#1

As of LibreOffice Writer version 7.5.6 I cannot declare a new user field with the name starting with a number and containing a dot, e.g. “111.”, “0.”, etc. If instead I try to declare a new variable with the name that starts with a character and contains a dot it works, e.g. “f.aaa”, “aa11.aa11”, etc.

Steps to reproduce the problem:

  • open Writer
  • open Fields dialog (ctrl+F2 or Insert → Field → More Fields)
  • in Type section select User Field
  • in Name try to insert a number followed by dot (type 0.)
  • when you type the dot, the Name is erased
  • in Name try to insert a char followed by dot (type a.)
  • the Name value is correct, “a.”

Is there a reason why you can no longer use variable names that start with a number and contain a dot?

Thanks in advance,

Nicholas.

#2

I can type 0.; but no .0, nor comma or whatever symbol that could be a wildcard.
If a type 0 or a, and to the left I type a dot, the name field is emptied.

Version: 7.4.7.2 (x86) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 723314e595e8007d3cf785c16538505a1c878ca5
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 6.1 Service Pack 1 Build 7601; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: es-MX (es_MX); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

EDIT: The same with:
Version: 7.6.0.2 (x86) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 41d6f628ba3f046f16b5fa9fa8db8d4c2ab3b582

Maybe you must restart in safe mode to test.

EDIT pasted frome comment below, that was changed with Linux info:

If I set the locale to Spanish (Mexico) (dot as decimal separator) I can set field names with 0. or a., but not with 0, or a,.
If I set the locale to Spanish (Argentina) (comma as decimal separator) I can’t set field names with 0., 0,, a. or a,.

1 Like
#3

If this is regression causing harm to you, file a bug report at TDF Bugzilla

Under my 7.5.6.2 release, the only impossible name is anyone starting with a dot. The dot is filtered out. I can understand this restriction (though it should apply anywhere in the name) because the dot is used to “qualify” a name, notably when referencing database fields with syntax <DB_name>.<table_name>.<variable_name> where the dot is a separator.

1 Like
#4

Hi @LeroyG, thanks for reply. My problem is that I cannot define a variable with a name like 01.myvariable and this is happening only with version 7.5.6 and up

#5

Hi @ajlittoz, it’s very strange because my version is the same (7.5.6.2) and I cannot define a variable like 01.myvariable. Maybe the difference is the OS? I’m running the Ubuntu package version: 4:7.5.6~rc2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~lo1

#6

@npiantadosi My OS is Fedora 38 with KDE Plasma desktop (Qt based, not GTK3, but this should not be relevant here). My LO release is straight from the distro repos, no extension added.

The exact version is 7.5.6.2-1.fc38 which means in Fedora parlance this is the 1st release by FC38 distro maintainers, i.e. identical to TDF upstream (no custom patch specific to Fedora). Yours mentions “rc2” where generally RC means "release candidate, 2nd iteration. It might be an early release attempt. Note you have only 3 numbers 7.5.6 while I have 4 7.5.6.2. I can’t tell if our versions are identical. I am not familiar with Ubuntu numbering, but 22.04 suggests something released in April. Fedora distro upgraded from 7.5.5.2 to 7.5.6.2 only a couple of weeks ago.

#7

The difference is the decimal separator. Likely your old locale used comma as decimal separator; and now you use dot.

FTR: the regression happened between StarOffice 5.2 (2000), which allowed a digit followed by decimal separator; and StarOffice 7.0 (2003), which already exhibited today’s behavior.

#8

With:
Version: 7.4.3.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 40(Build:2)
OS: Linux 5.14; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: es-AR (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US

I can set field names with 0. or a., but not with 0, or a,, both if I set the locale with dot or comma as decimal separator.

#9

Thank you all very much but I don’t think it depends on the locale, I tried to change it but I still can’t declare a user field variable that starts with a number and contains the dot (“1.”). I opened a report on bigzilla 157232 – Writer EDITING: type dot not permitted in field name starting with numeric value