Re: AbiWord 2.6 Plans / new functions

Hi Marco,

marco.hoedtke@gmx.de wrote:
> I have tried out Abiword with eXist open source xml-db (www.exist-db.org,
> xmldb-compliant, runs on a variety of OS). AbiWord .abw files can be
> imported into the xml-db without problem. Since eXist can act as a webdav
> server, it is possible to open .abw files directly on the server in
> read-only mode via the internet explorer. They cannot be stored directly
> to the server, though, because AbiWord lacks webdav client functionality.
>
> How about implementing a webdav client into AbiWord? This would give
> AbiWord really unique features. I could imagine the following
> functionalities:
>
> - open/save dialog
> - xquery dialog with the resultset directly in AbiWord (maybe even
> updateable?)
> - dialog for the creation of additional non-printing markup as
> meta-information. Already now it is possible to add inline-elements to
> .abw files using a text editor. For example, I placed a <docinfo/>
> inline-element into a <p/> element like this:
>
> <p>...some text ...<docinfo type="note" keyword="collective editing">
> ...some text ... </docinfo>...some text ...</p>
>
> Abiword opens the file without any problems. The inline-markup doesn't
> have any obvious effect.
>
> This would add some unique functions to AbiWord which other word-processor
> do not have so far i.e. the ability of collective file editing
> (webdav-functionality) and enhanced ability of information retrieval via
> xpath / xquery.

This sounds very interesting; Martin is currently working on
implementation of real-time peer collaborative editing of AW documents,
and to have the ability to edit documents stored on a central server
would nicely compliment that feature.

> Unfortunetally, I only have very basic experience as a C++ programmer. But
> I could do some work on specification and documentation.

OK, why don't you put togethe a draft spec document that would make it
clear what would be required and involved, so we can have a more
informed debate over this. (I do have to warn you that we are a very
small team, so I cannot guarantee we will pursue it, but collaborative
features are high on our priority list for 2.6.)

Tomas

                
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Received on Sat Dec 3 13:36:51 2005