Bug 159543 - Proper feedback needed when resizing a frame or graphical objects wont be accepted
Summary: Proper feedback needed when resizing a frame or graphical objects wont be acc...
Status: ASSIGNED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Sahil Gautam
URL:
Whiteboard: target:25.2.0
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Writer-Styles-Frame
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2024-02-03 16:01 UTC by Bob Harvey
Modified: 2024-06-19 13:38 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Screen grab of document being edited, with drag handles on the last page (165.18 KB, image/jpeg)
2024-02-03 16:01 UTC, Bob Harvey
Details
document extract as qequested (375.79 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2024-02-16 15:49 UTC, Bob Harvey
Details

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Description Bob Harvey 2024-02-03 16:01:39 UTC
Created attachment 192372 [details]
Screen grab of document being edited, with drag handles on the last page

I am documenting a project and putting code samples in a frame.  If that results in a frame so large that it overlaps the header and footer I cannot resize it.

I have reproduced the same problem with a graphical image pasted in from the draw module.

The resize drag handles appear on the object, and the cursor change shape to indicate that they can be dragged, but no amount of dragging will change the size.  It is almost as though the heder and footer are laid over the drag handles, and allow them to be selected but not acted upon.

The screen grab shows the graphic referred to which, when pasted in, is so large that it overlaps (underlaps???) the footer and header.  The cursor has been placed on the bottom right drag handle, and the cursor changed shape, but could not be used to resize the image.
Comment 1 m_a_riosv 2024-02-04 02:17:12 UTC
Please attach a sample file, reduce the size as much as possible without private information, and paste the information in Menu/Help/About LibreOffice, there is a copy icon.
Comment 2 Bob Harvey 2024-02-16 15:49:34 UTC
Created attachment 192607 [details]
document extract as qequested

document as requrested.  The orange box is a frame, and the bottom dragging edges don't do anything

The version number, as requested is 

Version: 7.6.4.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: e19e193f88cd6c0525a17fb7a176ed8e6a3e2aa1
CPU threads: 24; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 23620; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-GB (en_GB); UI: en-GB
Calc: threaded
Comment 3 Bob Harvey 2024-02-16 15:55:15 UTC
This is very similar to 159728, although it refers to more than just images.
Comment 4 m_a_riosv 2024-02-16 20:36:02 UTC
Select the frame,
right-click on the border,
select properties,
on Position & Size tab, disable 'Autosize option'
Comment 5 Buovjaga 2024-02-17 08:05:05 UTC
(In reply to m_a_riosv from comment #4)
> Select the frame,
> right-click on the border,
> select properties,
> on Position & Size tab, disable 'Autosize option'

Thanks, let's close.
Comment 6 Bob Harvey 2024-02-17 15:36:02 UTC
Woah, just a minute.

That's not "invalid".  That's a hidden solution.  Where in the user interface is that exposed? where in the help pages does it tell you to do that if you can't drag the handles?  How the blue blistering blazes is someone supposed to guess they can do that?

What about making it a bit more obvious what the problem is?
Comment 7 Bogaboga Man 2024-02-17 16:38:36 UTC
I see the issue. What needs to happen IMO, is to enable inserted object manipulation by default no matter what the user may have as LO settings for such an insertion. This way, the immediate urge to "put things right" is possible.

My trial with manipulation via its properties especially `wrap` yielded some headway. I would also add the following as a feature request:

* Change the frame window title from `Frame` to `Frame properties`
Comment 8 Bob Harvey 2024-02-17 17:38:18 UTC
(In reply to Bogaboga Man from comment #7)
> I see the issue. What needs to happen IMO, is to enable inserted object
> manipulation by default no matter what the user may have as LO settings for
> such an insertion. This way, the immediate urge to "put things right" is
> possible.
> 
> My trial with manipulation via its properties especially `wrap` yielded some
> headway. I would also add the following as a feature request:
> 
> * Change the frame window title from `Frame` to `Frame properties`

It isn't, of course, just an issue with frames...
Comment 9 Heiko Tietze 2024-02-19 08:50:11 UTC
Essentially you expect the frame to behave like a scrolled window - if the content exceeds the size a scrollbar appear. I disagree with this idea. While shrinking the height you get feedback but it's just not accepted below the content height. Very common interaction, IMO.
Comment 10 Bob Harvey 2024-02-27 17:06:55 UTC
I just expect the drag handles to work if the cursor knows they are there and changes shape to suggest they should.  That's all I expect.

And if some weird interaction with the footer means they can't, then the drag handles should not be displayed in the first place.  (or perhaps in red to denote they don't work???)
Comment 11 Heiko Tietze 2024-02-28 07:42:22 UTC
(In reply to m_a_riosv from comment #4)
> on Position & Size tab, disable 'Autosize option'

(In reply to Bob Harvey from comment #6)
> What about making it a bit more obvious what the problem is?

STR:
* on a new document, insert a frame which is should be not too wide
* add some text like lorem+f3
=> frame is sized to the max page height

Possible solutions:
a) accept as common interaction
b) consider as bug since SE/NW etc. resize does not shrink the frame
c) don't enable autosize by default to make user aware of it
d) block resizing on the autosized dimension (not sure that can be done)
Comment 12 Buovjaga 2024-03-05 18:46:56 UTC
*** Bug 159728 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 13 Bdac 2024-03-11 16:32:44 UTC
Maybe, the 3rd solution is the better one : don't enable autosize by default to make user aware of it. Give more freedom and flexibility...
Comment 14 Cor Nouws 2024-03-13 18:05:11 UTC
(In reply to Bob Harvey from comment #6)
> Woah, just a minute.
> 
> That's not "invalid".  That's a hidden solution.  Where in the user
> interface is that exposed? where in the help pages does it tell you to do
> that if you can't drag the handles?  How the blue blistering blazes is
> someone supposed to guess they can do that?
Basically one needs an expert at the desk to help with any question ;)

(In reply to Bob Harvey from comment #10)
> I just expect the drag handles to work if the cursor knows they are there
> and changes shape to suggest they should.  That's all I expect.
Changing the handles is further dragging is blocked, looks a nice improvement to me.
Comment 15 Heiko Tietze 2024-03-14 10:05:26 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

It likely feels wrong to block the vertical sizing and/or to hide the handles. We also rejected the idea to show an infobar on drop when the resizing is rejected internally (although it might be easy to implement). The best solution is to give a proper feedback during the resizing, which could be a red frame when the new size is not accepted. That depends on the height and width and means to recalculate on-the-fly.
Comment 16 lvm 2024-03-14 10:28:09 UTC
While all that it said above is sound, I'd like point out that bug 159728, which is at the moment is marked as duplicate of this one, is about a different scenario: a picture pasted into Write becomes unresizeable immediately after pasting without additional resizing, so the 'reject improper resize' approach won't help there because the initial size of the pasted image is selected incorrectly. Should we reopen bug 159728 or consider the initial pasting size and/or location within the scope of this bug?
Comment 17 Bob Harvey 2024-03-15 14:24:54 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #15)
> We discussed the topic in the design meeting.
> 
> It likely feels wrong to block the vertical sizing and/or to hide the
> handles. We also rejected the idea to show an infobar on drop when the
> resizing is rejected internally (although it might be easy to implement).
> The best solution is to give a proper feedback during the resizing, which
> could be a red frame when the new size is not accepted. That depends on the
> height and width and means to recalculate on-the-fly.

OK.  So long as the red frame is mentioned in the documentation, of course!
Comment 18 Commit Notification 2024-06-19 13:38:38 UTC
Sahil Gautam committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/86cd6036273a9031212e131141c03ed4e16e011b

tdf#159543 - Proper feedback needed when resizing a frame...

It will be available in 25.2.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.