Bug #94943 for Spreadsheet-Read: Cannot read values from cell equations from LibreOffice 4.2.3.3 in Ubuntu 14.04

Tue Apr 22 19:28:24 2014 smr01270 [...] vtc.vsc.edu - Ticket created

Subject:	Cannot read values from cell equations from LibreOffice 4.2.3.3 in Ubuntu 14.04
Date:	Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:28:13 -0400
To:	<bug-Spreadsheet-Read [...] rt.cpan.org>
From:	prof.rueg <smr01270 [...] vtc.vsc.edu>

I just upgraded to Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 and editted and saved some Libre Office Calc spreadsheets which I read with perl Spreadsheet::Read. The equations cells are blank in the perl structure. I read strings and values fine, but not the values of the equations. Something seems to have just changed. I also tried OpenOffice::OODoc. With that package, I can get equations values, but row 2 has shifted columns so the values are incorrect. Thanks

Wed Apr 23 02:15:28 2014 h.m.brand [...] xs4all.nl - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #94943] Cannot read values from cell equations from LibreOffice 4.2.3.3 in Ubuntu 14.04
Date:	Wed, 23 Apr 2014 08:15:11 +0200
To:	bug-Spreadsheet-Read [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	"H.Merijn Brand" <h.m.brand [...] xs4all.nl>

On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:28:25 -0400, "prof.rueg via RT" <bug-Spreadsheet-Read@rt.cpan.org> wrote: Show quoted text

> I just upgraded to Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 and editted and saved some Libre > Office Calc spreadsheets which I read with perl Spreadsheet::Read. > > The equations cells are blank in the perl structure. I read strings and > values fine, but not the values of the equations. Something seems to > have just changed. > > I also tried OpenOffice::OODoc. With that package, I can get equations > values, but row 2 has shifted columns so the values are incorrect.

You are not passing enough information to even pinpoint where the problem might be. First of all, Spreadsheet::Read is just a *wrapper* module. It does not parse the spreadsheet itself, but uses a specialized parser module. You must show me what parser module you are using and what version of it. Then you need to tell what the format of the spreadsheet is. Most of the time, the extension will do, but when a spreadsheet is created in an older OpenOffice or LibreOffice and later saved in a newer format, that might make a difference for your minimal requirements. OpenOffice/LibreOffice spreadsheeds are parsed with Spreadsheet::ReadSXC which is most likely the source of your trouble. That module is undermaintained and showing its age. ]Unless you can show me that Spreadsheet::Read is causing the problems, I will move this ticket to the Spreadsheet::ReadSXC queue but I must add that I give you little hope in that the author will fix any open issues. -- H.Merijn Brand http://tux.nl Perl Monger http://amsterdam.pm.org/ using perl5.00307 .. 5.19 porting perl5 on HP-UX, AIX, and openSUSE http://mirrors.develooper.com/hpux/ http://www.test-smoke.org/ http://qa.perl.org http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/

Wed Apr 23 02:15:29 2014 The RT System itself - Status changed from 'new' to 'open'

Wed Apr 23 08:25:15 2014 smr01270 [...] vtc.vsc.edu - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #94943] Cannot read values from cell equations from LibreOffice 4.2.3.3 in Ubuntu 14.04
Date:	Wed, 23 Apr 2014 08:25:04 -0400
To:	"bug-Spreadsheet-Read [...] rt.cpan.org" <bug-Spreadsheet-Read [...] rt.cpan.org>
From:	prof.rueg <smr01270 [...] vtc.vsc.edu>

Thanks for the reply. I didn't quite understand all that. Yes, I'm using LibreOffice and am trying to open a "standard ODS" file, saved from LibreOffice Calc. Everything is from the newest Ubuntu repositories. However, your point of creating the doc in an older version and saving in a newer one is valid. The OO Calc spreadsheet was initially created "years ago", but I guess I assumed that once it's saved to the newest version, then the document history was immaterial. I agree that the problem probably is with Spreadsheet::ReadSXC as that's the filetype I'm reading. I'm sorry to hear it's under-maintained. But if you could move this ticket to that group, maybe it's a quick fix to accommodate some new OO format. Thanks! Steve On 04/23/2014 02:15 AM, h.m.brand@xs4all.nl via RT wrote: Show quoted text

> <URL: https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=94943 > > > On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:28:25 -0400, "prof.rueg via RT" > <bug-Spreadsheet-Read@rt.cpan.org> wrote: >

>> I just upgraded to Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 and editted and saved some Libre >> Office Calc spreadsheets which I read with perl Spreadsheet::Read. >> >> The equations cells are blank in the perl structure. I read strings and >> values fine, but not the values of the equations. Something seems to >> have just changed. >> >> I also tried OpenOffice::OODoc. With that package, I can get equations >> values, but row 2 has shifted columns so the values are incorrect.

> You are not passing enough information to even pinpoint where the > problem might be. > > First of all, Spreadsheet::Read is just a *wrapper* module. It does not > parse the spreadsheet itself, but uses a specialized parser module. You > must show me what parser module you are using and what version of it. > > Then you need to tell what the format of the spreadsheet is. Most of > the time, the extension will do, but when a spreadsheet is created in > an older OpenOffice or LibreOffice and later saved in a newer format, > that might make a difference for your minimal requirements. > > OpenOffice/LibreOffice spreadsheeds are parsed with Spreadsheet::ReadSXC > which is most likely the source of your trouble. That module is > undermaintained and showing its age. ]Unless you can show me that > Spreadsheet::Read is causing the problems, I will move this ticket to > the Spreadsheet::ReadSXC queue but I must add that I give you little > hope in that the author will fix any open issues. >

Wed Apr 23 10:11:44 2014 h.m.brand [...] xs4all.nl - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #94943] Cannot read values from cell equations from LibreOffice 4.2.3.3 in Ubuntu 14.04
Date:	Wed, 23 Apr 2014 16:11:28 +0200
To:	bug-Spreadsheet-Read [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	"H.Merijn Brand" <h.m.brand [...] xs4all.nl>

On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 08:25:15 -0400, "prof.rueg via RT" <bug-Spreadsheet-Read@rt.cpan.org> wrote: Show quoted text

> Thanks for the reply. I didn't quite understand all that. > > Yes, I'm using LibreOffice and am trying to open a "standard ODS" file, > saved from LibreOffice Calc. Everything is from the newest Ubuntu > repositories. However, your point of creating the doc in an older > version and saving in a newer one is valid. The OO Calc spreadsheet > was initially created "years ago", but I guess I assumed that once it's > saved to the newest version, then the document history was immaterial. > > I agree that the problem probably is with Spreadsheet::ReadSXC as that's > the filetype I'm reading. I'm sorry to hear it's under-maintained. > > But if you could move this ticket to that group, maybe it's a quick fix > to accommodate some new OO format.

I would LOVE to, but up till now, I have seen no working ODS parser that fits Spreadsheet::Read. Suggestions welcome. We desperately need someone to write Spreadsheet::ParseODS with the interface of Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and Spreadsheet::ParseXLSX If you take a look in Spreadsheet::CSV, an interesting approach to spreadsheets, dealing with them as all were CSV files, you see it uses the reliable parsers for Excel and parses ODS with XML parsers. That is WAY beyond the scope of Spreadsheet::Read. I just try to feature a generic API to spreadsheets hiding all the weird and different interface quircks of the parsers from the end-user. Spreadsheet::Read just tries to offer a unified Spreadsheet API to end-users with a "spreadsheet" feel and intuitiveness. If the underlying parser fails, so will Spreadsheet::Read. Show quoted text

> Thanks! > Steve

-- H.Merijn Brand http://tux.nl Perl Monger http://amsterdam.pm.org/ using perl5.00307 .. 5.19 porting perl5 on HP-UX, AIX, and openSUSE http://mirrors.develooper.com/hpux/ http://www.test-smoke.org/ http://qa.perl.org http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/

Thu Jul 03 12:18:02 2014 HMBRAND [...] cpan.org - Status changed from 'open' to 'rejected'