Legacy Base reports won't open in LibreOffice 3.5

The original problem (I reported elsewhere in Feb 2012) was that my numerous (painstakingly designed) reports originally done in OO 3.3 using the built-in report wizard/designer (used because I could not get the result I wanted with the Report Builder extension) would NOT open/run in LO 3.5 (despite running perfectly in OO).

In LO 3.5 when I click on a particular legacy report to run it, the expected window saying "Connecting to data source.... Importing data...." opens for a brief instant, then disappears, leaving just the window with the report template layout showing...but no report is ever generated. Note: All the queries my reports are based on run perfectly (in LO 3.5) so it doesn't seem to be a database connection problem.

UPDATE & SOLUTION….

After much trial-and-error sleuthing, I may have hit upon a solution to this apparent problem. It involves adding a 'missing' hidden form control (see steps below). I'll be interested to know if this actually helps anyone with problems running legacy database reports under LO.

1. Open your legacy report for EDITING in the usual way (right-click and choose 'Edit').

2. Now open the FORM NAVIGATOR (button).

3. Under the 'Report source' item you should see these controls - CommandType, QueryName, Command, GroupFieldNames, FieldNames, RecordFieldNames. If there is NOT an item named 'Sorting', you must add it. I found it 'missing' in my legacy reports (created in OO), and when I added it, the reports run properly! (Perhaps this 'Sorting' hidden control has been added at some stage of LO development?)

4. To add the 'Sorting' item, just do these steps:
  - Right-Click on the enclosing item 'ReportSource'
  - Under the NEW item pop-up menu select 'HiddenControl', and a new control will be created in the end of the list of existing controls (probably under the item 'RecordFieldNames').
  - Now, change the name of this new control to 'Sorting'.
  - To do this, right-click on the new item, and choose PROPERTIES from the pop-up menu.
  - In the resulting window/pane, change the (Hidden Control) name to 'Sorting' (type exactly - no quotes, and with a capital 'S') and close the window.
  - You should now see an item called 'Sorting' at the end of your list of hidden control for your report source item.
  - Close the Form Navigator window and SAVE the report.

5. Your legacy report should now run/open as it used to under OpenOffice.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this problem and might like to try out the solution above, and let us know if it worked? (note: I'm using LO on Mac OS 10.6).

Hi :)
The message got sent to my junk folder and i haven't seen any replies so i thought it might be a good idea to try to get it  onto the list by trying to reply to it.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

--- On Tue, 17/4/12, frofa <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: frofa <[hidden email]>
Subject: [libreoffice-users] Legacy Base reports won't open in LibreOffice 3.5
To: [hidden email]
Date: Tuesday, 17 April, 2012, 5:26

The original problem (I reported elsewhere in Feb 2012) was that my numerous
(painstakingly designed) reports originally done in OO 3.3 using the
built-in report wizard/designer (used because I could not get the result I
wanted with the Report Builder extension) would NOT open/run in LO 3.5
(despite running perfectly in OO).

In LO 3.5 when I click on a particular legacy report to run it, the expected
window saying "Connecting to data source.... Importing data...." opens for a
brief instant, then disappears, leaving just the window with the report
template layout showing...but no report is ever generated. Note: All the
queries my reports are based on run perfectly (in LO 3.5) so it doesn't seem
to be a database connection problem.

UPDATE & SOLUTION….

After much trial-and-error sleuthing, I may have hit upon a solution to this
apparent problem. It involves adding a 'missing' hidden form control (see
steps below). I'll be interested to know if this actually helps anyone with
problems running legacy database reports under LO.

1. Open your legacy report for EDITING in the usual way (right-click and
choose 'Edit').

2. Now open the FORM NAVIGATOR (button).

3. Under the 'Report source' item you should see these controls -
CommandType, QueryName, Command, GroupFieldNames, FieldNames,
RecordFieldNames. If there is NOT an item named 'Sorting', you must add it.
I found it 'missing' in my legacy reports (created in OO), and when I added
it, the reports run properly! (Perhaps this 'Sorting' hidden control has
been added at some stage of LO development?)

4. To add the 'Sorting' item, just do these steps:
  - Right-Click on the enclosing item 'ReportSource'
  - Under the NEW item pop-up menu select 'HiddenControl', and a new control
will be created in the end of the list of existing controls (probably under
the item 'RecordFieldNames').
  - Now, change the name of this new control to 'Sorting'.
  - To do this, right-click on the new item, and choose PROPERTIES from the
pop-up menu.
  - In the resulting window/pane, change the (Hidden Control) name to
'Sorting' (type exactly - no quotes, and with a capital 'S') and close the
window.
  - You should now see an item called 'Sorting' at the end of your list of
hidden control for your report source item.
  - Close the Form Navigator window and SAVE the report.

5. Your legacy report should now run/open as it used to under OpenOffice.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this problem and might like to try
out the solution above, and let us know if it worked? (note: I'm using LO on
Mac OS 10.6).

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Le 17/04/12 06:26, frofa a écrit :

Hi,

> In LO 3.5 when I click on a particular legacy report to run it, the expected
> window saying "Connecting to data source.... Importing data...." opens for a
> brief instant, then disappears, leaving just the window with the report
> template layout showing...but no report is ever generated. Note: All the
> queries my reports are based on run perfectly (in LO 3.5) so it doesn't seem
> to be a database connection problem.
>

This sounds like an import problem of the hidden field, and should be
reported as a bug against the Writer component. Or better still, check
to see whether there isn't already a bug report about failed opening of
Writer documents containing hidden fields.

Please also add the workaround you mention in your post.


Alex


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Thanks for your comments, Alex and others. One thing I didn't say is that when I edit my original reports in OO, their hidden controls do NOT show a 'Sorting' control listed at all, and yet they run perfectly in OO apparently without such a control. Since there is ALSO no 'Sorting' control listed when I edit my legacy reports in LO (yet they FAIL to run), I wonder does this mean it is NOT an IMPORT problem, as Alex suggests, but rather that a NEW hidden control  ('Sorting') is required in LO (but not in OO)? I note that when I create a brand-new report in LO v5.2 using the legacy report designer (with the Report Builder Extension disabled), the hidden control 'Sorting' IS added, and the report runs as normal! (That's in fact how I discovered the work-around I reported above.) Before I lodge, as suggested, another Bug Report (under the Writer component), I'm interested in what others (with more technical knowledge than I have) think about this. - Fred

Le 19/04/12 08:01, frofa a écrit :

Hi Fred,

> Thanks for your comments, Alex and others. One thing I didn't say is that
> when I edit my original reports in OO, their hidden controls do NOT show a
> 'Sorting' control listed at all, and yet they run perfectly in OO apparently
> without such a control. Since there is ALSO no 'Sorting' control listed when
> I edit my legacy reports in LO (yet they FAIL to run), I wonder does this
> mean it is NOT an IMPORT problem, as Alex suggests, but rather that a NEW
> hidden control  ('Sorting') is required in LO (but not in OO)? I note that

Ah, interesting :-)) - as far as I know, no new development (as in
addition of new features) has been made to either the ORB or the
original report designer within the LO project, but I haven't checked
the git log for a while to see if there were any commits.


> when I create a brand-new report in LO v5.2 using the legacy report designer
> (with the Report Builder Extension disabled), the hidden control 'Sorting'
> IS added, and the report runs as normal! (That's in fact how I discovered
> the work-around I reported above.) Before I lodge, as suggested, another Bug
> Report (under the Writer component), I'm interested in what others (with
> more technical knowledge than I have) think about this. - Fred

One way to check this would be to do a comparison of the XML making up
the content.xml of the two Writer ODF files. That way, it would be
possible to see the difference between the original and the new. Perhaps
the difference lies in the use of the ODF 1.2 spec which is the default
for 3.5 - my understanding was that ODF 1.2 had some new attributes that
were possibly ignored (silently dropped) in ODF 1.1 ?


Alex



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I had exactly same problem after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04 with LO3.5.

Solution suggested to at Sorting control worked perfectly.

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I had exactly the same problem after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04 with LO 3.5.

The solution suggested to install Sorting control worked perfectly.

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I had exactly same problem after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04 with LibreOffice 3.5.

Suggested solution to add "Sorting" control worked perfectly.

On Wed, 2012-05-02 at 04:17 -0700, David Mitchell wrote:
> I had exactly same problem after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04 with LO3.5.
>
> Solution suggested to at Sorting control worked perfectly.
>
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> View this message in context: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Legacy-Base-reports-won-t-open-in-LibreOffice-3-5-tp3916293p3954887.html
> Sent from the Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

    I have OOo 3.3.0 (m20) on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 bit. This morning I
created a report in a database using it. Then I opened it using LO 3.5.2
downloaded from the LO website. I did not have a problem. I have no
problem opening the report. I can also open the report on Ubuntu 11.10
64bit using LO 3.5.2 also from the website.
    I am going to do a little more research: I have OOo 3.3.0 on a Mac
partition as well. I will be reporting back a little later.
    Perhaps the problem could have come from the Ubuntu 12.04 version of LO 3.5.
   
--Dan



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Also, see these links for more reports about the problem on different platforms:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47325
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49279
http://en.libreofficeforum.org/node/2589

Hi :)
The marketing list believes the 3.5.x branch is more stable than the 3.4.6.  There is not much we can do about that on this list.  You need to take this to the marketing list as they are the ones that are psuhing people into using the 3.5.x before many of us feel it is ready. 

If you are finding problems with 3.5.x then install 3.4.6.

Btw sorry about the tone of this email i am getting a lot of flak from the marketing list for daring to disagree with them. 
Regards from
Tom :)


--- On Thu, 3/5/12, frofa <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: frofa <[hidden email]>
Subject: [libreoffice-users] Re: Legacy Base reports won't open in LibreOffice 3.5
To: [hidden email]
Date: Thursday, 3 May, 2012, 3:41

Also, see these links for more reports about the problem on different
platforms:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47325
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49279
http://en.libreofficeforum.org/node/2589

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On 2012-05-03 22:07, Tom Davies wrote: Hi.
Well I have only just moved from 3.3 to 3.4.6 (business environment). 3
months stable performance and I consider the move. When the problem
reports for 3.5 branch have eased off I will start my 3 month check period.

Cheers, steve

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Hi :)
Thanks :)  I have forwarded your mail to the marketing list.
Thanks and regards from
Tom :)


--- On Thu, 3/5/12, Steve Edmonds <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: Steve Edmonds <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Legacy Base reports won't open in LibreOffice 3.5
To: [hidden email]
Date: Thursday, 3 May, 2012, 11:16



On 2012-05-03 22:07, Tom Davies wrote: Hi.
Well I have only just moved from 3.3 to 3.4.6 (business environment). 3 months stable performance and I consider the move. When the problem reports for 3.5 branch have eased off I will start my 3 month check period.

Cheers, steve

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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 12-05-03 06:07 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> The marketing list believes the 3.5.x branch is more stable than the
3.4.6. There is not much we can do about that on this list. You need to
take this to the marketing list as they are the ones that are psuhing
people into using the 3.5.x before many of us feel it is ready.
>
> If you are finding problems with 3.5.x then install 3.4.6.
>
> Btw sorry about the tone of this email i am getting a lot of flak from
the marketing list for daring to disagree with them.
> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>
Another more important problem is the 3.4.6 will soon be "Enf of Life"
(or already is).

If someone finds problems in 3.5.x we need to get bug reports before
they install 3.4.6 again. Some times acceptable workarounds are found,
other times when a regression is confirmed the bugx fix may come very
quickly. It's a compromise, and everyone should decide by themselves.

"The Marketing list" is not a compact body of unified opinions, so
please don't jump to conclusions as to what anyone there can do or not.

Fabian Rodriguez
http://libreoffice.magicfab.ca


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On Thursday 03 May 2012, 22:16:37 Steve Edmonds wrote:

> Hi.
> Well I have only just moved from 3.3 to 3.4.6 (business environment). 3
> months stable performance and I consider the move. When the problem
> reports for 3.5 branch have eased off I will start my 3 month check period.

Which problem reports are you watching?

Regards,
Nino

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Hi :)
Probably just watching the list to see when the level of grumbles about 3.5.x drops a bit.  Smart move!
Regards from
Tom :)



--- On Thu, 3/5/12, Nino Novak <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: Nino Novak <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Legacy Base reports won't open in LibreOffice 3.5
To: [hidden email]
Date: Thursday, 3 May, 2012, 15:02

On Thursday 03 May 2012, 22:16:37 Steve Edmonds wrote:

> Hi.
> Well I have only just moved from 3.3 to 3.4.6 (business environment). 3
> months stable performance and I consider the move. When the problem
> reports for 3.5 branch have eased off I will start my 3 month check period.

Which problem reports are you watching?

Regards,
Nino

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Hi :)
Don't get me wrong!  There are tons of good reasons for trying the 3.5.x.  Tons of new features, probably better compatibility with MS's broken formats, nicer look and feel and generally sexier.  It's the one i try first on machines i can access easily. 

It's just that stability is not it's strongest point!  If/when i run into problems or on machines i can't often login as admin the 3.4.6 is the best choice.  Tbh most machines here still have 3.3.3 or something like that and are quite happy even though was end-of-life ages ago.  Still less vulnerable than MS Office which is invariably fairly ancient and seldom updated.  

Regards from
Tom :) 


--- On Thu, 3/5/12, Fabian Rodriguez <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: Fabian Rodriguez <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Legacy Base reports won't open in LibreOffice 3.5
To: [hidden email]
Date: Thursday, 3 May, 2012, 14:31


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 12-05-03 06:07 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> The marketing list believes the 3.5.x branch is more stable than the
3.4.6. There is not much we can do about that on this list. You need to
take this to the marketing list as they are the ones that are pushing
people into using the 3.5.x before many of us feel it is ready.
>
> If you are finding problems with 3.5.x then install 3.4.6.
>
> Btw sorry about the tone of this email i am getting a lot of flak from
the marketing list for daring to disagree with them.
> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>
Another more important problem is the 3.4.6 will soon be "End of Life"
(or already is).

If someone finds problems in 3.5.x we need to get bug reports before
they install 3.4.6 again. Some times acceptable workarounds are found,
other times when a regression is confirmed the bugx fix may come very
quickly. It's a compromise, and everyone should decide by themselves.

"The Marketing list" is not a compact body of unified opinions, so
please don't jump to conclusions as to what anyone there can do or not.

Fabian Rodriguez
http://libreoffice.magicfab.ca


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These problems still persist with LO 3.5.4, but at least there are the work-arounds above, and also see here for my summary of the work-arounds:

http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Workarounds-for-multiple-problems-with-the-legacy-Report-Designer-Wizard-under-LO-3-5-td3964175.html

Hoping these bugs will get fixed in time for LO 3.6 (anyway it looks like they are now getting some attention). See here..
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47473

And also...
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47325
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49279