Bug 93694 - Not possible to enable table header rows repeat from menubar
Summary: Not possible to enable table header rows repeat from menubar
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: Other All
: low minor
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Writer-Tables
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2015-08-27 02:17 UTC by Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired)
Modified: 2023-09-08 07:05 UTC (History)
6 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
screencast (1.75 MB, video/webm)
2015-09-12 18:54 UTC, Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired)
Details

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Description Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired) 2015-08-27 02:17:33 UTC
Steps:
1) Open Writer
2) Insert table
3) Activate Table > Repeat Heading Rows
4) Deactivate Table > Repeat Heading Rows
5) Add a row to the table
6) Notice that Table > Repeat Heading Rows is disabled.

Version: 5.1.0.0.alpha1+
Build ID: b712b1f63492a311e4a51cffd516b3e202a140e6
TinderBox: Linux-rpm_deb-x86_64@70-TDF, Branch:master, Time: 2015-08-23_06:03:52
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8)
Comment 1 Buovjaga 2015-09-12 14:48:10 UTC
Isn't 6) exactly the desired outcome after disabling the Heading rows repeat?
I don't understand the relation of the summary to the description. Is "menubar" the menu or toolbar?
Comment 2 Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired) 2015-09-12 18:02:47 UTC
(In reply to Beluga from comment #1)
> Isn't 6) exactly the desired outcome after disabling the Heading rows repeat?

No. You should be able to turn this on and off as you like, just like you can do so in the Table > Table Properties > Text Flow > Repeat Heading. If you leave out step 5, it wont be disabled in step 6.

> I don't understand the relation of the summary to the description. Is
> "menubar" the menu or toolbar?

Yes menubar is the correct word for the bar at the top which contains the menu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_bar
Comment 3 Buovjaga 2015-09-12 18:44:31 UTC
Ok it seems I wasn't parsing correctly. It seems by "disabled" you mean it is somehow greyed out or something, unable to change the state at all.
Well, I'm not seeing this in the menu or table properties so leaving as unco.

Win 7 Pro 64-bit, Version: 5.0.1.2 (32-bit)
Build ID: 81898c9f5c0d43f3473ba111d7b351050be20261
Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI)
Comment 4 Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired) 2015-09-12 18:54:14 UTC
Created attachment 118647 [details]
screencast

Well encase my instructions werent good enough for you to get it, hopefully this screencast will make it easier.
Comment 5 Buovjaga 2015-09-12 18:59:46 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 6 Cor Nouws 2015-12-03 14:27:32 UTC
In 3.3.0 the same problem (menu greyed out, only it shows a Tick before, although it had be turned off in the previous stepp..)
Comment 7 QA Administrators 2017-01-03 19:40:53 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 8 QA Administrators 2019-12-03 14:45:25 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 9 Buovjaga 2020-11-13 17:50:20 UTC
(In reply to Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired) from comment #4)
> Created attachment 118647 [details]
> screencast

Reproduced

Arch Linux 64-bit
Version: 7.1.0.0.alpha1+
Build ID: c54e1c22f30c23d00e2fe7521217569fcec59cc4
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.9; UI render: default; VCL: kf5
Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Built on 13 November 2020
Comment 10 Timur 2021-02-19 12:53:43 UTC
Repro 7.2+. It's Table- Header Rows Repeat Across Pages.
Comment 11 QA Administrators 2023-02-20 03:19:38 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 12 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-07-24 20:15:15 UTC
This bug is still biting us!

Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 5cd9de202765e243e41416802f3e4486b8a96f16
CPU threads: 4; OS: Linux 6.1; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: he-IL (en_IL); UI: en-US
Comment 13 Heiko Tietze 2023-07-25 10:10:05 UTC
Same as on bug 156455: access to infrequently used functions via main menu and properties dialog is sufficient. => NAB/WF
Comment 14 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-07-25 21:35:56 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #13)
> Same as on bug 156455

This is absolutely not the same. The question of how this main menu entry should behave is not a trivial one. At the moment, its toggling-on has a row-specific semantic, while its toggling-off has a table-wide semantic. And the row-specific semantic is difficult to figure out, unless you've selected a full set of rows that's also contiguous from the beginning of the table.

I would not support just allowing the enabling Yousuf originally asked for, but I do think this toggle merits some thought.
Comment 15 Heiko Tietze 2023-07-26 08:04:03 UTC
(In reply to Eyal Rozenberg from comment #14)
> At the moment, its toggling-on has a row-specific semantic...

You mean the command is disabled except for the first row - or when repetition is active? I'd call it an implementation error -- and vote against such main menu entry anyway (bug 156454).
Comment 16 Heiko Tietze 2023-09-08 06:29:14 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

We discussed whether this command is frequently used and thus merits a reasonable visibility. The functions work well but most of the trouble starts with the unconditional placement in the main menu and removing it should be a step forward. We agreed on adding to the context menu as an acceptable "compensation" for the loss of visibility via the main menu. And we think shorter labels that follow the guidelines are needed too.

So in a nutshell:

Rename 
+ .uno:HeadingRowsRepeat to "Repeat Header Rows"
+ .uno:RowSplit to "Break Row Across Pages"
=> officecfg/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/UI/WriterCommands.xcu

Remove from main menu
=> sw/uiconfig/*/menubar/menubar.xml

Add to context menu
=> sw/uiconfig/*/popupmenu/table.xml
Comment 17 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-09-08 07:05:05 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #16)

Heiko, you've _mostly_ summarized the result of our discussion; but the bit you left out is exactly the bit relevant to this bug. Let me explain...


> The functions work well

Ah, but we agreed (at least, I thought we agreed) it does _not_ well - because it intricates two different functions:

1. Toggling whether or not heading rows repeat
2. Setting which rows are the heading rows

and this is what Yousuf was complaining about: He could not toggle the repetition under various conditions, even though one should always be able to make the toggle (at least if at least one header row is defined).

Also, an item whose action depends on the current selection of header rows can't be named as though it doesn't. i.e. the separate command - would be named something like "Mark as header rows" or "Set header rows" etc.


> but most of the trouble
> starts with the unconditional placement in the main menu and removing it
> should be a step forward... We agreed on adding to the context menu as an
> acceptable "compensation" for the loss of visibility via the main menu.

Right. But not adding the intricated command, but the toggle

> And we think shorter labels that follow the guidelines are needed too.

Right. But - the short label only makes sense for the separated toggle functionality

> 
> So in a nutshell:
> 
> Rename 
> + .uno:HeadingRowsRepeat to "Repeat Header Rows"
> + .uno:RowSplit to "Break Row Across Pages"
> => officecfg/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/UI/WriterCommands.xcu
> 
> Remove from main menu
> => sw/uiconfig/*/menubar/menubar.xml
> 
> Add to context menu
> => sw/uiconfig/*/popupmenu/table.xml

So, that's the easy part - but that part does not resolve this particular bug at all - it only moves things from place to place and renames them.

The functionality split is the bigger deal here.