Error in "Chemical Engineering Symbols Gallery" extension

English
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#1

I am reporting a bug in the “Chemical Engineering Symbols Gallery” (NCE) extension, that is available at:

chemical-engineering-symbols

The extension has an error in its identifier. This identifier is the same as in the extension “VRT Network Equipment Gallery” (VRT), that is available at:

VRT Network Equipment

The NCE extension contains symbols of industrial chemical equipment. The VRT extension contains symbols of computer network components.

If someone already has the NCE extension installed and wants to install the VRT extension, the extensions manager asks if you want to replace the NCE with the VRT extension. And conversely. If someone has already installed the VRT extension and wants to install the NCE extension, the extensions manager asks if you want to replace VRT with an NCE extension. I attach the view of the message box when trying to install the VRT extension (saved in a graphic file). After clicking OK, the previously installed extension is removed and the new extension is installed. This removes the previous symbols in the gallery and new ones appear in their place. This is even though this two extensions contain quite different sets of symbols. The reason is that the NCE extension has errors in its description (XML contained inside the OXT file). Both extension s have the same identifier inside the description.xml file:

<identifier value="au.com.vrt.libreoffice.gallery.network" />

This means that the author of the NCE extension probably followed the VRT extension content and made a mistake leaving some data after the VRT extension.

I have attempted to repair the NCE extension. I changed the OXT file extension to ZIP. Then I unpacked its contents using the 7-Zip program. I opened the description.xml file using Notepad++ program and changed the identifier described above in it. I saved my changes and closed the file. Then I packed the NCE directory as a ZIP archive. Finally, I changed the extension of this archive to OXT. I tried to install the prepared extension in the LibreOffice package. The revised NCE extension seems to be installed, but:

  1. symbols don’t appear in LibreOffice gallery,
  2. the extension cannot be uninstalled because the extensions manager reports an error.

There are probably more bugs in the NCE extension. Besides, perhaps the parameters of the archiving process do not match the extensions manager.

Unfortunately, despite my hard searches, I have not found an available manual or documentation that describes the details of creating and editing extension content for LibreOffice. If there were documentation detailing the construction details of those darn extensions, of course I would have fixed it myself. It seems that it is secret and proprietary knowledge, available only for the chosen few and passed down through the shamanic tradition :slight_smile:

P.S. 1. LibreOffice should have a extension generator built in. In particular, those that contain symbols visible in the gallery, because they are probably the simplest to build.

P.S. 2. It is a scandal - after so many years, LibreOffice has no documentation or manual that would detail the extension development process step by step.

#2

Development/Create a Hello World LibreOffice extension - The Document Foundation Wiki)%20Open%20LibreOffice%20Calc%20and,Agreement%20to%20install%20the%20extension.

#3

I am grateful for your willingness to help. I also understand the desire to prove that: “I was lazy” :slight_smile:

However, the tutorial for which you provided the address is very sketchy. It’s basically a tutorial on writing macros in the VisualBasic dialect. Meanwhile, I meant the documentation or manual for creating real extensions, i.e. the detailed documentation of the OXT format. For over 20 years of programming, I have repeatedly encountered the situation that the lack of accurate documentation made it impossible to get the work done. This is not your own program design over which you are in complete control. It is a “block in a puzzle” that has to match exactly the rest that was made by other people. If these people don’t share the technical details, it is a waste of time to try to create such a module by guesswork or trial and error.

Therefore, I have described exactly how I tried to fix the NCE extension. The conclusion from this is that I lack detailed information about the structure of the OXT file. Detailed information, not generalities. The reason is probably the types and contents of the XML files that are part of the OXT format. Therefore my efforts were fruitless. The given tutorial is not helpful as it is not technical documentation. That’s what I meant - documentation, not a simple example. The problem of the lack of decent documentation has long been well known in the case of open source software (who wants to write text for no compensation?).

I started the topic because maybe someone has detailed knowledge of OXT file structure and maybe wants to fix this unfortunate extension. Or maybe the author of this flawed extension will read it and fix it. Personally, I doubt the latter, because the remnants of another extension indicate that the author of NCE tried to do something, but he probably also lacked detailed knowledge about the structure of the OXT file (and I’m not surprised at all).

Finally, I would like to mention one thing. I have been using LibreOffice for a long time (then it was called StarOffice - 2000, then it was OpenOffice before the Apache Foundation era). I’ve always preferred Writer to Word. MS Word had a lot of bugs then. Besides, working with it to edit complex documents has been and still is a painful task (e.g. numbering multi-level headings). Plus, I’ve used Draw a lot (and still do). LibreOffice can definitely be used instead of MS Office, contrary to the propaganda proclaimed by people working in corporate offices. In particular, LibreOffice has proven itself well in conducting classes with students during the lockdown period (2020/2021). I conducted classes using Calc myself, my friends conducted classes using Writer, Draw and Impress. Draw has replaced Visio. In particular, they used the extensions Chemical Engineering Symbols (NCE) and KemiLab.

I noticed a bug in the NCE extension only yesterday (07-10-2022) when trying to install the VRT extension. And here we have to say one thing: creating additional (own) galleries is badly designed in LibreOffice (dictionaries too, but that’s another matter). This should be resolved differently than at present. For example, in Visio it is easy to create your own shape library (a long time ago, also before the time when this program was called Visio Technical). LibreOffice should have a similar mechanism (with its own implementation, of course). After all, galleries operate according to one pattern. The gallery creation module would simplify the creation of your own shape galleries for LibreOffice (i.e.: packing the drawn shapes into a file in the appropriate format). Once I wanted to prepare a few such galleries for chemistry students. Unfortunately, due to the lack of documentation, I gave up. I think there were a lot of people like me. A pity, because it reduces the popularity of this package.

#4

It doesn’t help posting here, you need to post at appropriate place, see How to Report Bugs in LibreOffice - The Document Foundation Wiki for correct place.

Cheers, Al

1 Like
#5

@EarnestAl, You’re actually right. At the beginning, I was looking for the possibility to submit a report on the website dealing with extensions, i.e.:

Extensions for LibreOffice

But this site looks as if no one has been administering it anymore (looks abandoned for 2 years). In any case, there is nothing on this page to suggest that you can submit bug reports.

Therefore, in an act of desperation, I posted a forum post in the hope that someone more familiar with the details of the OXT format will solve the described problem or reveal a secret website containing technical details of the OXT format :slight_smile:

Probably nothing will come of it. It’s hard.

#6

Maybe post at https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

In Draw,

  • at the bottom of the Gallery pane, click the New button to create a new folder and give it a name.
  • click on an object in Draw, hold a second or two until the 4-headed turns into a Selection arrow with selection rectangle and drag into gallery.
    4-HeadedArrow
    SelectionArrowWithSelectionRectangle
1 Like
#7

The Gallery in LibreOffice

Hello @VisualLab ,

You are a programmer and already an avid user since Staroffice, welcome.

The LibreOffice project is mostly done by volunteers, apart from the programmers who do contract work or work to their own liking.

Everything you rightly complain about, but is also a problem of too few volunteers who want to actively participate in the project LibreOffice.

Since your interest in LibreOffice is obviously very large, I hereby invite you to actively participate in it. Be it programming, extensions or documentation or others, welcome again.

Our new extensions and templates page is getting ready! - The Document Foundation Blog

https://www.libreoffice.org/community/developers/

https://www.libreoffice.org/community/docs-team/

Stay curious!

2 Likes
#8

Teh Extensions are (mostly) third party softwares and collections. Please ask the developer of the extensions. There is a Feedback part at the bottom of the extension site:

https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/chemical-engineering-symbols
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/vrt-network-equipment

The Document Fundation only provides a common place for the third party extensions.

1 Like
#9

Yes, you should contact the author of the entension for bugs in extensions.

However, if for some reason the author does not respond, you can try to fix the bug and request to upload the updated extension on the extension website.

It seems that these two extensions are very useful to you, and I guess someone here may also take a look (I will do that if I have time, but not sure). But please do try to contact the author first.

#10

Why do you use an answer (solution) box for your comment?
Please delete the answer and make it a comment. Thank you very much.

#11

I used the answer box because I think my previous comment is an answer/solution to @VisualLab 's original question.

#12

I think I have finished revising the NCE Chemical Engineering Symbols Gallery extension. You can download it temporarily here (I can not upload it in this ask site because it does not accept oxt extension file type). I also added Simplified Chinese translation for this extension. I will contact NCE to see if they can replace and update it on the extension site.

By the way, this extension is purely a gallery plus a template, thus there should be no coding bugs. I guess your modification failed may due to the fact that you generated an invalid zipped file. For a zip file to be an oxt extension, you need to go inside the folder and zip there. That is, the description.xml, Paths.xcu etc MUST be in the first level of the zipped file. Maybe you zipped the whole folder so that when unzipped the first level is a folder rather than the actual contents?

1 Like
Add ".oxt" file to the allowed attachment file format list of the Ask site
#13

I can not find the contact information of the author, so I’ve left a message at Chemical Engineering Symbols Gallery » Extensions.

1 Like
#14

I missed this kind of information, i.e. the detail related to packing a directory into a ZIP file. A trifle that determined the correct content of the file. Of course, you can do blind rehearsals, but it’s a waste of time.

After reading your message, the extension I corrected installed in LibreOffice without any problems.

#15

As you write, there is no information about the author of this extension (i.e.: NCE) on the website chemical-engineering-symbols. They are also not listed on the extension home page (NCE) on Sourceforge. Thanks for adding information on the NCE extension page. Maybe the author will update this extension.

#16

Hi All, I am the author of the NCE Chemical engineering symbols extension and leader of the NCE project. I am using the library on daily basis for years and encountered no problems. I just now discovered about the bug and I am glad that somebody managed to solve it. Many times I had the impulse to release a new version, I also have some new symbols to add, but experienced the frustration mentioned above regarding the documentation on how to develop extensions. In practice, I am not sure anymore of how to bundle the extension (I did it many years ago) and honestly had not so much spare time to invest on it. Moreover, as there is no download count and the feedback is poor, I have no real feeling about the user base. The best thing to do for the moment is probably to upload the bug-fixed version.

#17

There is a new developer hired by TDF, who will work among other things on the extensions site.

Thank you for your efforts on this extension.

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