Description: I have created a directory that contains: 1. An .odb (LibreOffice Base) file, "Production.odb" containing tables and queries. 2. A subdirectory at the same directory, named "forms", that contains all the forms that I need. All the forms have the "Production.odb" file as "Data source" in form properties ("file:///home/kostas/path-to-directory/Production.odb"). The problem is that, dispite the checked box "Save URLs relative to file system" at Options => Load/Save => General, the URLs are not treated as relative ones. That is, when I move the whole directory or rename a part of the path to it, the form is loosing the connection to the .odb file. This bug prevent me from creating a database UI (a set of forms) that avoid using macros for opening forms using buttons. When I move the directory to my users' PCs I have to adjust the path to the Data Source in every form. The workaround for this is to register the database to LibreOffice and then use the registered name for Data Source. But this requires a setup in user's machine, not just a file copying. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Create an .odb file, create some tables/queries in it. 2. Create a form inside the .odb (in Base) that display some data. 3. Save the form as .odt file inside "forms" subdirectory. 4. Open it with Writer. Go to View => Toolbars => Form Design and check it. In the toolbar that appears, press the 2nd button ("Edit") and then the 5th button ("Form Navigator"). In Form Navigator, right click your form and go to Properties => Data => Data Source and select your .odb file. Save the .odt file and close both .odt and .odb files. 5. Reopen the form (.odt) just to see that the database data is listed normally. Then close it. 6. Move the whole directory that the database and forms reside, or rename a directory in its path. 7. Open the form (.odt) again. Actual Results: The database data is not appearing. If you try to edit the form, a warning appears that says "The connection to the data source could not be established". Expected Results: The database data is appearing normally. Reproducible: Always User Profile Reset: No Additional Info: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:49.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/49.0
There is an option: Menu/Tools/Options/Load+Save/General - Save URLs relative to file system. " Save URLs relative to file system This option allows you to select the default for relative addressing of URLs in the file system and on the Internet. Relative addressing is only possible if the source document and the referenced document are both on the same drive. A relative address always starts from the directory in which the current document is located. In contrast, absolute addressing always starts from a root directory. The following table demonstrates the difference in syntax between relative and absolute referencing: Examples File system Internet relative ../images/img.jpg ../images/img.jpg absolute file:///c|/work/images/img.jpg http://myserver.com/work/images/img.jpg The Help tip always displays an absolute path. However, if a document is saved in HTML format, LibreOffice will enter a relative path if the appropriate check box is selected. "
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #1) Yes, I'm aware of this option, I wrote it in my description. The checkbox is checked. Any attempt that I tried to give a relative path ("../Production.odb", "file://../Production.odb" etc) in Data Source field didn't work.
Test entering the absolute path not relative. I think with the option enable LO should treat it as relative although the absolute path is visible.
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #3) Thank you for following this. Have you tried to reproduce the bug in your machine? What is the result? Yes, the absolute path is the only choice, together with the registered database name. It should be treated as a relative one, but it is not. The value in Data Source field is the one that the file picker produce, I wrote it in my description: "file:///home/kostas/path-to-directory/Production.odb".
@Kostas : there are other known bugs (most notably in Calc and Writer) which show similar irregular behaviour - see for example, comment 12 of bug 61743.
See also this discussion : https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6358 the problem isn't new and has been around for some time...
See also point 6 of the following post: https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40493 where it explicitly mentions that database sources from standalone forms are hardcoded non-relative links. So, the question is whether or not this could be considered as a RFE, or alternatively, as behaviour corresponding to intended design. From the comment in brackets of the post above, having hardcoded absolute paths was probably a poor design choice, so let's set this to RFE.
@Alex: The bug that you mentioned is work in progress, like this one (maybe the two are related, I'm not the one to judge about this). The other two links are to the OpenOffice forum, not to any bug tracker. I don't see how we could possible debate about whether this should be a bug submission or a feature request. There is a check-box about this in Options, that lets the user decide whether LibreOffice should store the relative or the absolute path of the reference. This check-box is well documented inside Help, as stated by m.a.riosv above. There is no "poor design choice" (BTW, the exact phrase at the tutorial's point 6 was "not good programming"), something doesn't work and needs to be reported in order to be fixed. It's a serious bug, in my opinion, because it prevents people from using LibreOffice the way that the tutorial you mentioned does. The workaround provided by the tutorial at point 6 is not good enough, because it "requires a setup in user's machine, not just a file copying", as I stated in my description. I'm reverting this to "bug", instead of "RFE".
@Alex: Anyway, thank you for confirming this behavior.
** Please read this message in its entirety before responding ** To make sure we're focusing on the bugs that affect our users today, LibreOffice QA is asking bug reporters and confirmers to retest open, confirmed bugs which have not been touched for over a year. There have been thousands of bug fixes and commits since anyone checked on this bug report. During that time, it's possible that the bug has been fixed, or the details of the problem have changed. We'd really appreciate your help in getting confirmation that the bug is still present. If you have time, please do the following: Test to see if the bug is still present with the latest version of LibreOffice from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/ If the bug is present, please leave a comment that includes the information from Help - About LibreOffice. If the bug is NOT present, please set the bug's Status field to RESOLVED-WORKSFORME and leave a comment that includes the information from Help - About LibreOffice. Please DO NOT Update the version field Reply via email (please reply directly on the bug tracker) Set the bug's Status field to RESOLVED - FIXED (this status has a particular meaning that is not appropriate in this case) If you want to do more to help you can test to see if your issue is a REGRESSION. To do so: 1. Download and install oldest version of LibreOffice (usually 3.3 unless your bug pertains to a feature added after 3.3) from http://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/ 2. Test your bug 3. Leave a comment with your results. 4a. If the bug was present with 3.3 - set version to 'inherited from OOo'; 4b. If the bug was not present in 3.3 - add 'regression' to keyword Feel free to come ask questions or to say hello in our QA chat: https://kiwiirc.com/nextclient/irc.freenode.net/#libreoffice-qa Thank you for helping us make LibreOffice even better for everyone! Warm Regards, QA Team MassPing-UntouchedBug
Dear Kostas Katsaros, To make sure we're focusing on the bugs that affect our users today, LibreOffice QA is asking bug reporters and confirmers to retest open, confirmed bugs which have not been touched for over a year. There have been thousands of bug fixes and commits since anyone checked on this bug report. During that time, it's possible that the bug has been fixed, or the details of the problem have changed. We'd really appreciate your help in getting confirmation that the bug is still present. If you have time, please do the following: Test to see if the bug is still present with the latest version of LibreOffice from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/ If the bug is present, please leave a comment that includes the information from Help - About LibreOffice. If the bug is NOT present, please set the bug's Status field to RESOLVED-WORKSFORME and leave a comment that includes the information from Help - About LibreOffice. Please DO NOT Update the version field Reply via email (please reply directly on the bug tracker) Set the bug's Status field to RESOLVED - FIXED (this status has a particular meaning that is not appropriate in this case) If you want to do more to help you can test to see if your issue is a REGRESSION. To do so: 1. Download and install oldest version of LibreOffice (usually 3.3 unless your bug pertains to a feature added after 3.3) from https://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/ 2. Test your bug 3. Leave a comment with your results. 4a. If the bug was present with 3.3 - set version to 'inherited from OOo'; 4b. If the bug was not present in 3.3 - add 'regression' to keyword Feel free to come ask questions or to say hello in our QA chat: https://kiwiirc.com/nextclient/irc.freenode.net/#libreoffice-qa Thank you for helping us make LibreOffice even better for everyone! Warm Regards, QA Team MassPing-UntouchedBug
Dear Kostas Katsaros, To make sure we're focusing on the bugs that affect our users today, LibreOffice QA is asking bug reporters and confirmers to retest open, confirmed bugs which have not been touched for over a year. There have been thousands of bug fixes and commits since anyone checked on this bug report. During that time, it's possible that the bug has been fixed, or the details of the problem have changed. We'd really appreciate your help in getting confirmation that the bug is still present. If you have time, please do the following: Test to see if the bug is still present with the latest version of LibreOffice from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/ If the bug is present, please leave a comment that includes the information from Help - About LibreOffice. If the bug is NOT present, please set the bug's Status field to RESOLVED-WORKSFORME and leave a comment that includes the information from Help - About LibreOffice. Please DO NOT Update the version field Reply via email (please reply directly on the bug tracker) Set the bug's Status field to RESOLVED - FIXED (this status has a particular meaning that is not appropriate in this case) If you want to do more to help you can test to see if your issue is a REGRESSION. To do so: 1. Download and install oldest version of LibreOffice (usually 3.3 unless your bug pertains to a feature added after 3.3) from https://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/ 2. Test your bug 3. Leave a comment with your results. 4a. If the bug was present with 3.3 - set version to 'inherited from OOo'; 4b. If the bug was not present in 3.3 - add 'regression' to keyword Feel free to come ask questions or to say hello in our QA chat: https://web.libera.chat/?settings=#libreoffice-qa Thank you for helping us make LibreOffice even better for everyone! Warm Regards, QA Team MassPing-UntouchedBug
Not reprodusable anymore, I don't know what changed. Version: 7.3.4.2 / LibreOffice Community, Ubuntu.