[Solved] Reference input field?

[Villeroy]

Input fields as described here: https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Docume ... put_fields
I want the entered text to appear in several places of my document.

I see that there are only negative answers on this forum.

[jrkrideau]

I had the feeling that I got it to work about 8 or 10 years ago but I cannot seem to get it to work today. I wonder if the wiki is out of date or do we have a bug?

I cannot seem to get a function to appear in the Insert List.

Edit: Have a look at the User Field. It may do something useful.

[RoryOF]

There is an article at
https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux ... penoffice/
and a linked (complex?) example from that page at
http://b2b.cbsimg.net/downloads/Frye/Ap ... ackage.zip

[MrProgrammer]

I began with the Dummy Text, dt → F3. Replacing the first word, "He", I created a user field, Insert → Fields → Other → Variables → Type=User field → Name=SC → Value=He → Format=Text → Insert → Close. I selected the field, Edit → copy. I selected the other occurances of "He" and used Edit → Paste. At the beginning of the document, I typed "Subject capitalized: " then Insert → Fields → Other → Variables → Type=Input field → Name=SC → Reference=SC → Insert → OK.

I repeated this process creating/pasting three additonal fields S, O, and P for "he" (lower case), "him", and "his". Now if I double click the four input fields at the beginning and change them to "She", "she", "her", and "her", the gender of the paragraph is changed. Is this what you want to do?

The field names were chosen as SC = Subject Capitalized, S = Subject, O = Object, P = Possessive.

Edit: Clarified that one must use the Variables section of the Insert → Fields dialog.

[Villeroy]

There is an article at
https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux ... penoffice/
and a linked (complex?) example from that page at
http://b2b.cbsimg.net/downloads/Frye/Ap ... ackage.zip

Thank you. That worked. There is an iInput field on the "Functions" tab and one on the "Variables" tab. Only the second one can be used as a variable as MrProgrammer demonstrates so nicely.

[jrkrideau]

So, at the moment, the "Functions" option seem unusable?

It is also possible to do a "replace all" by redefining the entry in the User Field.

[Villeroy]

So, at the moment, the "Functions" option seem unusable?

It works as a single instance. If you want to enter something once and reuse it anywhere, you have to use the variable input field. IMHO, the single-instance text field would be obsolete if it can not provide any additional functionality. So far I can't see any reason why one should use the single-instance instead of the variable. That doesn't mean much since my mind becomes dizzy when I spend too much time with Writer.

It is also possible to do a "replace all" by redefining the entry in the User Field.

I can edit any single instance of the variable field for all instances by a double-click.
I can also use Ctrl+Shift+F9 to trigger the little input dialog to query all input fields of both types.

[jrkrideau]

So far I can't see any reason why one should use the single-instance instead of the variable.

Exactly.

my mind becomes dizzy when I spend too much time with Writer.

Indeed, but you would be raving and screaming if you had to use Word, speaking from experience.

It may be time to move to an alternative, but highly reliable word processing approach : Wordprocessing

[Villeroy]

It may be time to move to an alternative, but highly reliable word processing approach : Wordprocessing

Where is the backspace key on that device?

[RoryOF]

It's known as "striking out" or "obliteration". Its spellcheck is often very uncertain, but the layout can be extremely flexible.

[MrProgrammer]

It may be time to move to an alternative, but highly reliable word processing approach : Wordprocessing

Export to PDF is still under development, but Cut/Paste and Copy/Paste are available. I find it better than File → New → Formula in many situations.

[jrkrideau]

It may be time to move to an alternative, but highly reliable word processing approach : Wordprocessing

Where is the backspace key on that device?

Combined with suitable recording media, parchment and vellum are recommended for long term storage, a pumice stone is highly recommended.