Saturday, September 01, 2007

Exporting hi-resolution images from OpenOffice.org Draw

I can't use OpenOffice.org at work, so I try to use it for private stuff, as far as possible. Sometimes, though, I start wondering why ... In the my current version of OpenOffice Draw (2.0.4, updated to 2.2.1, still the same ), it is impossible to export an image in a different resolution than 96dpi. Unless one uses workarounds like eps+ghostscript, pdf, or a macro. I loaded an foto from my camera, 2272x1704 (4 MP), added some numbers and lines, and exported it into jpg, png etc. ... and got 1016x762. With different jpeg compression qualities, of course, but no different sizes. Joe pointed me to the OO QA tracker, issue 4499; a short summary:

  • the problem is known since May 2002
  • it was closed due to a misunderstanding of the problem in July 2002
  • reopened shortly after (OO 1.0)
  • since then, reasons for not fixing it have been given ... main problem: all filters need to be extended with the same functionality, thus, an extension to all the export dialogs needs to be requested, designed and implemented
  • last post, "No promises but I try to do something for 2.3 here"
(I just wonder why the export dialog is part of the filter, and not of the common export handling code.) Thanks to bryancole and jbarwick, there is one workaround: Take the following macro code, add it to OpenOffice, and run it ... It exports the current page (with white borders) or the current selection into a given .jpg file, with manual setting of resolution and quality. Maybe someone has a lot of time on his/her hands and wants to write a dialog that does the same? Sub ExportCurrentPageOrSelection REM Filter dependent filter properties Dim aFilterData (7) As New com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue Dim sFileUrl As String ' set the width and height you want aFilterData(0).Name = "PixelWidth" aFilterData(0).Value = 1704 aFilterData(1).Name = "PixelHeight" aFilterData(1).Value = 2272 ' no real idea what the logical width/height does ... and what units it is in? ' original was 140 and 98.89 ... aFilterData(2).Name ="LogicalWidth" aFilterData(2).Value = 1704 aFilterData(3).Name ="LogicalHeight" aFilterData(3).Value = 2272 ' jpeg quality aFilterData(4).Name ="Quality" aFilterData(4).Value = 85 aFilterData(5).Name = "ColorMode" aFilterData(5).Value = 0 aFilterData(6).Name = "ExportMode" aFilterData(6).Value = 1 ' resolution, for use when loading in another image application aFilterData(7).Name = "Resolution" aFilterData(7).Value = 600 ' the place to put it ... file:///C:/temp/image.jpg should work for Windooze sFileUrl = "file:///home/meself/export-1.jpg" REM A smart person would force this to be a Draw or Impress document xDoc = ThisComponent xView = xDoc.currentController xSelection = xView.selection If isEmpty( xSelection ) Then xObj = xView.currentPage Else xObj = xSelection End If Export( xObj, sFileUrl, aFilterData() ) End Sub Sub Export( xObject, sFileUrl As String, aFilterData ) Dim xExporter xExporter = createUnoService( "com.sun.star.drawing.GraphicExportFilter" ) xExporter.SetSourceDocument( xObject ) Dim aArgs (2) As New com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue Dim aURL As New com.sun.star.util.URL aURL.complete = sFileUrl aArgs(0).Name = "MediaType" aArgs(0).Value = "image/jpeg" aArgs(1).Name = "URL" aArgs(1).Value = aURL aArgs(2).Name = "FilterData" aArgs(2).Value = aFilterData xExporter.filter( aArgs() ) End Sub Note: OpenOffice.org 2.3.0 is out now (Sept 17th, 2007), yet this problem is unchanged.