[Bug 97080] FILEOPEN: Need broader filter for delimited text files ("Text CSV" only includes *.csv)

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97080

--- Comment #4 from Kohei Yoshida <libreoffice@kohei.us> ---
I'm the original author of the part of the detection code that handles generic
text file type.

We need to be careful not to confuse format "types" and "filters".  A type only
refers to a format type such as HTML, plain text etc, and is not tied to a
specific application such as Writer or Calc.  A filter OTOH is tied to a single
application.  We have one plain text filter for Writer and one plain text
filter for Calc.  The one for Writer treats all plain text files equally
whereas the one for Calc treats all plain text files equally as CSV, regardless
of extension.  OTOH, we only have one generic text type that's application
agnostic.  During detection phase, when a plain text "type" is detected, it
does its best to tie that to a specific filter which in turn determines which
application the file will be opened.

Part of the confusion comes from the fact that we do list all available
"filters" as file "types" in the UI, which IMO is not correct.  As such, if you
specify in the UI the "Text" type which really is a text filter for Writer, the
file will be opened in Writer even if you do this from Calc window before what
that "Text type" represents is the plain text "filter" for Writer.

Perhaps the right solution would be to change the UI label from "file types" to
"file filters"?  Either way, we do need to make the correct distinction between
file types and file filters and do understand the differences between the two
before trying to come up with what would be the right solution for this.

Just my 2 cents.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are on the CC list for the bug.