Web layout crashes LO - update

users
#1

LO 3.6, Win XP x2/ Win 7 x1 (total 3 machines, 2 desktops, 1 note PC)

I am working again on a book. The current file contains 1 picture and
has 260 kb. If I remove the picture, that shrinks to 60 kb. (When I
asked the last time, I had a file: 200 pages + 70 pictures = 50 MB, or
using grayscale pictures 15 MB. At that time I was told to change the
memory settings. Did not work.)

When I switch from View -> "Print layout" to "Web layout" and try to use
ANY key, like moving through the document (the stupid thing always jumps
to the top of the document and I HAVE to move!), it ALWAYS, as in 100%
of the cases, crashes LO. I tried this on three different computers with
all sorts of differenct settings, operations etc. The result is ALWAYS
the same.<<<

Good morning
No answers to my last post at all probably means, I am the only one
having this problem.

I tried some other things.
1) I opened the file using Open Office. -> No problem even without
tweaking the memory settings.
2) I opened the file on a machine running Ubuntu. -> No problem.

Does this give anybody a clue as to what might need to be changed somewhere?
Thank you
Thomas

#2

I had a similar problem with a rather small document, but with figures.
Was an annual memoir. I changed my view to web document and this slow
down my work.

I have never tried again this feature.

To work with a great amount of figures I suggest to link instead of
insert the figures. That way, they remain outside the document instead
in its interior. They could be placed inside a 'images' folder.

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
I only just found your previous post. For some reason it went
straight into my spam folder so other people might have missed it too.
It might be better to post using Nabble or something?

260kB is plenty small enough. It's when things get 100 times larger
that you might run into problems. 26,000kB = 26Mb (well, roughly).
On my machines i try to stay below 2Mb
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

I routinely find LO user list emails in my Windows Live junk mail folder. I have no idea how the filter selects some messages and not others. I have found no repeating pattern. I just weed out the good from the bad.

Virgil

#5

Hi Toppa

Toppa-2 wrote

When I switch from View -> "Print layout" to "Web layout" and try to use
ANY key, like moving through the document (the stupid thing always jumps
to the top of the document and I HAVE to move!), it ALWAYS, as in 100%
of the cases, crashes LO. I tried this on three different computers with
all sorts of differenct settings, operations etc. The result is ALWAYS
the same.<<<

I can't replicate your problem. Switching from Print layout to Web layout
and back doesn't cause any crash. I'm using LibreOffice 4.1.2.3 under
Windows XP Pro x86 SP3 en_US

If you want to return to the last edited position when you open the document
just follow this topic
http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/1144/how-to-save-cursor-position-in-writer/

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Pedro

#6

It's been my experience that bugs tickled only by one person are very difficult to replicate without a highly detailed explanation of every keystroke and mouse movement and sometimes even the exact data being used. The best way to figure out what's going on is for someone with the necessary skills to examine the computer with the problem.

As an example I was using an application (sflphone) that kept crashing on ubuntu. The developer was unable to replicate the problem. I granted him an account and he was kind enough to login and poke around. In a short time he had determined that there was a problem with the system libraries and his program was tickling a bug in DBUS. I couldn't tell you why he was unable to replicate it on his own machine, but he changed his code so that it wouldn't tickle the bug and reported the bug to the DBUS team who also provided a fix. I would never have been able to find this on my own, and it's unlikely he would have been able to find it on his own without my "help".

Sometimes it takes the cooperation of several parties to further the cause.

In my opinion any crashes should be investigated with this level of detail. A skilled developer can typically find the problem within minutes just by making that little bit of extra effort. Every time something "doesn't work" users are often alienated and some other software (usually written by MS) wins another small victory. But again, this is just my opinion.

#7

Very ture, indeed!

(2013/11/26 16:40), A wrote:

It's been my experience that bugs tickled only by one person are very difficult to replicate without a highly detailed explanation of every keystroke and mouse movement and sometimes even the exact data being used. The best way to figure out what's going on is for someone with the necessary skills to examine the computer with the problem.

As an example I was using an application (sflphone) that kept crashing on ubuntu. The developer was unable to replicate the problem. I granted him an account and he was kind enough to login and poke around. In a short time he had determined that there was a problem with the system libraries and his program was tickling a bug in DBUS. I couldn't tell you why he was unable to replicate it on his own machine, but he changed his code so that it wouldn't tickle the bug and reported the bug to the DBUS team who also provided a fix. I would never have been able to find this on my own, and it's unlikely he would have been able to find it on his own without my "help".

Sometimes it takes the cooperation of several parties to further the cause.

If you want to return to the last edited position when you open the document
just follow this topic
http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/1144/how-to-save-cursor-position-in-writer/

Thank you very much Mr./Mrs. (?) A
I totally agree with you. However, I do not have the computer skills to perform brain surgery on my machine and I would not know who to ask to do so.
When LibreOffice was established after OpenOffice were taken over and now seems to be semi-commercial, I sold my soul willingly to the LO devil.
I prefer(ed) to stay with the rebels fighting for freedom ("Libre").
Yet I have run several times into situations where I was/am under the impression the devil is not keeping its part of the deal.

For example, in this particular case, why does the "web layout" works just fine with OpenOffice but not with Libreoffice.
Switching between these two applications does not change any settings in my computer - I think. Or does it?
I could try upgrade to version 4 something, but after I tried that before, I found that the "improvements" made things a lot worse for me and
deliberately went back to 3.6.6.
The simple "solution" then seems to be: DO NOT USE the web layout function.
It would make viewing and scrolling through long texts easier and therefore its "disability" is somewhat annoying.

Mr. Pedro
Thank you for your hint. Yes, I am aware of the "cursor position" and personal information in Libreoffice.
This works, sort of most of the time.
The "problem" is, the cursor ALWAYS jumps back to the top of the document when changing to "web layout".
This may not be a problem when you are working with a 2-3-page document, but when working with a 220-page book text?
Since the cursor jumps to the top of the document, I MUST move elsewhere in the document -> LO crashes.
Not funny.

Thomas

#8

I must say, that I have verified with a 30 pages document, that changing to web view, adding some text, closing and reopening, LO returns to the place where the cursor was before the close.

I am using LO 4.1.3.2 in a Windows 7 machine.

#9

Would it be possible to send the document to someone you trust who uses the same version and see if it gets the same results?

#10

Hi Thomas

Toppa-2 wrote

When LibreOffice was established after OpenOffice were taken over and
now seems to be semi-commercial, I sold my soul willingly to the LO devil.
I prefer(ed) to stay with the rebels fighting for freedom ("Libre").
Yet I have run several times into situations where I was/am under the
impression the devil is not keeping its part of the deal.

Actually the concept here is that if you use Open Documents you are free to
use whatever software you like the best. Unlike MS documents that lock you
to a single provider (and sometimes even to a single version) with ODT
files, you are free to switch to any editor that you find more
attractive/useful/stable.

Toppa-2 wrote

For example, in this particular case, why does the "web layout" works
just fine with OpenOffice but not with Libreoffice.
Switching between these two applications does not change any settings in
my computer - I think. Or does it?

The two suites are taking different approaches: OpenOffice is more
conservative and probably more stable but has less features; LibreOffice is
moving forward faster at the price of some loss in stability.

Toppa-2 wrote

I could try upgrade to version 4 something, but after I tried that
before, I found that the "improvements" made things a lot worse for me and
deliberately went back to 3.6.6.

I would recommend trying the portable version of build 4.1.3 from winPenPack
http://sourceforge.net/projects/winpenpack/files/X-LibreOffice/releases/

You just need to download it and extract the contents to any folder or
drive. Then just execute the file X-LibreOffice.exe
This will NOT affect your installed version in any way.

If it is suits your needs (and fixes some of the problems) you can download
the latest version of the installer from TDF and update your installed
version. If not, just delete the folder containing the portable version.

In any case if OpenOffice works as you expect, why do you avoid using it?

Regards,
Pedro

#11

+1 about using ODF formats.

Vendor lock in is a nasty problem. Many users who have been using computers for 15+ years probably have numerous files in older proprietary formats that are unreadable with current software.

#12

You can report the bug here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org
I reported a bug earlier today, someone responded in less than an hour; so keep an eye on your email. And stick to the relevant facts.

Be prepared to submit a copy of your file. In fact, save yourself and the developer some time by submitting the file with your report.

However, before you do that, you should try experimenting a little. What happens if you pare the file down to a couple of pages? Still happens? Keep reducing it until the problem goes away; assuming it does.

What happens if you cut the file in half? Do both halves still have the problem? Or does only one half? If just one half, cut that half in half again... repeat until you've isolated the data to just what causes the crash. (Cutting it in halves over and over to look for something is called a binary search.)

What happens if you create a new file and copy a few pages from the old file into it? Does the new file still crash?

What happens if you create a new file and actually type a couple of pages of new data?

The idea is to isolate the problem. Chances are, it probably has something to do with your data. Otherwise you could cause a crash with an empty file. Can you?

if it's not data related, then it may be action related - take careful note of what actions you perform that cause the crash; then report those actions precisely. I'd start with the data though because that needs to be ruled in or out - the same actions on different data may not cause the crash which means it's data related. If it happens regardless of what data you use, then it's probably action related - the series of actions you're performing in the order you're performing them, may be causing the crash (although my money is on the data).

Once you have a better idea of where the problem is, you can submit a bug report. if someone can replicate the problem, it can be fixed. Don't be surprised if it gets fixed in a day or so. But if you don't report it PROPERLY it will likely never get fixed. Be sure to check the CC box on the bug report page or you won't get notified of updates and then you'll be wondering why you never heard anything about it.