Bug 145944 - Styles Inspector shouldn't show results, if different formatting is selected
Summary: Styles Inspector shouldn't show results, if different formatting is selected
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Style-Inspector
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Reported: 2021-11-29 09:42 UTC by Heiko Tietze
Modified: 2024-01-14 12:55 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Heiko Tietze 2021-11-29 09:42:39 UTC
Having multiple styles selected, the SI should not show a random value on those attributes that are different.

For example, use default PS on two paragraphs with 1 and 2cm for indention before the text. The SI shows Para Left Margin as 1000 or 2000 depending on the direction of selection.

We could either leave this value empty (but still show the entry) or use a static text like "mixed" or "varying".
Comment 1 Heiko Tietze 2021-11-29 09:45:36 UTC
We could also just block the whole SI on multi-selection and showing a label "The Styles Inspector does not work on multi-selection."
Comment 2 Dieter 2021-12-14 07:09:21 UTC
Heiko as far as I can see, style inspector always displays styles and direct formatting for the current cursor position. So selection of text has no effect. I haven't checked, if there is a lack of information in documentation. Perhaps we can change tooltip to "Style Inspector at current cursor position" to make it more clear.
Comment 3 Heiko Tietze 2021-12-14 07:15:11 UTC
Exactly, the SI shows only the situation on the current item. But that's not so clear when two paragraphs are selected. Well, we could argue SI being an expert tool...
Comment 4 Dieter 2021-12-30 13:59:23 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #3)
> Exactly, the SI shows only the situation on the current item. But that's not
> so clear when two paragraphs are selected. Well, we could argue SI being an
> expert tool...

But you are an expert ;-) and so I think we should improve informations.

As I wrote in comment 2 we could extend tooltip (might be inconsistent wih other tooltips) or/and we can change title of style inspector in sidebar to something like "Style Inspector (for current cursor position)"

What do you think?

BTW: Missing documentation is bug 135175.
Comment 5 Heiko Tietze 2022-01-03 10:26:22 UTC
Would prefer the static term telling "mixed content".
Comment 6 Dieter 2022-01-03 11:40:15 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #5)
> Would prefer the static term telling "mixed content".

Sorry, but I don't understand it.

And also: Happy new year, Heiko! I wish you the best for 2022!
Comment 7 Heiko Tietze 2022-01-03 12:47:32 UTC
Rather than explaining the UI in a tooltip we should tell precisely what's going on. For example, if PS1 has an indentation of 1cm and PS2 of 2cm we should not show 1 or 2 depending on the selection direction (and a tooltip somewhere with a generic information) but replace the value with the static label "mixed content". 
Pondering over the implementation the next hurdle might be the hierarchy. So if PS1 is derived from Default > Text Body and PS2 from Special > Foobar we cannot list both parents in the tree. Meaning this approach fails anyway.

So back to my comment 1: block the whole SI and show the label "not available" instead.


(If I talk about static text I mean a label that is not related to any control. Such static label information is more conspicuous since it's not user-driven and showing or not does not depend on cursor movements.)
Comment 8 Dieter 2022-01-03 13:12:15 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #7)
> So back to my comment 1: block the whole SI and show the label "not
> available" instead.

O.K. for me, but we also should provide information, what user has to do to make it available. Ony give information, that something is impossible is not sufficient, I think. Documentation should give that information, but it would be userfriendly to get a more direct information.
Comment 9 Dieter 2022-01-06 10:53:24 UTC
Heiko, I think, original bug summary is now misleading. So I changed it. Feel free to corect it again, if you think it is necessary. I also change it to NEW and hope you agree.
Comment 10 Dieter 2022-01-08 11:04:48 UTC
(In reply to Dieter from comment #8)
> O.K. for me, but we also should provide information, what user has to do to
> make it available. Ony give information, that something is impossible is not
> sufficient, I think. Documentation should give that information, but it
> would be userfriendly to get a more direct information.

LO help is no available for Style Inspector: https://help.libreoffice.org/7.4/en-GB/text/swriter/01/style_inspector.html?&DbPAR=WRITER&System=WIN
Comment 11 QA Administrators 2024-01-09 03:11:49 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 12 Dieter 2024-01-14 12:55:30 UTC
Still the same with

Version: 24.2.0.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: b4d45829793cddfe67b58a53f495528c75738d8a
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI: en-GB
Calc: CL threaded

Help says: "The Style Inspector is located on the Sidebar. It displays all the attributes of the styles (paragraph and character) and any direct formatting present in the paragraph and character where the cursor is located." [1]


[1] https://help.libreoffice.org/24.2/en-GB/text/swriter/01/style_inspector.html?&DbPAR=WRITER&System=WIN