PhotoAlbum

Description

This extension was born from the need of a tool that automated the creation of presentations from a selection of images, in a way that these presentations could then be shared without problems (in other existing extensions, the images were just linked, not really inserted into the document, so that moving the file around would break the images inside).

Based on other extensions like "PhotoAlbum with GUI" by andreykord, I started my own extension introducing the following variations:

• Images are embedded into the document, not just linked, so that the presentation becomes "portable".
• Automated use of Sun Presentation Minimizer: if this extension is also installed and enabled, you can optimize the file size on the fly, even without prompting this extension's GUI.
• I added a progress bar for the process of inserting pictures. However, I couldn't do the same for image compression with Sun Presentation Minimizer, as I don't know a way to monitorize this process.
• Translated into Catalan, English, French (this one thanks to Christophe Catarina) and Spanish, with language autodetection.
• Options are stored into a configuration file and reloaded on next execution.
• Image filtering is always applied to file selection; also is natural sort to the selected file list. I did not use regular expression filtering.
• Even though this extension creates a toolbar button on OpenOffice.org, you can call the program from the command line like this:
  • On Unix-like systems (like GNU/Linux):

    soffice macro:///PortablePhotoAlbum.Main.Main

  • On Windows:

    "(path to your OpenOffice.org installation)\program\soffice.exe" macro:///PortablePhotoAlbum.Main.Main

    (It's a single line. You can make a direct link to this command or make a .bat file with it, just remember to wrap the first element with double quotes if it has more than one word)
• Thus, the idea is to generate a new file every time, you cannot append images to an open existing file, at least by now. However, there is the option of fetching a "template" presentation; this mainly allows you to set a predetermined background for your presentations.

This extension was wrote in 2010 for OpenOffice.org, but has been successfully tested for LibreOffice 3.5.1.2 in GNU/Linux.

How to modify this extension:

It's an extension programmed in LibreOffice Basic (formerly OpenOffice.org Basic). To modify it, once installed you can go to Impress' menu "Extras" -> "Macros" -> "Mange Macros" -> "LibreOffice Basic..." and then select for editing any of the macros inside "PortablePhotoAlbum" in "My Macros". The LibreOffice Basic editor will open. And for publicate or share your version, I would suggest using Paolo Mantovani's BasicAddonBuilder extension (as I did) to generate your add-on file.