Bug 152919 - LO Writer: user input fields not updating automatically
Summary: LO Writer: user input fields not updating automatically
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.3.0.0 alpha1+
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Björn Michaelsen
URL:
Whiteboard: target:25.2.0 target:24.8.1 target:24...
Keywords: bibisected, bisected, regression
Depends on:
Blocks: Fields
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2023-01-07 21:16 UTC by Detlef Girke
Modified: 2024-11-17 18:17 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Sample file with User Input fields (17.62 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2023-01-08 16:21 UTC, Detlef Girke
Details
Some Screenshots to show the different behaviour of user input fiels in LO 7.5 compared to LO 7.2 (129.17 KB, application/pdf)
2023-01-09 06:55 UTC, Detlef Girke
Details
Video: Editing User Input fields in LO 7.2.7 and earlier. (9.90 MB, video/quicktime)
2023-01-09 11:39 UTC, Detlef Girke
Details

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Description Detlef Girke 2023-01-07 21:16:23 UTC
Description:
I have a huge problem with LibreOffice 7.3 and above, which makes it unusable for me. I am working a lot with user input fields. The advantage is, that I can use them at as many positions inside the document as I like and they all update automatically when I change one of them. This worked until LibreOffice 7.2. Since LibreOffice 7.3 it´s broken. I have lots of documents using about 100 different user fields without problems until LibreOffice 7.2. Since LibreOffice 7.3 I need to press F9 to update them.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to "Insert - Field - More Fields" or simply press CTRL+F2.
2. Select the Tab "Variables".
3. Select "User Field" on the left (box with the heading "Type").
4. Fill out "Name" and "Value" afterwards. Then click on the green checkmark behind to save the new User field.
5. Select "Input field" under "Type".
6. Now you can insert the selected User field as an Input field into the document. You can do this as many times as you want.

Actual Results:
Since LO 7.3 I need to press F9 to update them. This is annoying because I often forget it an my documents sometimes keep the wrong content when exporting them to PDF for example.

Expected Results:
Until LO 7.2, User fields inserted as Input fields with the same name were all updated automatically by editing one of them. 


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
Affects all Versions of LO Writer since 7.3.
Comment 1 m_a_riosv 2023-01-08 14:45:21 UTC
Could you attach a sample file.
Comment 2 Detlef Girke 2023-01-08 16:21:51 UTC
Created attachment 184527 [details]
Sample file with User Input fields

Ok, i attached a sample file. Hope this helps. If you have any questions, please ask me.
Comment 3 m_a_riosv 2023-01-08 21:23:14 UTC
Maybe the option
Menu/Tools/Options/LibreOffice Writer/General/Automatically Update - Fields.

With your sample, changing one of the input fields update the others.
Version: 7.4.4.1 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 988f4a351a6fa8cf4bdf2bdc873ca12cf8cbe625
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: default; VCL: win
Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US Calc: CL
Comment 4 Detlef Girke 2023-01-09 06:53:34 UTC
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #3)
> Maybe the option
> Menu/Tools/Options/LibreOffice Writer/General/Automatically Update - Fields.
> 
> With your sample, changing one of the input fields update the others.
> Version: 7.4.4.1 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
> Build ID: 988f4a351a6fa8cf4bdf2bdc873ca12cf8cbe625
> CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: default; VCL: win
> Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US Calc: CL

Unfortunately it does not work. I hopefully installed 7.4.4.1, tested -> fail, installed 7.5, tested -> fail, installed 7.2.7 -> works!
Are you sure you didn´t press F9 or doubleclicked one of the fields to edit the content?
In 7.2.7, you can go directly into the grey area of any field, edit it, and all the other fields in the dokument update immediately. In LO > 7.2.7.2 you  can go into the grey area of any field too, but all the other fields will not update until you update the fields manually i.e. by pressing F9.
Please have a look at the attached PDF <comparison_user_input_fields_in_lo_7_5_vs_lo_7_2.pdf>
Thanks for your support.
Comment 5 Detlef Girke 2023-01-09 06:55:24 UTC
Created attachment 184536 [details]
Some Screenshots to show the different behaviour of user input fiels in LO 7.5 compared to LO 7.2
Comment 6 m_a_riosv 2023-01-09 10:26:06 UTC
For me works
Version: 7.4.4.1 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 988f4a351a6fa8cf4bdf2bdc873ca12cf8cbe625
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: default; VCL: win
Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US Calc: CL

I edit one of the fields, [Ok], and the three fields are updated.
Comment 7 Detlef Girke 2023-01-09 11:39:28 UTC
Created attachment 184540 [details]
Video: Editing User Input fields in LO 7.2.7 and earlier.
Comment 8 Detlef Girke 2023-01-09 11:41:07 UTC
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #6)
> For me works
> Version: 7.4.4.1 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
> Build ID: 988f4a351a6fa8cf4bdf2bdc873ca12cf8cbe625
> CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: default; VCL: win
> Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US Calc: CL
> 
> I edit one of the fields, [Ok], and the three fields are updated.

I don´t think so. You clicked [Ok], but in 7.2.7 there was no need to click [Ok]. Please see the attached video. <editing_user_input_fields_in_lo_7_2_7_and_earlier.mov>. Does it work for you like in the video? I wonder why it does not for me in Linux, macOS and Windows (10 and 11). I tried it everywhere and since 7.3 there is no automatic update like in the video.
Comment 9 m_a_riosv 2023-01-09 13:09:22 UTC
Ok I see, I was doing double-click to open the box to edit.

Reproducible.
Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 12e8d57e791bb1befc0716d4d02af7d1d1ccb4ae
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded Jumbo
Comment 10 Detlef Girke 2023-01-09 16:38:21 UTC
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #9)
> Ok I see, I was doing double-click to open the box to edit.
> 
> Reproducible.
> Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
> Build ID: 12e8d57e791bb1befc0716d4d02af7d1d1ccb4ae
> CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL:
> win
> Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US
> Calc: CL threaded Jumbo

Ah good to know you can reproduce it. Please note that this bug affects all versions of LO since 7.3.
Another hint: this bug leads to 152920 (https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152920), which corresponds with this bug but is much more severe: User Input fields in headers or footers are not visible at all when opening a document in LO 7.3 and above. But I think when 152919 is fixed, 152920 will automatically be fixed too :-)
Comment 11 raal 2023-01-09 21:23:56 UTC
This seems to have begun at the below commit.
Adding Cc: to Bjoern Michaelsen; Could you possibly take a look at this one?
Thanks
 d9deeb29e64dadb343236287bf6a0a77a27eda8c is the first bad commit
commit d9deeb29e64dadb343236287bf6a0a77a27eda8c
Author: Jenkins Build User <tdf@pollux.tdf>
Date:   Fri Oct 29 03:07:50 2021 +0200

    source 86d11097cd4a2ae4a6b4e6b35e28a6075376d67a

https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/124131
Comment 12 Björn Michaelsen 2024-07-28 09:06:27 UTC
Proposed fix: https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/171099
Comment 13 Commit Notification 2024-07-30 13:58:42 UTC
Bjoern Michaelsen committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/b4ddc6e9514ddd82259d49dbae70a7e7185bf011

tdf#152919: update UserFields

It will be available in 25.2.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 14 Commit Notification 2024-08-21 08:36:44 UTC
Bjoern Michaelsen committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-24-8":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/3d26a384539e6e67a6e7ed0e08a29fd2a69b6ed6

tdf#152919: update UserFields

It will be available in 24.8.1.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 15 Commit Notification 2024-09-02 11:19:18 UTC
Xisco Fauli committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/4b9be7cb9486f0566a7dec973867e1fe7c5ebc5d

tdf#152919: Add comment about unittest

It will be available in 25.2.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 16 Commit Notification 2024-09-02 12:19:28 UTC
Bjoern Michaelsen committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-24-2":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/7b184423c617a728c345fba962fd11b222240b38

tdf#152919: update UserFields

It will be available in 24.2.7.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 17 Detlef Girke 2024-09-08 07:41:38 UTC
(In reply to Commit Notification from comment #16)
> Bjoern Michaelsen committed a patch related to this issue.
> It has been pushed to "libreoffice-24-2":
> 
> https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/
> 7b184423c617a728c345fba962fd11b222240b38
> 
> tdf#152919: update UserFields
> 
> It will be available in 24.2.7.
> 
> The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
> https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
> information about daily builds can be found at:
> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds
> 
> Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

Hi Bjoern,
Just tested it with the dev versions of 24.2.7 and 24.8.2. On both versions, it works perfect. I´m really glad about this. Thank you very much. Looking forward to the stable versions.
Best Regards
Detlef
Comment 18 alishaynoor0 2024-11-17 18:17:45 UTC Comment hidden (spam)