Is it even possible to convert .WB1 files with file references?

I’m trying to convert some old Quattro Pro spreadsheets that contain references between them. I get #REF! errors in cells which apparently contain references to other spreadsheets but the contents of such cells are replaced by, e.g. =#REF!.$M$6 (#REF! is displayed for the cell). Why does the file name get replaced? There’s no way to know what file was originally referenced when the file name is zapped like that! Is there a log somewhere that records what the reference was? How do I get the original file name?

Hello,

indeed, the current versions of LibreOffice seem to have problem with references to another cell when there reside in a different file :-~ If your files are not confidential, you can add a new bug in https://bugs.documentfoundation.org//enter_bug.cgi?product=Document%20Liberation%20Project and attach one of your problematic files.

In fact, the current filter libwps does try to retrieve the file name but the version of libodfgen (found in LibreOffice), is too old and does not convert correctly the result in a ods file, so … If you can recompile librevenge/libwps/libodfgen(using git to get the last source)/writerperfect on your computer, this will probably solve this problem.

Notes:

  • currently, with the new code, you must get something like =-‘file:///QPW/LESSON3’#$Sheet1.$A$3 meaning that the reference corresponds to the file /QPW/LESSON3, the first sheet in this file and the cell $A$3 ; not perfect, but when this does not work (because the name of the first sheet of LESSON3 is not Sheet1), it must allow to correct the formula by hand.

  • I will try to recompile the online converter: Microsoft Works conversion at the end of the week ; currently it is a very old version which know nothing about any quattro pro files…

So, I just update the online converted Microsoft Works conversion, so you can test it…

Note: it must also be able to open .wb3 file ( a format which be available in LibreOffice 6.1) and some qwp files (as I am adding code to open Quattro Pro 9 files and I recompiled the sources with this code, see also https://bugs.documentfoundation.org//show_bug.cgi?id=118006 ).