From: "JohnnieMiller" on 13 Apr 2010 21:07 i'm using OpenOffice.Org version 3.2.0, build 9483 i have a suggestion for you. Throughout the entire OpenOffice.Org program, in all the apps - writer, calc, base, etc.. and in all the supporting stuff..the help files, the preferences thingy, everywhere. Everywhere there are these horriffic drop down boxes that remember what you last typed in that particular drop down box. In the find and replace boxes there are these monsterous drop down boxes that remember all the things you typed in the box before. So, lets say you've been using some field that has this vicious feature where it remembers everything you typed in the, and then it COMBINES that crazymaking drop down box with all you've typed before with a narly little creeping thing that when you type the first letter of something that is in the drop down box then whatever was the rest of that entry in that drop down box magically appears and clutters up your field with the wrong data if you're trying to enter something new. and this is where the screaming insanity maker begins. Often in these fields you type things that are very similar but different. but when you're busy typing and you put in the correct thing in these whirling dirveshes of swirling insanity what happens is these drop down boxes plus the auto fill feature always, ALWAYS conspire to screw it up. You don't realize that what you typed got ignored cause it was similar to something already in the drop down box and your first few letters caused the auto feature to pop up some junk that you typed two hours ago and is totally irrelevant now but because that bit of data that auto fills happens to be longer than what you really need and what you type you don't notice that it leaves garbage there on the end and you hit enter and its your migrane begins to tingle in the back of your mind. you type what you want again and again the autofill overrules you in this partial way that screws it all up. then you stop and give all your attention away from the very very important document you're working on that must be in court tomorrow and it already nearly midnight and now you have to stop and focus on this itty bitty box that keeps filling up with wrong data you typed earlier and you make sure, you make SURE you type it right, and low and behold it changes before your eyes cause some characters those boxes down like and it just goes haywire. after a half hour of trying to stop this nonsense and you hunt all through the help documentation and the preferences and everything for the OFF button. WHERE IN THE WORLD CAN YOU SET A GLOBAL PREFERENECE TO STOP REMEMBERING EVERYTHING IN EVERY LITTLE DATA FIELD AND TURNING IT INTO A DROP DOWN LIST OF NEARLY USELESS INFORMATION IN EVERY SINGLE FIELD, USELESS INFO FROM HOURS AGO OR IT WAS WRONG A SECOND A GO AND NOW THE LITTLE MONSTER BOX HAS ANOTHER THING IT PLAYS YOU WITH. THE LISTS GET LONGER FULL OF BAD DATA THAT PILE UP FROM YOU JUST TRYING TO GET PAST THAT AUTO FILL DEMON FROM YOU KNOW WHERE. I've looked at those boxes and i realized that they are sort of nice when you don't get into that insanity with them for the occassional time it would be nice not to have to retype those six characteres again (though that savings become moot when you get into one of the aformentioned fights with the auto fill drop down leearing weasels). I looked at what happens to me and there is so little time savings that they are not worth it at all to me. I doubt that in the real world, with all their problems and autofill madness they actually save any time at all. I say to you that even though it may fly in the face of what a programmer would think a user would want, i think these drop down auto fill grizzlies actually take up MORE time to faniggle over and over and over and over and over on every single thing everywhere. what i would suggest is that you take two actions, one, make a global option THAT IS EASY TO FIND AND NOT BURIED IN THAT VAST PREFERENCES THING THAT GOES ON FOREVER AND DESCRIBES EACH PREFERENCE SETTING IN THE MOST OBTUSE AND NONSENSICAL MANNER POSSIBLE and clearly describes what the setting is for, or this might be a per moduale setting. two, re-idea the auto fill concept. re-imagine it. re-invent it. what makes autofill work is that when it saves that half second of data entry time its nice, but the fundamental flaw of auto fill as your program presents the concept is that when you only need to enter a short amount of data but that short bit of data is equall to a longer bit of data lurking in the bowels of yesterdays work that you already forgot but is just there waiting to bite you in that drop down auto fill box, the auto fill doesn't know you're done typing and it fills in the longer bad data you don't want this time. then you hit enter without noticing or you try and get that jigger of a drunken bit of longer wrong data out of that box and it just seems to stick in there like the crud in the corner of a pan you can't seem to get cleaned out. you try to delete it with the delete key and that data just laughs at you, you try to type over it and the data just comes back faster, eventually you are screaming at the computer and clawing at the screen foaming at the mouth trying in desperation to get that bad data out of the auto fill. but to no avail. you just have to stop and give up and hope that when you come in tomorrow the fingers you bloodied during all that clawing at the screen won't have become so swollen up that you know tommorrow's drop down boxes with auto fill but no way to turn them off and they are everywhere, well, you know that tomorrow will be another bad day. Thats it. Hopefully I didn't put too fine a point on it. I made a point of only giving you the facts and nothing but the facts. Clean, clear,crisp and to the point. Clarity free from editorialism. yep, in law circles i think this would be a fine example of "Reason free from passion". Case made. Now I hope you'll fix it before you close the case on DropDown AutoFill Madness. Johnnie Miller Mineola, Tx johnniemiller(a)fastmail.fm --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: discuss-unsubscribe(a)openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: discuss-help(a)openoffice.org
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