OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

[tomcloyd]

I really don't know what's happening, or where the problem really lies. I do know that in the past several weeks, possibly as a result of some update (seems like OO got one recently), cut and paste in OO Calc has been really on and off for me. Half the time, at least, I do NOT get the formatting of the text, when I do a cut, so the paste is ruined. I have to redo it 2-5 times to get it right. I have tried and tried to figure out the conditions under which this occurs. I cannot find a pattern. I cannot find a fix either. It's just a mess. I've never seen this problem before.

Does anyone have any ideas about this?

[integr8e]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Which version of OO are you running? If you're running 3.0, you're probably running the testing version of Go-OO, a modified version of vanilla OpenOffice.org. They include their own patches that cause OOo to better support KDE integration and various Microsoft formats. If you're running 3.0, and it's themed with the KDE3-ish Plastique theme, chances are that's the problem (the OpenOffice.org team opted to support only Gnome integration with 3.0).

[lotech]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

I have similar problem with OO, even more, SCIM suddenly fails to function in the middle of editing, ctrl-space does not trigger input method change, now I have to rely on Gnumeric, but Excel doesn't seem to like the file always complain formatting error, although it is simple non formula worksheet.

[toad]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Yep, same here. A simple formula in calc returned a 0 Back to 2.4.1...

[sjhstorm]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

I am running the vanilla version of OOo 3.0 and I haven't come across these problems.

[rmallis]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

I am running from the oo.org .debs (is this what we call "vanilla"?) and I get intermittant problems with copy and paste.  I'll copy (either Ctrl-C, r-click->copy or edit->copy) and paste (several ways) and instead of pasting everything (including formulae), I'll get values only.  If I redo it, then, usually I'll get the correct behaviour.  I don't know if the wrong thing went to the clipboard or just improper paste behaviour.  I'll try checking their bugzilla if I have time.

edit: If I look at klipper, I only see values. Is there a problem with copy involving the klipper?

[integr8e]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Yes, "vanilla" just refers to unpatched, unmodified software; if you downloaded the .deb's straight from OO's website, they are vanilla. Out of curiosity, have you specified a JRE to use ("Tools -> Options... -> Java")? There may also be a bug in Klipper that is inhibiting it from retaining copied material. Have you filed a bug report?

[tomcloyd]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

OK, so it's not just my bad Karma. RMallis is reporting exactly the problem I'm having. It's infuriating. Anyone got a fix yet?

Specs: am running OO 2.4.1 (from Adept with upgrades). In tiny print, at the bottom of the Help > About banner, it says

openoffice.org-core 1:2.4.1-11 ubuntu2.1 Thu Nov 20 10:16:29 UTC 2008

[rmallis]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Yes, "vanilla" just refers to unpatched, unmodified software; if you downloaded the .deb's straight from OO's website, they are vanilla. Out of curiosity, have you specified a JRE to use ("Tools -> Options... -> Java")? There may also be a bug in Klipper that is inhibiting it from retaining copied material. Have you filed a bug report?

Well, I don't know what is at fault, so who gets the bug report? Is it Klipper, KDE or OO? Or all three? I am on a different machine now so I can't check the JRE just now, but will check it in the morning.

[tomcloyd]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Yeah, that IS a huge problem. WHO owns the problem. It's hard for me to find the time to chase this down - I have 45 other problems as well.

I'm running the Sun Microsystems 1.6.0_10 JRE, and I definitely have the problem. I NOT interested in switching to another java. This one should work.

[integr8e]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

I'm in my Arch box at the moment, not Kubuntu, so I can't do too much testing, but I'm not having any problems with copy+paste or Impress formulas with vanilla OpenOffice; @rmallis, if you're running vanilla, I would say the problem is either with Ubuntu's JRE or KDE patching. The problem with modifying software, is that by changing some settings to fix one issue, you may create another :P

@tomcloyd, have you checked to see if OpenOffice is using your JRE? Open any OOo window and navigate to the "Tools menu -> Options... -> Java" menu, give it a second to locate your JRE, and see if its radio button is checked (dotted). I'm not sure how much this should affect basic copy+paste, but I've had issues with OOo not being able to record macros until I configured which JRE for it to use.

[tomcloyd]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Yes, I did check, and it IS using the SUN JRE. Can't imagine why that wouldn't work. It would be like buying a power drill only to discover it runs off, say 95 volt current, if the Sun JRE isn't going to work for it. I didn't specify this, by the way. It found it on its own, although I DID manually install it, for another program.

[rmallis]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

So I just checked and my setup is using Sun JRE 1.6.0_10 and it is enabled.

I find that there is quite a bit of variability in when the copy/paste error occurs. Now I can't get it to happen unless I interact with Klipper by clicking on the copied entry at the top of its list. Maybe it is Klipper that is the problem, somehow stripping the OO of it's data. I don't know enough about all of these clipboards to have a good idea about this. I was not able to find any reference to this on the OOorg site, but maybe my google-fu is weak.

I just turned off Klipper and now we'll see if any of this happens. I can't make it happen now, so who knows what that means. I'll report back in a day or two.

[integr8e]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

Have you been able to determine a sequence of actions that cause copy+paste to fail? I'm in my Kubuntu box right now, and running OOo 2.4 + OpenJDK 6 beta 12, 1800 pasted pages, 2 macro'd and 3 pasted tables in Writer, and 7 Calc functions+formulas later, and OOo is still holding strong ...

If you haven't yet, file a bug report and see if you can find a magic combination of actions that cause something to fail. One of Kubuntu's devs will try to fix the problem, and I'll see if I can help you work around it until (s)he does.

[rmallis]

Re: OpenOffice Calc and Intrepid

So, I quit klipper and thereafter copy/paste did not fail. But, I have not used calc extensively. So, it might be klipper/OO or something else. I will take this back up in the new year. I don't use klipper, so this is a viable workaround for me, but I'd like to see what the problem was, since I can't afford to have something like this happen and not notice it!

Happy Holidays!