GSOC 2013: LibreOffice Firebird SQL Connector

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Andrzej Hunt

Yesterday I found out that I’d been accepted into the Google Summer of Code 2013 to work on LibreOffice! Many thanks to the Mentors for accepting me!

My project involves implementing an SDBC driver for the Firbird SQL Database for LO Base, with a view to having this replace the current default of HSQLDB, which depends on Java, meaning that Java could the eventually be removed as a fixed dependency for full LibreOffice functionality. Further to this I’d also be looking at migratiom of files from HSQLDB to Firebird, and also implementing some unit tests for the database functionality, something that has been previously been missing from LO Base. (Currently .odb files use HSQLDB for their internal database, although it is also possible to use other external databases — this connector would mean that future .odb files would use Firebird internally.) There are a number of other developers who are also working on this at the moment, meaning development should be fast and exciting!

I’m currently concentrating on exams which finish at the end of the next week, after which I’ll be free to work on this full time. I’ll also be continuing with the Firefox OS Impress Remote which I started work on some time ago (but this will be completely independent of the GSOC). I now have a Firefox Phone meaning I can get on to testing things on actual hardware, and have also been doing some experimentation on implementing the UI using jQuery mobile, meaning something testable/usable isn’t too far away.

Continuing on from my GSOC project last year, there are two fellow students working on the Impress Remote this summer: Artur Dryomov will be working improving the Impress Remote / Current app, Siqi Liu will be working on an iOS version of the remote app.

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Posted in GSOC2013, LibreOffice

Some Find Bar Improvements

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Andrzej Hunt

The LibreOffice Find Bar has gained “Match Case” and “Find All” buttons to match the functionality of it’s Firefox Equivalent:

LibreOffice Find Bar

The “Match Case” checkbox has made it into 4.1, I’m not sure whether the “Find All” will make it as it was created after the deadline for including new features in 4.1.

I’m also working on a slight bug affecting the up/down search in the find bar where the search “gets stuck” when changing search direction.

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Impress Remote for Firefox OS — Proof of Concept

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Andrzej Hunt

I’ve started working on a version of the Impress Remote for Firefox OS. It currently only supports using TCP (i.e. Wifi or wired network), I’m going to start working on adding Bluetooth support once I get hold of some suitable hardware, probably later this month.

Most of the backend has been done, and a basic app exists:

I’m now starting to work on a proper User Interface which will be based on that of the Android Impress Remote.

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Posted in FirefoxOS, LibreOffice

Impress Remote first icon

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt

More good news: the Libreoffice Design Team has come up with a first prototype icon for the remote (I hear they are working on further versions) — here’s a screenshot in context:

Most of the development recently has been on improving the general reliability, stability and usability of the app. It’s looking highly likely that the first official release will be as part of Libreoffice 3.7 which arrives in November.

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Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice

Bluetooth on Windows for Impress Remote

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt

Windows users will be glad to know that Impress Remote now supports bluetooth on windows, albeit only using the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack, and not (at least for the moment) any of the other stacks. I am however looking into adding support for the Widcomm stack, and maybe even the Bluesoleil stack. Control over wifi/network also works on windows now.

(I believe that Mac bluetooth support is also being worked on, although I currently can’t give any more information on that. Due to a lack of a Mac I can’t really work on that. I believe that control over Wifi/Network works, but haven’t personally tested that yet.)

In further news: the app is continually improving, and becoming more usable. On Friday I finally managed to fix a bug causing a flickering/endless looping when slides were changed too vigorously. I’m now trying to iron out other niggles as well as make the user interface look the way it should.

Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice

Bluetooth in Impress Remote

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt

The Impress Remote Control now supports bluetooth, albeit currently only on Linux machines. I’m going to be adding windows support as soon as the bluetooth dongle for my windows desktop arrives. In the meantime I’ve been working on a bit of cleanup, and have also added the option of manually adding servers for connection (e.g. in case discovery fails for whatever reason):

In addition to that the app now automatically detects when it’s on an emulator, meaning it can also be tested almost fully on the emulator.

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Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice

The latest “about” Impress Remote

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt

I’ve doing a fair bit of background work on the Impress Remote, involving a tedious couple of days getting pairing functioning correctly and reliably, and refactoring various services.

For example, now you can control which remotes can control your presentation (incidentally, all remotes are called “Bob” at the moment — that will be changed):

And of course an about screen, which may yet be improved:

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Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice

Impress Remote — Dialog

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt

The last few days I’ve been working on the dialog which is used to allow a client to connect to libreoffice, here’s a very early screenshot:

This screen will also have a pin input added to allow authentication (i.e. to prevent any random person who happens to be on the network to control your presentation).
In other new, I have now set up a build on windows, meaning I’ll be able to test that the remote works there too without problems.
Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice

Finding a computer to control

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt

On Friday I implemented the finding and almost the choosing of servers from the app — almost since a list of servers appears, but selection doesn’t yet actually do anything yet.

I’m currently testing on a tablet, hence the rather wide screen. (Also bluetooth isn’t currently available — it is only appears as a placeholder on the screen currently — but should be enabled later on this summer.)
Remote control over a real network, rather than using the emulator also works, although currently the ip address is hardcoded, which is where the selection screen I just implemented will come in.
Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice

Impress Remote — Configure and Pause

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Andrzej Hunt
Yesterday I added the ability to pause a presentation, which results in this screen being shown:

There is also a very basic configuration screen, which lets you enable slide switching using the volume buttons, and to change the computer that you are connected to.
Posted in GSOC2012, LibreOffice