Bug 49327 - DDE link cannot be inserted via "Paste Special"
Summary: DDE link cannot be inserted via "Paste Special"
Status: RESOLVED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
3.5.0 release
Hardware: Other Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2012-04-30 23:47 UTC by HD
Modified: 2016-02-29 09:53 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Paste Special dialog window with additional DDExchange radio button (141.86 KB, image/png)
2016-02-26 14:00 UTC, Martin Nathansen
Details

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Description HD 2012-04-30 23:47:29 UTC
Bug confirmed with LO 3.5.0 - 3.5.2 running on Win 7 and XP.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Start and save 2 new Calc files (A.ods, B.ods)
2. Enter a data into cell A1 of A.ods and copy it
3. Select cell A1 of B.ods and go to "Edit" -> "Paste Special" ->
   Enable "Link" check box and press "OK" OR select "DDE Link" from
   "Paste" icon

LO 3.5 does not insert a DDE link but only a regular file link and
does not refresh link automatically when changes are made to A.ods.
It has to be refreshed manually which defeats the whole purpose of
DDE link.(It cannot be set to "Auto" via "Edit" -> "Link" as it is
greyed out.)

Notice the formula on the input line is of a regular file link;
{='file:///C:/Users/user name/Desktop/A.ods'#$Sheet1.A1}

When it should look like this;
{=DDE("soffice","C:/Users/user name/Desktop/A.ods","Sheet1.A1")}

DDE links created with earlier versions are still there when opened
with 3.5.x. Also, manually entering the DDE link formula works with
3.5.x as well.(It is too time consuming, not really a work around.)

Therefore, the DDE link itself is still there. However, the function
to insert it via "Paste" is not working properly.

When pasting copied data as a link, be it a DDE link or allow user
to choose whether to update the link manually or automatically.
Comment 1 tommy27 2014-10-25 13:29:28 UTC
DDE link is correctly created in LibO 3.4.6 under Win7x64

bug appears in LibO 3.5.0 and persists in 4.3.3 and recent 4.4.0 daily build where a regular file link is created instead of a DDE link
Comment 2 Kohei Yoshida 2014-11-05 22:36:52 UTC
This change is intentional.  DDE is a legacy technology and is not well tested anymore.  External reference is preferred.
Comment 3 Martin Nathansen 2016-02-26 14:00:48 UTC
Created attachment 123011 [details]
Paste Special dialog window with additional DDExchange radio button
Comment 4 Martin Nathansen 2016-02-26 14:02:27 UTC
The DDE links are needed in Munich because of too many OpenOffice Calc spreadsheets with DDE inside which become unusable after migrating to LibreOffice.

To get DDE back a radio button DDExchange was added to the Paste Special dialog. Now the user can choose between Link (file link) and DDExchange (DDE link).
For testing and reviewing the patch is already commited to gerrit:
https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/c/22719/

Above a screenshot of the new "Paste Special" dialog with addional DDExchange radio button.
Comment 5 Martin Nathansen 2016-02-29 09:53:20 UTC
Migrating existing DDE to File links is not an option for us, because we need the support of relative paths like “~/example/src.ods”:

=DDE("soffice";"~/example/src.ods";"Sheet1.B6")

We have a lot of calc sheets which are exchanged and edited by several co-workers and therefore DDE is essential.