Plan-B for Software Documentation

OpenOffice.org has released a bug fix release 2.3.1 for its popular Open Office productivity suite.

If you are using the product you should upgrade, especially if you use and exchange OOo Base database applications. Because up to release 2.3 the internal database application has a security risk that allows an attacker to execute raw Java code within the database. Basically he can do anything with it, from destroying your data to sending a copy to himself over the Internet.

So, do it quick, do it now and update OpenOffice.org to release 2.3.1.

I just learned that one needs to be careful when installing OpenOffice.org 2.3 on SuSE 10.X. Aparrently the packaging has changed so that you can install the various applications, such as Writer, Calc, Base and Impress, separately.

Here are the new screencast video topics for he week beginning August 27th. We did continue to concentrate on creating database applications with OpenOffice.org Base.

In some of the topics we create, rename, delete and manipulate "database objects". This is a generic term for table, form, view, query or report.

• How to open a generic database object using the toolbar,
• How to rename a generic database object using the toolbar,
• How to delete a generic database object using the toolbar,
• How to edit a generic database object using the toolbar,
• How to denife a new relationship between two tables,
• How to use the design view to create a new query,
• How to use the sql view to create a new query,
• How to add an extra field to a query,
• How to open the results of a query,
• How to copy a query to the clipboard,
• How to paste a query after cut or copy,
• How to rename query,
• How to resize a form element,
• How to rename a form from the application,
• How to delete a form from the application,
• How to access a form for data entry from the context menu,
• How to use a form to edit data records,
• How to enter new records into a table.
• How to delete a table row or record.

In addition we added new glossary entries for database table, form, form wizard, electronic form, database form, database form, table, database table, database record, field label, table-wizard.

This brings Plan-B for OpenOffice.org to 40 screencast videos for OpenOffice.org Base and 204 Open Office glossary terms.

Sun and the OpenOffice.org community found an agreement Pentaho to integrate business intelligence features into the next release of OpenOffice.org. Pentaho has recently integrated formerly separate open source projects JFreeReport, Mondrian, Kettle, and Weka to a powerful business intelligence server complete with reporting, analysis and OLAP capabilities.

The project offers a J2EE compliant reporting server, that can connect to many data sources and integrates workflow to create and distribute important report information to the authorized people in an enterprise. The project also offers a powerful report designer based on Eclipse and is modular so it can be integrated into other applications.

Apparently, Sun has decided it will build a Report designer of its own that defines reports in Pentaho’s formats. These reports will draw data from the Pentaho business intelligence server as well as from other sources.

If you want to see how example the integration of OLAP features into an Excel spreadsheet could look like, watch the demos of Jedox Palo Server a repository and OLAP server for Excel spreadsheets. These demos cover a specific case of OLAP and Spreadsheet integration, which I think is one possible use of the OpenOffice.org Business Inteligence integration project. However, it makes the abstract term of business intelligence more concrete. By the way Palo announced at the beginning of the year that it seeks sponsors to build a spreadsheet server for OpenOffice Calc. The sponsors role is to help cover the cost of open source development and to become first users.

The OpenOffice.org community has released their latest version today.

The new release 2.2 has better integration of Microsoft Vista UI elements, as well as improved Apple OS X support, such as smaller installed size and many stability improvements.

On the functional side there are new features in Pivot tables and trigonometric functions for Calc spreadsheets. Spreadsheets also improve interoperability with MS Excel. For the database fan, Base got new “Query in Query” features and improved SQL editing in general. In addition, support for various ODBC drivers has been improved. Impress, the presentation application has improved handling of hidden slides.

All users might see improved character rendering, because the kerning feature, to boost readability of proportional fonts, is now on by default. Making documents look good also touches PDF with improved font handling and added bookmarks. You can now even add form-fields to your PDF.

With the latest update OpenOffice.org has also plugged some vulnerabilities to boost security from hackers.

ZDNet blogger Dana Blankenhorn points to new tutorials for OpenOffice.org by InPics.

InPictures covers several OpenOffice.org applications, such as Writer, Base and Impress.

While the tutorials are basic they are certainly helpful. Interesting is that Dana reports these have been made available with funding from the US Department of Education.

InPictures has published four new books covering OpenOffice.org

• Base 2.0,
• Writer 2.0,
• Calc 2.0,
• Impress 2.0.

InPictures follows an unusual concept: [Its] computer how-to books are based on pictures, not text. The company states Most computer books contain over 50,000 words. In Pictures books contain one-tenth as many.

Best of all, the books are cheap, dirt cheap For a limited time, In Pictures books can be downloaded for free.