Impress/Features/Comments

Comments in impress and draw

Specification Status
Author	Christian Lippka
Last Change
Status (Help)	Preliminary

Abstract

This specification is about the collaboration feature to add 'Comments' to presentation and drawing documents. This feature is already available for writer and calc applications where it is currently called 'Notes'.

References

Reference Document	Check	Location (URL)
Prerequisites	[passed/failed]	n/a
Product Requirement, RFE, Issue ID (required)	available	issue 103139
Test case specification (required)	[available/not available]	<PLEASE ENTER LOCATION HERE>
IDL Specification	not available	There is currently no new API for this feature.
Software Specification Rules	n/a	n/a

Use case

The user Smith receives a document for review from user Doe. He finds an outdated product image on slide 4. He inserts a comment into slide 4 with a remark for user Smith to update the product image and sends the document back to user Smith. User Smith opens the file send from user Doe and looks through the comments, finding the comment from user Doe and updates the image. He reply to the comment by user Smith and adds a remark that he is not sure if this is now the correct image. He sends the document to user Doe again who also checks the comments. After he verified that the image is indeed the correct one he deletes the comment and publishes the document.

Detailed Specification

Comments in documents ease collaboration between multiple authors who edit the same document. Comments are text based remarks that are not considered part of the document contents but are used during the creation/editing of a document to transfer information between different authors. This feature was already part of the Writer and Calc application (called 'notes' there) and this specification is about adding this feature to the Impress and Draw application.

User interface

Comments can be added to slides (or pages in draw) and master pages. The consist of a position on the page, the authors name, the last edit date and formatted text. If comments are visible, they will be presented by comment handles on the slide with the initials of the author and a running number. These handles have a context menu and when selected a popup window with more information of the comment will be shown. Only the text of comments by the current author (determined by the setting in tools/options/...?) can be changed. Comments from different authors can only be deleted, moved or replaced with a reply.

Author Colors

The comment handles for each author are rendered in different color themes. The comments from the current user always have the color yellow. The colors are assigned after a document is loaded or created but are not persistent.

Commands

insert comment

This command inserts a new comment into the current page and instantly lets the user edit the comments text. It is enabled if the current page is either a slide (drawing page in draw) or a master page. It is not enabled for notes pages, notes master, handout master, outline view and slidesorter view.

show comments

This command switches the visibility of comments. If checked, comment handles will be visible on pages. If unchecked, comment handles will not be visible. This setting will be saved at the application.

delete comment

This command deletes the currently selected comment. This command is disabled if there is no comment selected or if the document is read only.

delete all comments

This command deletes all comment in the document. This command is disabled if there are no comments or if the document is read only.

delete all comments by author

This command deletes all comments by the author of the currently selected comment. This command is disabled if there is no comment selected or if the document is read only.

reply to comment

This comment replaced a selected comment from a author that is not the current author with a new comment from the current author. The name of the previous author including the last edit date and the text is added to the new comment and pre formatted with italic set. This command is disabled if there is no comment from another author selected or the if document is read only.

show next comment

This comment selects the next comment. It starts searching from the current slide. If it reaches the end of the document, a query box is opened to ask the user if he wants to continue on the beginning of the document. This command is disabled if there are not comments in the document.

show previous comment

This comment selects the previous comment. It starts searching from the current slide. If it reaches the beginning of the document, a query box is opened to ask the user if he wants to continue from the end of the document. This command is disabled if there are not comments in the document.

"View", Menu

Item	Sub Item	Sub Item	KBD Shortcut	Icon	Comment
...
Guides
Comments			c	yes	Toggles command "show comments"
"Seperator"
...

"Insert", Menu

Item	Sub Item	Sub Item	KBD Shortcut	Icon	Comment
...
Fields
Comment			c	yes	Executes command "insert comment"
Special Character...
...

"Comments", Toolbar

This toolbar is not initially visible and available in the "view/toolbars" menu.

Item	Icon	Comment
Comment	yes	Executes the command "insert comment"
"Seperator"
Previous Comment	yes	Executes the command "show previous comment"
Next Comment	yes	Executes the command "show next comment"
"Seperator"
Delete Comment	yes	Executes the command "delete comment"
Delete All Comments	yes	Executes the command "delete all comments"

Comment window

The comment window consist of 4 areas as outlined in the following mock up.

+-------------------+--+
|*1                 |*2|
|                   |  |
|                   |  |
|                   |  |
+-------------------+--+
|*3                 |*4|
+-------------------+--+

Area *1 contains the text of the comment. If the comment is not from the current author or if the document is read only it can not be edited. Cursor travel and selection by mouse or keyboard is possible to allow the "Copy" command to work. If the current user is also the author of this comment and the document is not read only the user can change the comments text in this area.

Area *2 is an option vertical scroll bar that becomes visible if the comments text is bigger than area 1.

Area *3 is the meta information of this comment, it contains the comments authors full name and the date and time of the last editing.

Area *4 is a button to access the context menu of the comment handle. It is only visible if the document is not read only.

The window is colored in a color theme that represents the color assigned to the comments author.

The window closes if the escape key is pressed or if the window loses the focus.

Comment Handle & Comment Window Button Context Menu

Item	Sub Item	Sub Item	KBD Shortcut	Icon	Comment
"Reply"			r	yes	Executes the command "reply to comment".
"Seperator"
"Delete Comment"			d	yes	Executes the command "delete comment"
"Delete All Comment by %1"			y	yes	Executes the command "delete all comments by author". %1 is replaced with the full name of the comments author.
"Delete All Comments"			a	yes	Executes the command "delete all comments"

Comment Window Edit Area Context Menu

Item	Sub Item	Sub Item	KBD Shortcut	Icon	Comment
"Reply"			r	yes	Executes the command "reply to comment".
"Seperator"
"Bold"			b	yes	Toggles the character formatting 'bold' for the current text selection. Disabled if text editing is not allowed or if the clipboard.
"Italic"			i	yes	Toggles the character formatting 'italic' for the current text selection. Disabled if text editing is not allowed or if the clipboard.
"Strikethrough"			s	yes	Toggles the character formatting 'strikethrough' for the current text selection. Disabled if text editing is not allowed or if the clipboard.
"Seperator"
"Copy"			c	yes	Copies the currently selected text to the clipboard. Disabled if no text is selected.
"Paste"			p	yes	Pastes the text from the clipboard. Disabled if text editing is not allowed or if the clipboard is empty.
"Seperator"
"Delete Comment"			d	yes	Executes the command "delete comment"
"Delete All Comment by %1"			y	yes	Executes the command "delete all comments by author". %1 is replaced with the full name of the comments author.
"Delete All Comments"			a	yes	Executes the command "delete all comments"

File Format

Opendocument

Having comments in presentation and drawing documents is not part of ODF 1.2 and prior versions. Therefore it will not be exported if "tools/options/load&save/odf format version" is not set to "1.2 Extended (recommended).

Migration

Due to a bug in previous OpenOffice.org versions, comments will be imported as callout shapes. Roundtrip with versions who correctly support this feature is not possible. It is suggested to only use this feature if all authors have a version that fully supports this feature and to remove all comments before the document gets published.

Feature Name Conflict with Writer and Calc Application

OpenOffice.org Writer and Calc already have the same functionality with the name 'Notes'. In Impress we already call the speaker notes 'Notes'. Therefore the feature will be renamed from 'Notes' to 'Comments' in both Writer and Calc.