This is a list of things which still need work in this manual:

If anyone wants to help, let me know at the email address below. Thanks.

Jost <jost@schenck.de>

KOffice is an integrated office suite for the K Desktop Environment (KDE). KOffice currently consists of the following programs:

Because they are based on the KParts component model, KOffice programs are designed to work very well with each other. Any KOffice component can be embedded in another KOffice document. For instance, you can insert a table which you created in KSpread directly into a KWord document. In this way, complex, compound documents can be created using KOffice programs.

A plug-in mechanism makes it easy to extend the functionality of KOffice. Already, there are two applications, a macro recorder and a calculator, which show how this can be done.

This manual only covers the general features of KOffice, those that are common to most or all programs in the suite. For detailed information about the different programs, have a look at the other manuals.

Each KOffice application is designed to fulfill very specific needs. For example, KSpread is a program for manipulating spreadsheets, while KWord is a program for word processing. By focusing on a specific area, each program aims for perfection in exactly this area. However, depending on what you do with KOffice, you'll often want to take advantage of functionality provided by different applications, but in the same document.

Suppose that you are preparing a document in KWord and want to illustrate some point using a table. While KWord provides its own functionality for the insertion of tables, this may not be enough for your needs. For example, you may want to use certain currency data formats or to do calculations using spreadsheet formulae. Now, some KWord programmer certainly could try to implement this functionality. However, KWord would never be as good as KSpread in this field; and if it tried to implement all the functionality you might possibly need, it would end up becoming unreasonably complex and the source code would become impossible to maintain.

The alternative to this is KParts. Its philosophy is simple: let every application do what it does best. [I think this para needs more elaboration -- kt.]

Using KParts in your document

Prev

KParts - the building blocks of KOffice

Next

Using KParts in your document

If you have never worked with compound documents, you may find them confusing at first. The following step-by-step instructions show you that using KParts is just as easy as working with a single application.

Procedure 4.1. Inserting a KSpread part into a KWord application

1. Start KWord. You can do that either from the panel or by typing kword at the command line.

2. Start a new, blank document. You may want to type some sample text.

3. Chose Create KSpread table frame from the Tools menu. (FIXME: I think this menu structure was supposed to be changed). You'll notice that the mouse cursor has changed to a cross. This form of the cursor indicates that you are supposed to select an area.

4. Press the left mouse button mouse button where you want the upper left corner of your table to be, hold it and drag it to the lower right corner. Release the button. That's it--you're done.

Easy, isn't it? You should now see a table frame in your KWord document. Now, click inside the table to see what happens. You'll notice that:

• Your menu bar and tool bars have changed. They now reflect those of KSpread.

• Your table frame now contains the elements of a KSpread view, with scroll bars, a tab bar for the selection of tables, etc.

Try editing the table. You'll see that it's not different from using KSpread. In fact you are using KSpread.

Now click somewhere into your KWord document, outside of the table area. The menu bar and tool bars should change back to those of KWord, the elements of the KSpread view should disappear. Your table stays and still reflects all of the changes you've applied to it.

KParts are easy to use. Try inserting other parts or even parts in parts.

Prev	Home	Next
KParts - the building blocks of KOffice	Up	Optimizing KOffice and Your System

While KOffice should work quite nice out of the box, there may well be some things to optimize to get the best out of KOffice. This chapter shows you what you might want to do to achieve the best results with your new office suite.

/Algerian-Roman /Algerian       ;

Customizing the KOffice GUI

Prev

Optimizing KOffice and Your System

Next

Customizing the KOffice GUI

While KOffice comes out of the box with a GUI (graphical user interface) that should suit most people's needs, there are good reasons why you may want to change the way the programs look.

My mother, for example, is a bit afraid of buttons and menu entries she doesn't understand. To tailor KOffice to her needs, I reduced the GUI to a bare minimum of functionality. As she only needs to write letters and use certain templates, there is no need for much more functionality than saving, loading, printing, etc.

Thanks to the “action” concept of Qt™ and KDE, you can freely customize KOffice menu bars and tool bars. Unfortunately, at the moment, there are no easy-to-use dialogs to do this. KOffice stores its GUI configuration in XML™ files and you'll have to edit those. Hopefully, this situation will change in the future; for now, you'll need some basic knowledge of how an XML™ document works (or HTML, which is a subset of XML™). [The “action” concept needs to be discussed in more detail -- kt.]

Normally, each KOffice application has at least two of those XML™ files: one describing the GUI of the shell (basically, that's what you see if there is no document open) and one describing the GUI of the respective part (that's what you see normally). For example, for KWord, these two XML™ files are named kword_shell.rc and kword.rc.

Here's a simple example of such an rc-file.

Example 5.2. An example of a simple rc-file

<!DOCTYPE QConfig ><qconfig>
<menubar>
<menu name="Edit"><text>Edit</text>
<action name="edit_cut"/>
<action name="edit_copy"/>
<action name="edit_paste"/>
<separator/>
<action name="edit_find"/>
</menu>
<menu name="Insert"><text>Insert</text>
<action name="insert_picture"/>
<action name="insert_clipart"/>
<menu name="Variable"><text>Variable</text>
<action name="insert_var_datefix"/>
<action name="insert_var_datevar"/>
</menu>
</menu>
</menubar>
<toolbars>
<toolbar name="edit_toolbar" position="right">
<action name="edit_cut"/>
<action name="edit_copy"/>
<action name="edit_paste"/>
</toolbar>
</toolbars>
</qconfig>

Prev	Home	Next
Optimizing KOffice and Your System	Up	How to get more information

If you want to do KOffice development, the following resources might be of interest:

KOffice is copyrighted by the KOffice team.

This manual is copyright by Jost Schenck. It can be distributed freely, as long as this copyright notice is included. You may change it as long as you send me the changes or commit them to KDE CVS. I'll not be liable for anything resulting from the use of this manual.

The other KOffice manuals are copyrighted by their respective authors.

This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.