Fields

A field in an OpenOffice.org document has two appearances: the content of the field and the definition of the field. You can switch between these two appearances using Ctrl+F9.

Fields can be recalculated manually by using the F9 key or automatically when the document is printed. For most fields the recalculation will show the new contents.

example

An automatically updated Date field would look on paper like:

Tue, October 7, 2003

Whereas its field definition looks like:

Date

ITP instructions in fields

Some properties of certain field definitions can contain ITP instructions. It is for example possible to set a variable (with the Set variable field) where the name of the variable contains an ITP expression, for example a field from the database. When the model is ran ITP will resolve this ITP expression.

The following fields can contain ITP instructions:

• Placeholder can contain an ITP expression for the Placeholder property.
• Conditional text can contain an ITP expression for the Condition property.
• Hidden text/Hidden paragraph can contain an ITP expression for the Condition property.
• Reference fields can contain an ITP expression for the Condition property.
• Variable field can contain an ITP expression for the Name property.
• Bookmark references: Special, refer to the Bookmarks topic.

If the model is run ITP will replace the ITP expression with a correct field expression. OpenOffice.org will have to recalculate the field before the content is displayed correctly.

Note

Fields are not updated automatically when you open a document. You can indicate if fields have to be updated while printing a document.