entry called "Remove TextBox" in the context menu when the text box is selected.

The fact that the Writer native textbox and the imported Word docx textbox behave differently is probably down to the original design and implementation of the Writer textbox object.

I suppose we could flag this as an import error, but I'm guessing that the aim is to provide for interopability by permitting saving of the textbox object as officeart.

Tested with:

Version: 6.2.0.0.alpha0+
Build ID: a6032ff5418ad66cc8fec10c636e32b124ee7864
CPU threads: 4; OS: Mac OS X 10.14; UI render: default; VCL: osx; 
Locale: fr-FR (fr_FR.UTF-8); Calc: threaded
Comment 3 Nico 2018-10-17 11:41:01 UTC
(In reply to Alex Thurgood from comment #2)
> (In reply to Nico from comment #0)

> 
> I suppose we could flag this as an import error, but I'm guessing that the
> aim is to provide for interopability by permitting saving of the textbox
> object as officeart.
> 

Thanks Alex.

But I disagree to move the findings to the "import error" area. I am still regarding this behaviour - from user perspective - as a bug. Because I fundamentally disagree with the implementation of "Textboxes" in writer. The behaviour is opposite to the well adopted implementations found in Pages, Scribus, Ragtime, Indesign, et al.. For the following reasons:

• Why does a textbox disappear if no text is present inside ?
• Why does a textbox not show its borders if not selected - independent from settings for printing borders ?

-> Developing forms like business forms for different applications becomes unproductive and inefficient. It is a most common task to just place textboxes according to needs on a page leaving them empty.


I would therefore suggest that - at least - the issue be put on urgent productivity and common means enhancement request. Maybe finally Writer gets textboxes right.


Thank you for listening.
Comment 4 QA Administrators 2021-04-24 04:09:42 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 5 eisa01 2023-03-18 20:24:48 UTC
Created attachment 186056 [details]
Textfield test docx
Comment 6 eisa01 2023-03-18 20:26:45 UTC
This is not a macOS bug, and it is not related to Pages, it occurs with normal import from a native .docx

Still present though

Version: 7.5.1.2 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: fcbaee479e84c6cd81291587d2ee68cba099e129
CPU threads: 10; OS: Mac OS X 13.2.1; UI render: default; VCL: osx
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded