Episode: 1695
Title: HPR1695: 46 - LibreOffice Calc - The Object Model and Using Templates
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr1695/hpr1695.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-18 07:49:46

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It's Friday 30th of January 2015, this in HP are episode 1695 titled 46 Libra Office
Hulk, the object model, and using templates, and is part of the series, Libra Office.
It is hosted by a huker, and is about 25 minutes long.
Feedback can be sent to Swilnik at Swilnik.com, or by leaving a comment on this episode.
The summary is, of the standing the object model, and how templates work.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by Ananasthos.com, get 15% discount on all shared hosting
with the offer code HPR15, that's HPR15.
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Hello, this is Hukka, welcoming you to Hacker Public Radio and another exciting episode
in our series on Libra Office Calc.
I want to build on the introduction we did last time and do a slightly deeper dive into
the whole thing of templates, and also to bring up again the idea of the object model.
I think that's important to understanding how all of this stuff works.
Now I've noticed that many of the explanations I've seen for using styles and templates,
whether it's Libra Office, Open Office, Microsoft Office, what have you, almost always they
start with styles.
Now that can be a problem if you don't recall that styles always live inside of templates.
So I prefer to cover the use of templates first, so that when you start working with styles,
you know how to store your work properly for future use.
There could be nothing more annoying than investing a lot of time in creating styles and
discovering that they've disappeared.
Get the right end first, create the templates and then create styles inside of the templates,
save them with the templates, then you're going to be golden here.
Now I said in the last tutorial, templates can be understood as a container for a number of
settings, most particularly styles.
This follows the object model, which I always think of that it's a lot like those Russian dolls
that, one inside of another, the file for your spreadsheet is an object.
It contains individual sheets, which are objects.
Each sheet contains cells, which are objects, and each cell contains various characters,
which are objects, which can be used to represent numbers, formulas, addresses, labels, and so on.
Now objects exhibit two features we always want to keep on in mind.
First objects have properties that are particular to the kind of object.
The properties of a file might include who the author is, where the file resides on the system,
and the access restrictions, like making the file password protected, and so on.
The properties of each sheet might include things like the name of the sheet,
the orientation, such as landscape versus portrait, headers and footers, etc.
Then the properties of the cell might include the type of cell and how it is formatted,
like text, currency, general number, etc., and finally the properties of the character include
the font family, font style, font size, and so on.
Now the second general characteristic in the object model is inheritance,
which says that any object will tend to inherit the properties of the object, which contains it.
In some cases, that can be overridden, as when you have a sheet with cells that are generally
set to be numbers, and then override on a particular cell to make it text.
The reason this matters is that very often people get confused about why something is happening
in their spreadsheet or their document or their presentation. This is a very general point
that we're making here. The reason usually is that they have not thought through how properties
are propagated through the object model. If the setting is in the template, you cannot make
the change properly unless you know exactly where to look. As we address styles, we can develop
this idea further. When you create a template and populate it with styles, you have created
you are setting default properties for the spreadsheet file you are creating.
In general, there are two kinds of templates you can work with.
Most often you would use a default template, which is the standard you would have every time you
open the application and start a new spreadsheet. The other kind is a special purpose template
that is created to address a particular need. Now in the out-of-the-box installation of
LibreOffice, you start out pretty bare. But as you create templates and install templates from
other sources, your options will increase. Let's take a look now at some of the basic template
operations. The first one is creating a template. Open a spreadsheet file that you want to make into
a template. Add the content and styles you want to have in it, then go to File, Save as template.
This will open the template manager. If you see an icon for the My Templates folder,
double-click it to open this folder, then click the Save button. Give your template a name,
click OK and your template will be saved into this folder.
Now among the things you can put into a template are printer settings,
like single versus double-sided printing, paper size, and of course, page styles and cell styles.
We will cover the specifics of these styles in a subsequent tutorial.
Note that you can also put in text that you want to have. So you could be creating a template
for instance an expense report that you want everyone to be using in your organization.
You can put in text in a bunch of cells and just have people fill in numbers later and have those
the text and all of those cells as being a part of the template. Be very handy.
Now once you have a template, you want to create a file. Now if you just open up a calc
from scratch or you just click the new button without thinking, you will get a copy of the
default template. But if you want to use one of these templates you've created, what you have to
do when you open up calc is go to the File menu, go to New and then select templates from there.
If you just click the new button, you're getting default. So that's why you need to go to the File
menu to new to templates and then open up the template manager. Now in the template manager go
to the spreadsheet tab and click all templates, if it is not already selected, if you don't see it,
it's already selected. Double click the folder that contains the template you want to use and
double click on the template to create a file based on it. Now if you're uncertain which template
you want, note that you can select a template and click on the properties button to bring up the
template properties window and inspect the properties. So that can be helpful in determining which
one you want to be working with. Now once you have a template, you might want to edit it at some
point. Maybe make some modifications, maybe you want to make a new template based on this one
with just a few changes. All of these are things you can do through editing.
To edit a template, you open the template manager by going to the File menu to new to templates.
Select the Spreadsheets tab and click all templates to reveal your folders. Then double click the
folder that contains the template you want to edit. Select the template, click the edit button,
then make your edits and go to File Save to save your changes.
Note that as with writer, a template you are editing looks just like a regular file,
but you will know that you are in a template by looking at the very top to the title bar.
The name of the file is always in the top left of the screen. When you are in a regular spreadsheet
file, the file name has an extension ODS, which stands for Open Document Spreadsheet.
But when you are in a template, the extension changes to OTS and the T is there to signify template.
Note that if you are editing a template that you have used previously to create a file,
LibreOffice remembers this fact. The next time you open the file, you will be given an opportunity
to update the file to the new template. But you only see this once since LibreOffice remembers
the answer you gave. There is a macro you can use to re-enable the updating, but that's an advanced
topic. I don't plan to get into that right now. If you need it, do a web search. It is in the
documentation. Now, how about adding a downloaded template using extension manager? This is another
technique you might want to use. Now, as most Linux users know, in Linux, you have things called
package managers that let you install software packages that have been created for that purpose.
There is a similar capability in LibreOffice to add templates through the extension manager.
In fact, the extension manager handles more than just templates. You can also install macros,
graphics, and other add-ins through this mechanism. To see some of what is available,
look at the extension site, which is extension.libreoffice.org. There will be a link in the show notes.
What you need to look for is a file with the OXT extension.
Oscar X-ray Tango, OXT. This indicates that it has been properly packaged for the extension
manager to handle. To install an extension, and for now, we're going to assume it's a template,
find the template you want, and download it. Verify that it does have an OXT extension.
Go to Tools, Menu, Extension Manager to open the extension manager, then click Add. Find the file,
probably in your Downloads file, but that's really up to how you configure your browser.
And click Open. Depending on the template, you may be asked to accept a license agreement,
but if you're looking at the above site from LibreOffice.org, those will all be free software.
When installation is complete, the template will be listed in the template manager,
and in the extension manager. Now, one thing you want to watch out for in downloading extensions
is the version they are compatible with. These things may be backwards compatible, meaning if it
worked once it will continue to work, but not always. Each template is listed with a latest release
compatible note, which tells you when it was last tested. Now, you may be okay with a template that
is close to the version you are running, but the farther away the less likely this is.
For example, as I was writing this, I was using LibreOffice 4.1.6.2,
and I wrote this some months before it actually gets broadcast on Hacker Public Radio.
If I saw a template that said 4.0, I'd give it a shot. If it says 3.4, I would at least be
cautious. It probably won't do anything worse than just not work, but be advised.
If you see something that looks like it might be useful, click on the name of the template,
and a page will open with more information. I looked at one that said there's not a stable release
yet, so this may be a work in progress. Also, look for if it's being maintained.
Another I clicked on had a warning batter that said it had not had a release in a year and
might not be an active development. Is that a problem? Well, given that the underlying software
keeps changing, I would say yes. When I started this series, I was on LibreOffice 3.4.
When I wrote this tutorial, I was on 4.1. 4.3 has just been released. LibreOffice is a very
actively developed suite, and I know that they're working on 4.4 right now.
So look for templates that are current and actively in development for the best results,
and don't be surprised if a template you have used for a while starts to show problems.
That's just the nature of software changing, honestly.
Another thing you should bear in mind is that ApacheOpenOffice.org and LibreOffice are mostly
the same, and templates developed for one can be used in the other.
So here's some that you might want to look at that are ApacheOpenOffice.org templates,
and I want to thank my friend Andrew Pataniak for these suggestions. And by the way,
if you ever see a post by Andrew on a mailing list or online, he's a real expert at this stuff.
So the first one is the Professional Template Pack English, a collection of templates for Apache Open
Office.org has templates for writer, calc, and impress. They're very good. The calc templates include,
for instance, a class schedule template and several templates for managing tournaments.
I know, that's something that you have a need for, it's worth knowing.
And then there's a Professional Template Pack 2 English. Similarly, this one adds templates for
calc that are business related, such as a marketing budget template, a startup capital estimate
template, and a project planning template. So if you are searching for possible templates,
and other things, remember to check ApacheOpenOffice.org, as well as LibreOffice.
You can find some good stuff there.
Now another thing, suppose you've found a template that you've not been able to find a template
that's packaged as an extension, there are alternatives. Many templates are available as .OTS
files. Now to add this to your template selections, just open the template manager by going to
File, Menu, New, Templates. Open your My Templates folder if it is not already open.
And then look for the Import button. This opens a Standard File Manager window.
Go to where your downloaded .OTS file is, select it, and click Open.
So with that in mind, let's take a look at a candidate you might want to download. It is called
Account ID Manager, and is used to maintain a list of your accounts and passwords.
Of course, one of the things you should be concerned with in this case is the security of your data.
And this template page explains how you can password encrypt the file using AES256 encryption,
which is very good. It says it was tested with LibreOffice 4.0, so it looks like a good candidate,
and it says it was updated for LibreOffice 4.0, which suggests to me that it is being maintained.
So I click on the Get Account ID Manager for all platforms link to download.
This places the file in my Downloads directory. I look at the file, it has an OTS extension,
so I know I need to use the Import function. I follow the procedure outlined above,
go to my Downloads folder, and soon I have a new template in my Templates folder called Account ID
Manager 3-L. Now, note that it says Get Account ID Manager for all platforms. This is a good time
to just remind you once again that LibreOffice is available on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh,
and it is just as functional on all of those, and your templates are interchangeable,
so you can create a template on one platform, and then import it into another one, and you're good
to go. So that's always worth bearing in mind, if you were like our friend Nightwise and our
cross-platform slider, as many of us are, it's worth knowing that you can do that.
Now, the next technique I want to look at making a template.
Now, you can make one from an ODS file. Remember ODS is just a spreadsheet document,
it's just something you've created, and I've seen files offered as templates that are really
just spreadsheet files. One that I found that looked interesting to me because my day job is
project management, it's called Gantt Chart Template. I checked and it was released March 27th,
2014, and the latest release was validated against LibreOffice 4.2, so it was extremely current.
It might cause a problem if it relies on features only found in 4.2, since this machine is still
on 4.1, but I thought it was worth a shot, so I downloaded it. In this case, it was an ODS file.
Now, this can be added using the import function in the template manager, in most cases,
but the alternative solution is to open it as a spreadsheet, then save it as a template by going
to the file menu and selecting save as template. Now, the fault template. Of course, as we saw
with writer, once you know how to set up a template to do what you need, you will probably want
to create your own default template. Remember that this is the template that will be used if you
simply click file new spreadsheet or click the new icon or press control plus n without specifying
a template. The default that comes with LibreOffice 5.2 is featureless, and when you understand how to
customize, you will want to add your own touches. To do this, create a template with all the features
you want and save it to your My Templates folder, or really whichever folder you like,
open the template manager, highlight the template to select it, and then click the set as default
button. If you later decide this was a mistake and you want to go back to the plain vanilla
default that comes built in, go to the template manager, look for the icon of a gear in the upper right,
click on it and select reset default template, spreadsheet, and you will have it back as the default.
Now, if you really get into using templates, you may find that putting all of them into the My Templates
folder is not satisfactory. And the template manager allows you to do a little more organizing,
if you wish, open to your My Templates folder, select a template, and then click move to folder.
If you already have a folder to move it to, just select it, but of course the first time you
will want to use the new folder option that appears in the drop down menu. Now, what about exporting?
Exporting is something you might want to do for two reasons. First, if you are creating a template
for use by a group of people, you need to export it so you can share it. Second,
if you want to use it on multiple machines, which is something I frequently do,
this lets you copy the template to as many machines as you like.
You can even export it as a file that you place in Dropbox for easy moving and sharing.
To export a template, open the template manager then open the folder containing the template
and select the template. Click the export button above the list of templates.
This will open the standard file manager and you can choose where to save the file.
Now a closing thought. This pretty much wraps up the topic of working with templates
and it sets us up for the next topic, which is styles. The point is that styles must be saved
within a template and that's why I covered templates first. Whether you're creating a template from
scratch, adapting one that you have already created, or are working with one you downloaded,
you need to know these things. My suggestion is that you prepare for the next few tutorials by
creating your own defaults template and saving it right now. Then as we go through styles,
you can edit that template to add your refinements. As I did with writer, I created mine
as KLB default and when I'm done, I will share it to my other machines.
So next time is page styles. So this is a hookah for hacker public radio. I'm signing off on this
episode reminding you is always to support free software. Bye bye.
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