Bug 94223 - Selection box for text box not shown
Summary: Selection box for text box not shown
Status: CLOSED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Impress (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
4.2 all versions
Hardware: All All
: high major
Assignee: Caolán McNamara
URL:
Whiteboard: target:7.5.0
Keywords: bibisected, bisected, filter:ppt, regression
Depends on:
Blocks: PPT
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2015-09-15 05:42 UTC by harivishnu
Modified: 2023-09-04 04:06 UTC (History)
11 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
image comparing 2 slides in Impress. First slide (current version of Impress) has no selection outline for the active text box, and second one has an outline (suggested change) (346.75 KB, image/jpeg)
2015-09-15 05:42 UTC, harivishnu
Details
example of ppt document without text borders displayed (66.50 KB, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint)
2017-04-03 17:07 UTC, Gospodin Baron
Details
Native format (ODP) with missing border around text box. (50.08 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation)
2017-11-29 16:29 UTC, Jan Vlug
Details
Clean native format (ODP) with missing border around text box. (10.55 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation)
2017-11-29 16:42 UTC, Jan Vlug
Details
Libreoffice Impress showing no selection outline around a textbox, just little blue squares that are hard to see. (207.61 KB, image/png)
2019-11-05 22:51 UTC, David Bapst
Details
Location of the Break Option in the Draw Menu (91.42 KB, image/png)
2019-11-05 22:53 UTC, David Bapst
Details
Textbox is now 'broken' and has a selection outline, showing its perimeter. (210.17 KB, image/png)
2019-11-05 22:54 UTC, David Bapst
Details
AOO 4.1.10 (413.01 KB, image/png)
2022-01-05 19:34 UTC, Caolán McNamara
Details

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Description harivishnu 2015-09-15 05:42:53 UTC
Created attachment 118721 [details]
image comparing 2 slides in Impress. First slide (current version of Impress) has no selection outline for the active text box, and second one has an outline (suggested change)

I am currently using Libre Office 4.4.5.2 on Windows 8, 64 bit, Locale en_US

In Impress, it would be convenient if the selection outline box of the text box is made visible when the text box is active (even if its borders are absent). This allows easy scaling/moving of the text box when it is active, without having to search for the selection box every time when it has no borders. Currently, MS Powerpoint follows this and I find it very convenient.

I attached an image showing how a textbox currently looks on selection (top) and how I think it would be more convenient according to my suggestion (bottom).


I am filing this following a suggestion on the Ask Libre Office forums (https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/14015/how-to-show-text-box-outline/  )
Comment 1 Buovjaga 2015-09-19 15:53:28 UTC
The selection outline box is showing for me even in 4.3.0.1 when I am typing into a text box.

How have you made it so it is invisible? Maybe we will find out, if you attach a file with the problem?

Win 7 Pro 64-bit, Version: 5.0.1.2 (32-bit)
Build ID: 81898c9f5c0d43f3473ba111d7b351050be20261
Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI)

Set to NEEDINFO.
Change back to UNCONFIRMED after you have provided the information.
Comment 2 Alick Zhao 2015-10-27 18:38:39 UTC
I came across this bug report when I thought I had the same issue. But after more trials, I find that the actual problem is the textbox is somewhat difficult to select, not that it is not selectable. By difficult, I mean I, as a new user, cannot always select the textbox I want by clicking around the text, and I often need to click multiple times to get it selected. Maybe I (and possibly the bug reporter) did not get the right way to do it?
Comment 3 Xisco Faulí 2016-09-11 20:41:21 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 4 Xisco Faulí 2016-10-10 11:14:34 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 5 Gospodin Baron 2017-04-03 07:54:57 UTC
I see the same problem what other people have discovered.

"How have you made it so it is invisible? Maybe we will find out, if you attach a file with the problem?"

It doesn't make ANY sense to ask for any file. The problem is in program not in the file. As simple as fact any empty file has it.

I see the bug under Linux with Openoffice 4.1.3 or any new version of Libreoffice.


If I type inside of text box the box borders remain invisible.
To be able to select it one need to click slightly above the text, but then
I can only see cyan rectangles. That is very inconvenient.

Previous versions (3.X) of OpenOffice were working fine. Not it's not.

Openoffice as well as Libreoffice are way too bugy. To find a bug one need sometimes less than 5 min. Why nobody test them?

Well Openoffice is slightly better.
Comment 6 Buovjaga 2017-04-03 09:02:24 UTC
(In reply to Gospodin Baron from comment #5)
> It doesn't make ANY sense to ask for any file. The problem is in program not
> in the file. As simple as fact any empty file has it.

Then why do I not see the problem? It is completely normal to ask for a file in this case.

Do you see the problem in 5.3, if you restart in Safe Mode: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile#Resolving_corruption
Comment 7 Gospodin Baron 2017-04-03 17:07:55 UTC
Created attachment 132314 [details]
example of ppt document without text borders displayed

As request test file is provided
Comment 8 Buovjaga 2017-04-04 08:00:57 UTC
(In reply to Gospodin Baron from comment #7)
> Created attachment 132314 [details]
> example of ppt document without text borders displayed
> 
> As request test file is provided

With this file I confirm the missing borders. Now do you believe the request made sense?

The bug is already in 4.3.

4.1.6 displays the resizing handles, but not the border.

Maybe an initial bibisecting of the disappearance of handles could be valuable.

Saving as pptx still preserves the problem.

Newest version bug is confirmed in:
Win 7 Pro 64-bit Version: 5.4.0.0.alpha0+ (x64)
Build ID: 74917d23782413aa0f129bcf9e6bf5a1c496d23b
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 6.1; UI render: default; 
TinderBox: Win-x86_64@42, Branch:master, Time: 2017-04-02_23:58:52
Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI); Calc: CL
Comment 9 Xisco Faulí 2017-04-04 10:56:06 UTC
Regression introduced by:

author	Armin Le Grand <alg@apache.org>	2013-08-29 16:32:05 (GMT)
committer	Caolán McNamara <caolanm@redhat.com>	2013-08-29 19:02:59 (GMT)
commit b1a6dbc2dd118627360282dd304e24263c3bca51 (patch)
tree 8a4bd5045cbfa424f03045356285c3620586a87f
parent e57a73cc6bedcb8f176e1804792a7ea1fd88796b (diff)
Resolves: #i123003# Corrected Handle/Overlay visualization...
when TextEdit is active

Bisected with bibisect-42max.

Adding Cc: to Armin Le Grand
Comment 10 Gospodin Baron 2017-04-05 02:56:04 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 11 How can I remove my account? 2017-04-05 07:40:55 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 12 Gospodin Baron 2017-04-06 01:41:07 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 13 Jan Vlug 2017-11-29 16:29:51 UTC
Created attachment 138078 [details]
Native format (ODP) with missing border around text box.

I confirm this bug in LibreOffice: 5.4.3.2
Build ID: 5.4.3.2-1.fc27

I see the issue in a presentation in .odp format (see attachment). I consider this as a high priority issue as it severely slows down creating presentations for me. I suggest to rise the priority.

Note that I copied the slide in from an other presentation that might have Powerpoint remainders.
Comment 14 Jan Vlug 2017-11-29 16:42:40 UTC
Created attachment 138079 [details]
Clean native format (ODP) with missing border around text box.

I did some more testing. I created a clean new Impress presentation, without using a template. The issue is there (see slide 2 of the attachment). So for me this issue is completely unrelated to the PPT file format.
Comment 15 Armin Le Grand (allotropia) 2018-06-06 07:39:00 UTC
With last document, 2nd page border is not shown inEditMode. It is shown on selection (tab after changing page) and after ending TextEdit (esc).
Not on 1st page. Can be recreated with new Impress doc and two pages - due to 2nd page using Layout 'Title, content'. Seems to be related to that last ObjectType. Creating an empty page (no layout) and/or adding a TextBox that is not connected to PresObj in BG does not show the problem.
Comment 16 Aron Budea 2018-10-25 15:03:01 UTC
High/major should be a more appropriate prioritization considering it's a regression, and we can't really expect users to fish around for the textbox borders.
Comment 17 jenny 2018-11-29 08:22:35 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 18 Buovjaga 2018-11-30 20:20:36 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 19 David Bapst 2019-11-05 22:51:13 UTC
Created attachment 155542 [details]
Libreoffice Impress showing no selection outline around a textbox, just little blue squares that are hard to see.
Comment 20 David Bapst 2019-11-05 22:53:25 UTC
Created attachment 155543 [details]
Location of the Break Option in the Draw Menu
Comment 21 David Bapst 2019-11-05 22:54:12 UTC
Created attachment 155544 [details]
Textbox is now 'broken' and has a selection outline, showing its perimeter.
Comment 22 David Bapst 2019-11-05 22:54:41 UTC
This bug is still happening. I'm on Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, with: 

LibreOffice Version: 6.3.2.2
Build ID: 1:6.3.2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1~lo1
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 4.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3; 
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI-Language: en-US
Calc: threaded

However! I think I found a workaround!! This works at least to provide outlines to text boxes originally made in Microsoft Office Powerpoint, in files converted to use in LibreOffice.

Attached find three screenshots. These are lecture slides. I am an instructor, so I have many slides, originally made in powerpoint. The inability to select text boxes by their borders, feeling around the slide for a cursor change, like a man in a dark room trying to identify an elephant by touch alone, was a little too tedious for me, so I sat and tried every command I could find.

I noticed that the text boxes from the original PPT had no border (see first screenshot), and also (at some point) a tooltip mentioned they were a special type of object. Hmmm, I thought. So I clicked around the Draw tab (I'm using tabbed interface) until I found, in the Draw drop-down menu, the Break command (see second screenshot).

Now, I know that that should be for breaking a shape up into its constituent nodes and line segments. I can make an arrow and use break to convert the poor arrow into a skeleton of itself.

But I use break on the Microsoft-created textbox, and it gains the magical blue outline I wanted. (See third screenshot.) If I click away from the textbox and come back, I can no longer return to the draw tab, but it seems to behave just fine as a textbox.

So, it seems to have something to do with LibreOffice thinking some textboxes, such as those originating from MS PPT, are more complex polygons, and the Break command removes that property.

I hope this is helpful! This is my first entry to Bugzilla...
Comment 23 Jonathan Buhacoff 2019-12-30 23:52:44 UTC
I have the same problem.  Here's what is working for me now:

Step 1. Click inside the text box as if to edit it
Step 2. Click the "Select" action icon in the toolbar to make the resizing squares visible
Step 3. Either use the resizing squares, or position the mouse on the invisible line between the squares to drag the box

It would help if we could make the resizing squares always show up around the text box while typing, and also show dotted lines between them to give a hint about where to put the mouse to move the box. It would also help if the action area would be larger around the dragging lines between the resizing squares, because it's really hard to keep the mouse on it -- sometimes when I try to click on the line the mouse moves just a little when I click and then I miss the line, and have to start over with steps 1 & 2 above.
Comment 24 Jonathan Buhacoff 2019-12-31 05:11:28 UTC
I noticed that I'm having this problem only with text boxes that are part of the slide layout - title, content, etc. including clones where I copied & pasted an affected text box to make a second one.

When I add text boxes to a slide with the insert text box tool, I do see a blue border around the box when I click on it, and clicking on the blue border shows the resize boxes. I also noticed that the action area for this blue border extends a few pixels into the text box so it's easier to activate. This behavior is just fine... I'm wondering why this good behavior doesn't apply to the text boxes that are defined by the master slides in my presentation.
Comment 25 Armin Le Grand (allotropia) 2022-01-05 10:06:56 UTC
This commit was developed for another code base, and not merged by me. For complex changes like this, side-effects are to be expected; sadly I dont't have the cycles to deal with all the fallout. Un-Ccing myself for the while.
Comment 26 Michael Meeks 2022-01-05 17:46:20 UTC
Perhaps Caolan has some insight on the merge ?
AFAICS much of our box selection, and double-click to-switch-to-rotation/shear mode etc. is far too hard to use but ... hey ho.
Comment 27 Caolán McNamara 2022-01-05 19:34:58 UTC
Created attachment 177335 [details]
AOO 4.1.10

(In reply to Michael Meeks from comment #26)
> Perhaps Caolan has some insight on the merge ?

the merge was bisected as the disappearance of the handles and I seem to see the same effect in AOO 4.1.10
Comment 28 Caolán McNamara 2022-01-05 20:48:07 UTC
I don't think the handles are really the core of the issue anyway, people want the blue rectangle thing.

Taking the sub-case of the example in the comment #14 then at
svx/source/svdraw/svdedxv.cxx:1246 in SdrObjEditView::SdrBeginTextEdit we have
const bool bVisualizeSurroundingFrame(bTextFrame && !bFitToSize);

and in page 2 the second textbox that doesn't have the blue border has bFitToSize set. If autofit is turned off then it gets the blue border.

Then taking the original document from comment #7 bTextFrame is false and it doesn't get "bVisualizeSurroundingFrame" of true for that other reason.

As far as I can see, in...

commit fd069bee7e57ad529c3c0974559fd2d84ec3151a
Date:   Mon Sep 18 16:07:07 2000 +0000

    initial import

we also have this special

if (bTextFrame && !bFitToSize) {
...
}

handling (FWIW I seem to have very old memories of having to play "hunt for the border")

It's not entirely clear why we have that special handling. If we wanted to treat all these cases the same then https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/128025 would take the route-one approach and they would all act the same.
Comment 29 Commit Notification 2022-08-16 07:51:01 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/4b1a57e075af70135703e38337e1096b2f248ebd

tdf#94223 always visualize surrounding frame for active text object

It will be available in 7.5.0.

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.
Comment 30 Caolán McNamara 2022-08-16 07:54:01 UTC
lets give that a go and see if there are unwanted sideeffects
Comment 31 Rafael Lima 2022-10-18 16:59:05 UTC
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #30)
> lets give that a go and see if there are unwanted sideeffects

Hi... there seems to be an inconvenience when editing tables in Impress. See attachment 182811 [details] from bug 151311.

Notice that bounding boxes are appearing inside table cells now.

I get the benefits of showing the bounding box for text shapes, but inside tables they don't fit very well.

This may be a side effect due to the fact that Impress tables are actually a collection of other shapes, including text boxes.
Comment 32 Caolán McNamara 2022-10-23 16:01:39 UTC
if tables are unwanted, that's an easy fix, I'll do that via bug 151311.
Comment 33 murphyde835 2023-08-22 10:49:35 UTC Comment hidden (spam)
Comment 34 Jonathan Buhacoff 2023-09-04 04:06:14 UTC
Thank you for fixing this!