Do not neglect the excellent help that is included with OOo (see Figure 1 ). Although it may seem like I'm frequently complaining about inaccurate or missing items in the help pages, in reality those are few and far between. I mention this simply because it's important to note when there are deficiencies, so you can be prepared to deal with some of the inevitable rough spots. (Hey, if I didn't offer something of original value, what would be the point in writing this book? After all, I have a day job that keeps me busy-I don't want this book to be a waste of time for either of us!)
The help pages cover each of the components in OOo: Writer, Calc, Basic, Draw, Math, and Impress. The upper-left corner of the help page contains a drop-down list that determines which help set is displayed. To view the help for Basic, the drop-down must display "Help about OpenOffice.org Basic." If you open the help window from the Basic IDE, this is the default. The included help contains a lot of current information on OOo Basic syntax and routines.