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NeoOffice :: View topic - Fails to show multiple worksheets - NO 3.0.1.
Fails to show multiple worksheets - NO 3.0.1.
 
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theordore
Agent


Joined: May 24, 2009
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:37 am    Post subject: Fails to show multiple worksheets - NO 3.0.1.

On importing a spreadsheet from Excel or OpenOffice, only the first worksheet is shown, and the tab in the bottom left-hand corner that would allow choosing other worksheets has their titles superimposed one over the other. No amouint of clicking into that 'mess' of garbled titles gets them to separate one from the other so that you can choose worksheets individually.
I realize that your staff complement does not allow you to address all bug reports, so this one may get no response. Do keep up the good work all the same. (Pity I have to use OO 3.1.1 for spreadsheets.)
Please see the bottom left-hand corner of the worksheet page in attached PDF file.
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:43 am    Post subject:

Can you attach the original Excel file so we can try to reproduce it? If it opens correctly in OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 but not in NeoOffice (which is based on the older OpenOffice.org 3.0.1), we can investigate the feasibility of backporting the applicable OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 code.

Patrick
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theordore
Agent


Joined: May 24, 2009
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:07 am    Post subject:

Sorry -- this file has data from a developing scientific paper. I will simulate the problem with a publishable Excel file and pass that along ASAP -- hopefully within the next several hours.
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:32 am    Post subject:

theordore wrote:
Sorry -- this file has data from a developing scientific paper. I will simulate the problem with a publishable Excel file and pass that along ASAP -- hopefully within the next several hours.


Wait. I don't need a sample document as I know what this problem is and we have seen it before in this forum topic. It is not a file import problem but is a problem with the native Mac OS X font metric functions.

What we found is that an unknown Mac OS X Spotlight plugin causes the Mac OS X font metric functions to return zero width for some fonts. We have not been able to identify which Mac OS X Spotlight plugin causes this behavior, so the only workaround is to disable Spotlight using the following steps:

1. Launch the Mac OS X System Preferences application, click on the Spotlight icon, and then selecting the Privacy panel.

2. Drag all the disk drive icons on your Desktop into the Privacy panel.

3. Restart NeoOffice

Does that stop the problem from occurring?

Patrick
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theordore
Agent


Joined: May 24, 2009
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:30 am    Post subject:

Thanks for the lead. I will try it and report later on as I am swamped just now.

However, while you were making your helpful note I decided to dig up an old Excel file and set it up for your use. It is attached.

Important: I do note that with this file by clicking into the 'mess' of overlapped sheet titles i do manage to switch from one sheet to another. This could be related to the fact that this sheet has far less data than the one whose segment i sent you earlier. Anyway, you can do what you wish with the attached Excel file -- perhaps build an automatic workaround of the OS defect, if that is not too expensive to try.

In any event, I join those who are grateful for what you have done for long-time Mac users like me. I will be donating again in due course ( feel free to send a reminder if my memory fails on this).

Yours is an important service for me because on the Mac I find that Open Office has gone ahead of the commercial Office 2008 in stability, elegance and power (esp. re. macros).
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:39 am    Post subject:

theordore wrote:
Important: I do note that with this file by clicking into the 'mess' of overlapped sheet titles i do manage to switch from one sheet to another. This could be related to the fact that this sheet has far less data than the one whose segment i sent you earlier. Anyway, you can do what you wish with the attached Excel file -- perhaps build an automatic workaround of the OS defect, if that is not too expensive to try.


When I open your document, the width to the row numbers column and the width of the tabs is normal and is not compressed so I definitely suspect that you are suffering from the Mac OS X Spotlight bug.

If disabling Spotlight works for you, let us know. I never have encountered this Spotlight bug on my machines so if disabling Spotlight works for you, I will have to think if there is a hacky way to make NeoOffice's undelrying OpenOffice.org Calc not get messed up when Mac OS X returns incorrect font metric data.

Patrick
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theordore
Agent


Joined: May 24, 2009
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:49 am    Post subject:

Good show! I hope to get to applying your steps in the next couple of hours, and will report the results right away.
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theordore
Agent


Joined: May 24, 2009
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:38 pm    Post subject:

I am happy to confirm your diagnosis. Blocking the Spotlight search ( following your steps) causes the problem to disappear.
However, if I leave the blocking in place will I not be shutting down Spotlight help on all my work? If so, I suppose one needs to remember to un-block Spotlight at the right time, and some other workaround is desirable, assuming it is feasible from a cost viewpoint.
One thing to note is that i do not have this problem running OO 3.1.1 on the Mac. Somehow, the guys at Sun have managed to avoid triggering the problem in their Mac code -- it seems.
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:49 pm    Post subject:

theordore wrote:
One thing to note is that i do not have this problem running OO 3.1.1 on the Mac. Somehow, the guys at Sun have managed to avoid triggering the problem in their Mac code -- it seems.


Actually, I looked at their code quite a while ago and I saw no special code that would avoid this bug. My theory so far is that this Spotlight problem only affects certain fonts and OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 is merely using a different font for the user interface than NeoOffice uses.

Still, I have some ideas of how to detect and route around this error. I will try to get a test patch out in the next few days that you can try.

Patrick
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:52 pm    Post subject:

I have a theory as to how Spotlight is causing this bug: one of your machine's Spotlight plugins is loading a corrupt Arial font. When other Mac OS X applications load a font, NeoOffice gets notified that there are new fonts and so NeoOffice regenerates its font list. I suspect that the newly loaded corrupt Arial font is replacing a non-corrupt Arial font.

If my theory is correct, OpenOffice.org does not see this bug because they ignore any system font changes and you only get the fonts that were loaded at startup.

To test this theory, can you reenable Spotlight for all volumes and when the bug appears again, launch the /Applications/Font Book application, click on All Fonts, and then expand the Arial font.

When you expand the Arial font, do you see a black dot next to any of the Arial font entries? If so, select each entry that has a black dot next to it and select the Edit :: Disable Font menu.

After disabling all of the Arial font entries with a black dot, close and reopen your Calc document. Does the problem still occur?

Patrick
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:34 pm    Post subject:

I think that I have found a way to detect when a Spotlight plugin or other application loads a bad font.

Can anyone install the test patch and tell us if the fix works for you? To test the fix, reenable Spotlight for all volumes and restart NeoOffice. Hopefully, the bug will not appear. If the bug does appear, can you try scrolling down and back up to force NeoOffice to refresh your document. If my fix works, the compressed tabs should go away when the document is refreshed:

Intel:
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.0.1-Patch-0-Test-4-Intel.dmg
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-2.2.6-Patch-0-Test-3-Intel.dmg

PowerPC:
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.0.1-Patch-0-Test-4-PowerPC.dmg
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-2.2.6-Patch-0-Test-3-PowerPC.dmg

Patrick
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:16 pm    Post subject:

FYI. I split the discussion about the Undo menu bug into a new topic. That new topic is here.

Patrick
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:40 am    Post subject:

FYI. I think that I have fixed Undo :: Copy menu bug in Calc that I split into this new topic.

So, if you have not had time to try my last test patch, please ignore my previous test and use the following test patch instead:

Intel:
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.0.1-Patch-0-Test-6-Intel.dmg
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-2.2.6-Patch-0-Test-4-Intel.dmg

PowerPC:
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.0.1-Patch-0-Test-6-PowerPC.dmg
http://joe.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-2.2.6-Patch-0-Test-4-PowerPC.dmg

Patrick
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theordore
Agent


Joined: May 24, 2009
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:28 pm    Post subject:

Hello pluby!

YOU WROTE:
To test this theory, can you reenable Spotlight for all volumes and when the bug appears again, launch the /Applications/Font Book application, click on All Fonts, and then expand the Arial font.

When you expand the Arial font, do you see a black dot next to any of the Arial font entries? If so, select each entry that has a black dot next to it and select the Edit :: Disable Font menu.

After disabling all of the Arial font entries with a black dot, close and reopen your Calc document. Does the problem still occur?

COMMENT:
I started to do this check tonight but just before getting into it, I re-enabled the Spotlight checking and rebooted. The problem I originally repported is now gone! I checked three different files with multiple worksheets and the tabs now all show correctly! Wierd!
Anyway, for my own learning, I will do your check when i wake up tomorrow.
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:37 pm    Post subject:

theordore wrote:
COMMENT:
I started to do this check tonight but just before getting into it, I re-enabled the Spotlight checking and rebooted. The problem I originally repported is now gone! I checked three different files with multiple worksheets and the tabs now all show correctly! Wierd!
Anyway, for my own learning, I will do your check when i wake up tomorrow.


The problem will not reoccur immediately after you reenable Spotlight. But it is very likely to reoccur eventually as Spotlight will eventually load a bad font.

Please ignore my previous steps. I wrote those steps before I had added my fix to the code. So, instead, install the test patch in my previous post, reenable Spotlight, and use NeoOffice over the next few days. If the problem does not reoccur using my latest test patch for several days, then we conclude that I have found a fix for the bug.

Patrick
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