Desktop Menu Integration

OpenOffice.org 2.0, 2.2

Document - ID	Specification Owner	Last Change	Status
	Oliver Braun	Nov 6, 2006	preliminary
Conforms to	
Applies to	Installation
Task ID(s)	OOo 2.0: i20355, i20379, i20356, i35779, i40272 (Windows start menu), i30853 OOo 2.2: i50784(ellipses in Quickstarter)
Category	Feature

Abstract

In modern graphical user interface there are several standard mechanisms for a user to launch an application, such as menu items in the Start/Launch menu or a (double) click on a document specific to that application. OpenOffice.org 2.0 provides these mechanisms as well.

For Windows there is also a QuickStarter in the task-bar.

i-Team Members (The specification owner is part of the i-Team)

	Name	E-mail Address
User Experience	Matthias Müller-Prove (MMP) Falko Tesch (FT)	mmp@openoffice.org, ft@openoffice.org,
Development	Oliver Braun (OBR) Hennes Rohling (HRO) Carsten Driesner (CD)	obr@openoffice.org, hro@openoffice.org, Carsten.Driesner@Sun.COM
Quality Assurance	Olaf Felka (OF)	of@openoffice.org,
Documentation	Uwe Fischer (UFI)	ufi@openoffice.org

Approved for Implementation

	Approved by	Date
User Experience	Matthias Müller-Prove (MMP) Falko Tesch (FT)	07.06.04
Development	Oliver Braun (OBR)	01.06.04
Quality Assurance	Olaf Felka (OF)	11.11.04
Documentation	Uwe Fischer (UFI)	01.06.04
String Review	Falko Tesch (FT) on behalf of Elizabteth Mathies (liz)	12.06.04

Document Change History

Rev. Level	Change	Initials	Date
1.0	Initial draft	OBR	27.04.04
1.1	slight changes and upload to specs.openoffice.org	MMP	3/22/05
1.2	Changes for Windows desktop integration	HRO	28.05.04
1.3	Incorporated feedback from FT and added screenshots	OBR	01.06.05
1.4	Added German strings	FT	09.07.2004
1.5	Added Base	FT	12.07.2004
1.6	Added missing dot at the end of english tool tips	OBR	15.07.04
1.7	Added competitive analysis	OBR	17.09.04
1.8	MMP-1. Request to revive the menu item Open Document for Quickstarter (row 84); i35779	MMP	3/22/05
1.9	Define usage of new OOo 2.0 icons	FL	11/09/04
1.10	MMP-1/i35779 postponed to OfficeLater (see 7.1 MMP-1: Quickstarter)	MMP	3/22/05
1.11	new structure for Windows application menu	MMP	3/22/05
	added pro/cons table to support the decission process for folders in the start menu (section 6.1.1)	MMP	3/22/05
1.12	we agreed on the change in 6.1.1; hence I removed the change marks in this spec. OBR will decide on the Linux menus. added idea HRO-1	MMP	3/22/05
1.13	The start menu folder icon has a custom icon. (row 87)	MMP	3/22/05
1.14	Re-introduce application shortcuts in quick starter like in OOo 1.1 (issue id #i30853)	FL	18.03.05
1.15	New Icon Set added	FT	22.03.05
1.16	The start menu folder icon has a custom icon. Final icon design at row 87	MMP	3/29/05
1.17	Change QuickStarter string resources. Strings are taken from File-New menu, not from Windows Start menu.	FL	04.04.05
1.18	Added 6.3.1 Setup of QuickStarter	MMP	4/7/05
1.19	Corrected KDE menu entry location	OBR	6/23/05
	added QuickStarter to abstract	MMP	01/09/06
1.20	added "Configuration" sub chapter to Quickstarter chapter	FS	07/31/2006
2	Quickstarter with ellipses in 6.3Quickstarter (Windows only) for OOo 2.2	MMP	11/06/06

Contents

Glossary	1

1	Motivation	1

2	User Scenarios	1

2.1	Applications Menu / Panel	1

2.2	Open a document	1

2.2.1	Open a document from the file manager	1

2.2.2	Dropping files on a launcher / menu item	1

2.2.3	Open a document from the browser / email client	2

3	Goals	2

4	Requirements and Dependencies	2

4.1	Requirements	2

4.2	Technical Dependencies	2

5	Competitive Analyses	2

5.1	Microsoft Office XP	2

5.2	Microsoft Office 2003	3

5.3	StarOffice 7 on GNOME/JDS	4

6	Detailed Specification	5

6.1	Application Menu	5

6.1.1	Application Menu for Windows	5

6.1.2	Application Menu for GNOME	6

6.1.3	Application Menu for KDE	6

6.1.4	Application Menu for JDS	6

6.1.5	Icons	7

6.2	Open a document	10

6.3	Quickstarter (Windows only)	12

6.3.1	Setup	13

6.3.2	String list for OOo 2.0	13

6.4	G11n	13

6.5	Error Conditions	13

7	Future Tasks	13

7.1	Ideas	13

8	Notes	14

8.1	Addressed Issues	14

8.1.1	MMP-1: Quickstarter	14

9	References	14

Glossary

Term	Description
CDE	Common Desktop Environment, the former standard desktop of Solaris.
GNOME	GNU Network Object Model Environment (http://www.gnome.org/about/), the new standard desktop for Solaris and JDS.
KDE	K Desktop Environment (http://www.kde.org/whatiskde/), an alternative desktop for Unix, mainly supported by Novell/SuSE.

Motivation

Up to OpenOffice.org 1.1 the desktop menu integration on Unix has been done on a per user basis only (with CDE being the only exception). With the move to native installers scheduled for the OpenOffice.org 2.0 release there will be no per user installation step anymore, hence the desktop integration must be done differently.

StarOffice 6.0 / 7 even used document names instead of application modules in the launchers menu, which lead to problems in multi language environments and conflicts to the Windows Style Guides (ToDo: Add references here).

User Scenarios

Applications Menu / Panel

The user should be able to launch any OpenOffice.org module by traversing the desktop specific application menu / panel and selecting the corresponding menu item (either by keyboard or by any pointing device).

Open a document

The user should be able to launch an OpenOffice.org module from the desktop environments file manager, his/her favorite browser/email client or dropping one or more files on one of the menu items describe in 2.1. (Note: dropping documents on launcher items is not supported by MS Windows ®).

Open a document from the file manager

OpenOffice.org should appear in “Open with” context submenu of any supported file type. When selected, the document should be loaded by OpenOffice.org in read/write mode. Whether OpenOffice.org is the default handler for a specific file type and thus will be invoked when the context menu entry “Open” gets selected is undefined.

The CDE file manager does not have an “Open with” context menu entry and selecting “Open” will invoke the last application that had registered for that specific file type.

Dropping files on a launcher / menu item

To be able to drop files on a launcher, the user needs to add it to the panel by choosing “Add to Panel” -> “Launcher from menu” from the context menu.

When a file or a list of files get dropped onto such a launcher, the files should be opened in read/write mode as described in 2.2.1.

Open a document from the browser / email client

Internet browsers and email clients usually don't give the user a list of applications to choose from in the context menu of a file, so the user has to use the “Open” menu item which will invoke the last application that had registered for that specific file type.

When invoked by the browser/mailer, the document passed should be opened in read only mode when located in /tmp to avoid confusing the user when (s)he saves changes to the document.

Goals

The main goal is to satisfy the user scenarios described in 2 for all supported combinations of desktop environment and installation methods .

The following combinations of desktop environment and installation methods supported:

Desktop Environment	Installation method
MS Windows ®	Single user and all users
GNOME 2.x	All users
KDE 2.x / 3.x	All users
CDE	Single user and all users

Requirements and Dependencies

Requirements

The Windows Installer and the GNOME/KDE “TryExec” mechanism require separate executables for all modules that have a launcher entry assigned with it.

Technical Dependencies

The Unix implementations require one executable per module in the user's path. For now the core module creates openoffice680-writer, openoffice680-calc, etc. in /usr/bin.

Competitive Analyses

Microsoft Office XP

Microsoft Office XP ® Menu Integration conforms to the Microsoft Windows Guidelines for “Integrating with the Shell” [2] by placing the main application launchers directly into the “Programs” folder. However it additionally creates “New Office Document” and “Open Office Document” on top of the “Start” menu, which is mentioned as 'bad practice' in the same Guidelines.

Illustration 1Microsoft Office XP Menu Integration

Microsoft Office 2003

Microsoft Office 2003 ® creates a subfolder “Microsoft Office” below “Programs” and places its menu entries there. The motivation for this change can only be guessed: maybe the number of 'main applications' to be placed directly in 'Programs' exceeded the unnamed limit of 5 ?!

Illustration 2 Microsoft Office 2003 Menu Integration

StarOffice 7 on GNOME/JDS

Illustration 3 StarOffice 7 on GNOME/JDS

Detailed Specification

Application Menu

Application Menu for Windows

Like MSOffice 2003 a separate folder is created inside the application/start menu.

start menu	Comments

...

OpenOffice.org 2.0	>	submenu

...

OpenOffice.org 2.0	Comments

OpenOffice.org Tools	>	submenu, StarOffice only

OpenOffice.org Base

OpenOffice.org Calc

OpenOffice.org Draw

OpenOffice.org Impress

OpenOffice.org Math	OOo only; StarOffice does not have this item.

OpenOffice.org Writer

OpenOffice.org Tools	Comments

Migration Tools	TBD

The start menu folder item is “%PRODUCTNAME %PRODVERSION”.

The start menu folder icon has a custom icon. Icons for OOo and SO are:

Comment: TaskID i42652.

The applications have the name as specified in [5], e.g. “%PRODUCTNAME Writer”.

The sub-folder “%PRODUCTNAME Tools” is a StarOffice only feature. Contact is CJ.

Note: OOo Math is OOo only; StarOffice application menu does not have this item.

Pro – OOo installed to a folder	Cons – OOo installed flat
consistency with MSOffice 2003	conformance to MS UI guidelines
consistency with OOo 1.x / StarOffice 7	consistency with MSOffice XP
consistency with WordPerfect Office 2000, and Lotus SmartSuite	
consistency with Gnome, KDE, JDS	
keep the option to cleanly install future versions of OOo	
keep the option to cleanly install multiple versions of OOo	
prevents overwrite of existing installations	
have one place for the version number and clean application names	
(frequently used icons move to the top level of the start menu anyway)	better promotion of OOo icons
(most common is opening OOo document icons in Explorer)	less clicks to access OOo
	localization costs for SO documentation

Application Menu for GNOME

The menu items get created in the “Applications/Office” submenu of GNOME

Office	Comments

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Base

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Calc

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Draw

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Impress

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Math

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Printer Administration	?? still used, we support CUPS

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Writer

Application Menu for KDE

The menu items get created in the “Applications/Office” submenu of KDE

Office	Comments

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Base

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Calc

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Draw

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Impress

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Math

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Printer Administration

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Setup

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Writer

Application Menu for JDS

The menu items get created in the “Applications/Office” submenu of JDS

Office	Comments

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Base

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Calc

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Draw

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Impress

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Math

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Printer Administration	// we support CUPS but Printer Admin has some more

features

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Writer

Menu item list

!!! NOTE: %PRODUCTNAME expands to %PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION on Unix !!!

Item	English [Name/Help text]	German [Name/Help text]	Comments/ Icons OOo/SO
Menu item	%PRODUCTNAME Calc Perform calculation, analyze information and manage lists in spreadsheets by using Calc.	%PRODUCTNAME Calc Berechnungen ausführen, Informationen analysieren und Listen in Tabellen verwalten – Calc macht's möglich.		
Menu item	%PRODUCTNAME Draw Create and edit drawings, flow charts, and logos by using Draw.	%PRODUCTNAME Draw Zeichnungen erstellen und bearbeiten, Flussdiagramme entwerfen und Logos kreieren – Draw macht's möglich.		
Menu item	%PRODUCTNAME Impress Create and edit presentations for slideshows, meeting and Web pages by using Impress.	%PRODUCTNAME Impress Erstellen und bearbeiten von Präsentationen für Dia-Vorführungen, Meetings und Web-Auftritte – Impress macht's möglich.		
Menu item	OpenOffice.org Math Create and edit scientific formulas and equations by using Math.	OpenOffice.org Math Wissenschaftliche Formeln erstellen und bearbeiten – Math macht's möglich.		not available via the system's start menu
Menu item	%PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION Printer Administration	%PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION Drucker Verwaltung		Unix only
Menu item	%PRODUCTNAME Writer Create and edit text and graphics in letters, reports, documents and Web pages by using Writer.	%PRODUCTNAME Writer Erstellen und bearbeiten von Text und Grafiken in Briefen, Reports, Dokumenten und Web-Seiten – Writer macht's möglich.		
Menu item	%PRODUCTNAME Base Manage databases, create queries and reports to track and manage your information by using Base.	%PRODUCTNAME Base Verwalten von Datenbanken, Erstellen von Abfragen und Berichten – Base macht's möglich.		
Menu Item	%PRODUCTNAME Tools	%PRODUCTNAME Tools	##MMP>EM: new strings	
Menu Item	%PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION	%PRODUCTNAME %PRODUCTVERSION	Windows only	

Icons

The string table above contains the icons for SO8/OOo2 beta. Please find a detailed list (different sized and high contrast version) of the new icons for OpenOffice.org here [3] and a separate list of icons for StarOffice / StarSuite here [4].

On CDE a new panel group gets created with the writer being the top-level entry.

Illustration 4 GNOME menus on RedHat 9

Illustration 5 CDE menus on Solaris 9

Note: For intermediate releases (milestones) the %PRODUCTNAME part gets extended by the product version.

Open a document

Note: Please find a detailed and complete list (different sized and high contrast version) of the new icons for OpenOffice.org here and a separate list of icons for StarOffice / StarSuite here.

Document icons are used in the system's task bar and title bar icon of the task window itself. Unfortunately the grouping function on Windows, if active, will always show the icon of the running process automatically in the taskbar, so that the general OOo / SO/SS icon is shown instead of the real application icons, because OOo uses only a single process.

Old document types (i.e. sxw and .sdw) from OO 1.0 and StarOffice 5 are represented by the old icon set (can be found here). This is necessary because the new OASIS based XML format uses a different file extension and is not compatible with the old format . Without using different icons the use could not distinguish if she is processing a new or old format, because some operating systems do not show file extensions by default. Furthermore saving an old document in the new format will often be done using the same file name and location, so that two files would have the same name and icon in the file system if no separate icon set would be used for old documents.

OpenOffice.org should register the following OOo 1.1/StarOffice 5 file types (if not present) and assign itself for being able to open it.

Furthermore the new OASIS file types have to be registered as described in the spec. "File Format Names for New OASIS Open Office XML Format" .

Configuration files using the empty document icon in OOo 1.1 and SO 7. This icon is replaced by the the new introduced registration data icon shown below:

Text 1 Configuration icon for OO and SO

Note: A document showing the history of all previously used icons could be found here .

OOo File type list

The version number is only shown on Windows systems. On UNIX/LINUX systems this is not common.

Item	English	German	Icons OOo / SO
sxw	StarOffice 7 Text Document	StarOffice 7 Textdokument		
	StarSuite 7 Text Document	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Text Document	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Textdokument		
stw	StarOffice 7 Text Template	StarOffice 7 Textdokumentvorlage		
	StarSuite 7 Text Template	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Text Template	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Textdokumentvorlage		
sxc	StarOffice 7 Spreadsheet	StarOffice 7 Tabellendokument		
	StarSuite 7 Spreadsheet	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Spreadsheet	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Tabellendokument		
stc	StarOffice 7 Spreadsheet Template	StarOffice 7 Tabellendokumentvorlage		
	StarSuite 7 Spreadsheet Template	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Spreadsheet Template	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Tabellendokumentvorlage		
sxi	StarOffice 7 Presentation	StarOffice 7 Präsentation		
	StarSuite 7 Presentation	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Presentation	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Präsentation		
sti	StarOffice 7 Presentation Template	StarOffice 7 Präsentationsvorlage		
	StarSuite 7 Presentation Template	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Presentation Template	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Präsentationsvorlage		
sxd	StarOffice 7 Drawing	StarOffice 7 Zeichnung		
	StarSuite 7 Drawing	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Drawing	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Zeichnung		
std	StarOffice 7 Drawing Template	StarOffice 7 Zeichnungsdokumentvorlage		
	StarSuite 7 Drawing Template	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Drawing Template	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Zeichnungsdokumentvorlage		
sxm	StarOffice 7 Formula	StarOffice 7 Formel		
	StarSuite 7 Formula	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Formula	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Formel		
sxg	StarOffice 7 Master Document	StarOffice 7 Globaldokument		
	StarSuite 7 Master Document	%		
	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Master Document	OpenOffice.org 1.1 Globaldokument		

The following registrations will only be made, if not already present on the system .

Item	English	German	Icons OOo / SO
sdw	StarOffice 5 Text Document	StarOffice 5 Textdokument		
sdc	StarOffice 5 Spreadsheet	StarOffice 5 Tabelle		
sda	StarOffice 5 Drawing	StarOffice 5 Zeichnung		
sdd	StarOffice 5 Presentation	StarOffice 5 Präsentation		
sdf	StarOffice 5 Formula	StarOffice 5 Formel		
sds	StarOffice 5 Chart	StarOffice 5 Diagramm		?
sgl	StarOffice 5 Master Document	StarOffice 5 Globaldokument		

Note: since there was no CJK release of StarOffice 5, there should be no trademark issues with the naming those outdated file types.

Additionally OpenOffice.org should assign itself as a handler for the following formats:

Extension	Type
txt	Plain text
csv	comma separated values
rtf	rich text format file
htm, html	HTML file
doc, dot	MS Word file / template
pps, ppt	MS Powerpoint file / template
xls, xlt	MS Excel file / template

Quickstarter (Windows only)

The Quickstarter in the Windows system tray is kept unchanged to the implementation used in OOo 1.1 even if it does not conform to the Windows guideline, because many Beta customers missed this second entry point to start-up the applications. The application link for the new database is added automatically to the applications shortcuts list, because the application shortcuts are physically the same already used in the OOo File-New menu.

Setup

The QuickStarter gets installed and activated by default. There is only one difference to OOo 1.1: Directly after the Setup the QuickStarter is not running. It starts with the first launch of OOo.

String list for OOo 2.0

Strings for application links are taken from OOo application File-New menu. Defaulted item is the shortcut to the From Template dialog and will be called by double clicking the icon in the system tray.

Illustration 6 Quickstarter context menu

Comment: Starting with OOo 2.2 the commands “From Template” and “Open Document” contain ellipses; i50784

Table 6.3: User Interface elements of Figure Illustration 6

#	Type	Properties	Comment
<#>	Menu item	Control Properties Enabled: yes Features: default command for quickstarter menu String English From Template... String German Aus Vorlage...
<#>	Menu item	Control Properties Enabled: yes String English Open Document... String German Dokument öffnen...
<#>	Menu item	Control Properties Enabled: yes Initially Marked: yes Features: toggle menu command String English Load %PRODUCTNAME During System Start-Up String German %PRODUCTNAME beim Systemstart laden
<#>	Menu item	Control Properties Enabled: yes String English Exit Quickstarter String German Schnellstarter beenden

Configuration

The application links in the menu are coupled with the respective entries entries in the File-New menu, in that configuring the latter to not contain a certain application link will also remove this application link from the quickstarter menu.

G11n

The user space CDE integration needs special treatment because it is encoding specific: the encoding of the integration files must match the encoding the user is currently in.

Error Conditions

None.

Future Tasks

Ideas

default application wizard / tools – options page (office).

use the same icon as displayed in the file manager in the title bar (office).

create launchers GNOME/KDE panel via D&D from OOo menu ?

startup notification

HRO-1: Create a Windows Toolbar for OOo. This can also serve as a substitute for the Quickstarter.

Illustration 7 Toolbar for StarOffice

Notes

UFI-1. The implementation of Microsoft's "Official Guidelines for User Interface Developers and Designers" for the Windows Start menu and the Quickstarter is a change in usability that has great impact on the perception of our product.
It means that
- there will be no StarOffice group or Sun Microsystems group in the Windows Start menu: StarOffice gets lost within the "auxiliary files" that are so unimportant that they do not even have an own group. Market chance of "Sun Microsystems" entry on Windows Start menu lost, too.
- there will be no usable functionality for the Quickstarter icon. All current Windows users will submit bug reports of missing functionality. Please tell me this does not get cut just because the developers never use Windows and therefore do not know how important the feature is.

OBR-1. There is an ongoing evaluation whether OpenOffice.org and StarOffice could use the same description for the OOo XML file types, which are currently prefixed by the product name.

OBR-2. If supported by the file manager, opening a document should work also for http and ftp locations.

OBR-3. The printer administration tool might get moved into the office.

OBR-4. Need to add spec for “show” context menu entry.

Addressed Issues

MMP-1: Quickstarter

TaskID: i35779

OOo 3 will provide a command to call the OOo Open dialog. This serves as a substitute for MS's “Open Office Document” menu item in the Start>All Programms menu.

Open Document is also default, hence a double click on the Quickstarter icon triggers the same Open Dialog.

Quickstarter Menu	Comments

Open Document

---------------

Load OpenOffice.org During System Startup

---------------

Exit Quickstarter

It was planned to implement this feature for OOo 2. But due to high workload and old code that could not be reused anymore this feature has to be postponed to OOo 3.

The original QuckStarter from OOo 1.1 is back for OOo 2.0.

References

[1] Starting Office Specification for OOo1.1 - http://ui.openoffice.org/proposals/StartingStarOffice.sxw

[2] Integrating with the Shell	http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwue/html/ch11f.asp

[3] Icons for OOo	http://so-doc.germany.sun.com/Teams/StarOffice_Applications/Extras/Icons/Application_icons_SO8/OOo20_all-icons.html

[4] Icons for SO	http://staroffice-doc.germany.sun.com/Teams/StarOffice_Applications/Extras/Icons/Application_icons_SO8/so8final_all-icons.html

[5] State name of Office module in Window Title	http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/module_name_in_caption_bar/module_name_in_caption_bar.sxw

Combines all tasks of the same process as sub tasks of the process as soon if the space in the task bar is not sufficient anymore and the combining feature is turned on in the task bar options (default).

Please find more information about the new format here: http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/fileIO/FileFormatNames.sxw

Please find more information about the new format here: http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/fileIO/FileFormatNames.sxw

http://so-doc.germany.sun.com/Teams/StarOffice_Applications/Extras/Icons/Application_icons_SO8/so-icon_history.html

i.e. on GNOME those types are already registered

Desktop Menu Integration

15

http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/menus/desktop_menu_integration.sxw

Matthias Müller-Prove

2005-03-22T10:00:40