OpenOffice.org BASIC Guide - OpenOffice.org wiki

Doc = ThisComponent
StyleFamilies = Doc.StyleFamilies
CellStyles = StyleFamilies.getByName("CellStyles")
For I = 0 To CellStyles.Count - 1
CellStyle = CellStyles(I)
MsgBox CellStyle.Name
Next I
Styles and Templates
The loop added since the previous example displays the names of all cell styles one after another in a message
box.
Note – The reference CellStyles(I) corresponds to the method getByIndex(), which is optional for these
style container objects. It may not be available in all types of documents. The method getByName() is
mandatory, and should always be available.
Details about various formatting options
Each type of style provides a whole range of individual formatting properties. Here is an overview of the most
important formatting properties and the points at which they are explained:
Character properties,
com.sun.star.style.CharacterProperties service
Paragraph properties,
com.sun.star.text.Paragraph service
Cell properties,
com.sun.star.table.CellProperties service
Page properties,
com.sun.star.style.PageProperties service
Character element properties,
Various services
The format properties are by no means restricted to the applications in which these are explained, but instead can
be used universally. For example, most of the page properties described in Spreadsheets can therefore be used not
only in OpenOffice.org Calc, but also in OpenOffice.org Writer.
More information about working with styles can be found in the Default values for character and paragraph
properties section in Text Documents.
Templates
Templates are auxiliary documents. They provide a very convenient way to store, maintain, and distribute styles,
macros, boiler-plate text, and other useful things.
Document and Template Types
Each major type of OpenOffice.org document has its own associated template type. In general, and for styles in
particular, you can access information within a template in the same way you would access the same information
in the associated document type. In other words, code (like the above examples) that works in a particular
document type should also work for the associated template type.
Automatic Update
Most template types – Draw templates are the exception – have an automatic-update feature. If a style in the
template has been changed, and you open a document created with that template, you will see a message asking
whether to update the styles in the document. If you click on Yes, the new or changed styles will be copied into
the document. Styles deleted from the template are not removed from documents.
A problem may arise if you click on No: the styles will not be updated, and the automatic-update feature will be
turned off. As of OpenOffice.org Version 3.1, this status does not show in the GUI, nor is there any GUI way to
re-enable the feature. (For Writer documents only, you can use the Template Changer extension to set this feature
again.)
Chapter 5 · Working with Documents 67