opie-sheet - how do I import .xls?

[ksignorini]

Where do I put the .xls file that I want opie-sheet to import?

I put it in Documents/applications/opie-sheet but doing an Import Excel File doesn't list anything.

Thanks,
Kent!

[zenyatta]

The problem of opie-sheet not finding Excel files is not related to where they are located. opie-sheet looks for files with MIME type "application/excel" (see source code, search for "excel") whereas the rest of OZ 3.5.1 designates them as "application/vnd.ms-excel". To fix this, edit /etc/mime.types (search for "xls") and restart Opie. Be aware that this might mean HancomSheet will then fail to see Excel files. This is a bug, Opie folks should decide on the correct MIME type for Excel files and stick with it...

z.

[ksignorini]

Well, I edited /etc/mime.types and changed the line "application/excel   xls" to read "application/vnd.ms-excel   xls" and then restarted.  

This had no effect.  Could there be some other problem?  Does filename length/spaces/location have any effect at all?

And while we're at it, is there anywhere that these opie-programs are documentated for usage?  I mean, is there a manual that tells me these things so that I don't have to  keep posting simple questions like this?  Even a readme or something for each little app?  This is somewhat tangential, but I had installed the opie-helpbrowser hoping this could help me find help on each app.  I then install whatever help file is associated with an app (assuming that opie-sheetqt-help-en is in fact a help file for opie-sheet) but with -force-depends because each help package I install complains that I don't have opie-help-en installed, even though I installed the only help browser I could find in the feed).  Still, none of these help file packages ever give me any help (some apps end up with a little "?" in the corner but usually launch a basically empty help browser) and when I open the help browser directly it is always empty and appears to have no way to search for help files.  This is confusing.  If a help file simply had informative info such as you would normally find in a unix/linux package readme it would be very useful for newbies like me--of course, I'm probably just doing something wrong.


Thanks again,
Kent!

[zenyatta]

You know, I also tried fixing the opie-sheet situation (only I chose application/excel as the standard) and - it didn't work! Turns out it has to do with how the Documents tab works. When Opie starts or a memory card is inserted, Doctab scans the various locations for media files (see Settings > Medium Mount for options). It knows about the files it finds and can open them upon tapping. However, it seems opie-sheet only finds files for which .desktop entries exist in /root/Documents/* - and the Documents tab doesn't create those. When I created .document entries for my excel files, they appeared in opie-sheet and could be opened.

The easiest way to create a .desktop entry goes like this:

1. Go to the Documents tab
2. Choose an Excel file, tap it & hold the stylus down till a Properties dialog appears
3. Check one of the Category check-boxes and press OK

Assigning a category to a file automatically creates/updates the corresponding .desktop file in /root/Documents/*.

I wouldn't get too excited, though. Out of the two Excel files on my machine, one crashes opie-sheet and the other one has all text cells empty (numerical cells seem to be OK). I believe the "Import Excel Sheet" feature is a new one, I don't remember seeing it when I last used opie-sheet. Maybe it's a sign someone is working on the app so hopefully it will be better eventually.

As for documentation, lots of the gotchas present in OZ are signs of its general immaturity. It simply isn't settled yet and most people think bugs should be reported to developers, not documented for users

[ksignorini]

Hmph.

Didn't work.  No .desktop entry created--at least not anywhere I looked (the category stuck so it must be saving it somewhere, right?).

Is there a way to create them by hand instead of having doctab do it?

Thanks,
Kent!

[ksignorini]

Wait!  It did create them--in /root/Documents/vnd.ms-excel

So, is the change I made to /etc/mime.types based on the earlier post the wrong thing to do?

Kent!

[ksignorini]

So just for fun, I changed back /etc/mime-types to the original application/excel and the .desktop files are now created in /root/Documents/application/opie-sheet.  Still opie-sheet won't see the files on either Open or Import Excel.

So I copied the .desktop file(s) to /root/Documents.  Still no luck.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Kent!

[zenyatta]

Man, you got me quite confused but I think I know where you are going astray. I did state that it didn't matter what you standardise on but that's wrong. You need to set the mime type to "application/excel" because that's what opie-sheet looks for and it's hard-coded. So here is my setup which works:

1. /etc/mime.types says "application/excel  xls"
2. Documents tab lists an "excel" type (follows from 1)
3. When I assign a category to a file, a .desktop file gets created in /root/Documents/application/excel
4. When I open opie-sheet and choose "Import Excel Sheet" the file is there

Before you do all this I would advise you to erase the entire /root/Documents/application/vnd.ms-excel directory and restarting Opie.

As for creating .desktop files by hand, it is certainly doable but not really sustainable - and category assignment should work just as well.

[ksignorini]

Yay!  Finally it worked!

Well, I can open one of the two xls files I have but the other causes opie-sheet to segfault.  AND, of course, none of my text formatting has stuck.  But this is a good start!  At least I have a spreadsheet for use on the Z that might open xls files!

This is kind of a pain, though, since I normally leave the doctab off (I have over 4000 files in feeds on my CF card and it slows everything up if doctab is on).

You know, I just wish there was a non-soft-float verson of OZ 3.5.1 so that I could get HancomSheet to work properly (and ZUC).

But thanks for your help!!!!  This is good!!!

Kent!

[jubjub]

I had a similar problem with opie-sheet and I got around it by creating the desktop file by hand. The file I wanted to import was actually an OpenOffice.org spreadsheet, but as opie-sheet can't import those I had to export it as an Excel sheet first. I copied this new sheet (groups.xls) to /root/Documents/applications/excel (although the location may not make a difference?) and in the same directory I created (with vi) a file groups.desktop as follows:

[Desktop Entry]
Categories =
File = groups.xls
Name = groups.xls
Type = application/excel

Now when I use "File/Import Excel File" it reads the file correctly and I can save it as opie-sheet format. It was a bit of a faff to do the conversion but the end result is what I wanted. I didn't do anything with mime.types.

I can't see any way to convert the file back into Excel/OpenOffice.org format which seems a serious limitation. Fortunately for me I didn't need to, I just wanted this spreadsheet with me for reference.

I'm running OZ Hentges ROM/3.3.6-pre1/Opie 1.1.3, with the doctab off.

TTFN

[zenyatta]

This is kind of a pain, though, since I normally leave the doctab off (I have over 4000 files in feeds on my CF card and it slows everything up if doctab is on).

<rant>
You know this just amazes me. There is a _brilliant_ feature in 3.5.1 that deals with this and yet no one seems to know about it. If you go Settings > Medium Mount, you will see a "Global" tab plus one tab for each memory card currently mounted in your Z (you will get more tabs with multi-partitioned media). If you go to one of these "SD Card" or "CF Card" tabs, there is a combo box titled "Limit search to:". Here you can type a path (e.g. "stuff/work" in my case) and press Add, which will limit document scanning to that particular directory and its subdirectories.

The path is relative to the root of the medium - so if you have your stuff in /mnt/card/mystuff you will simply type "mystuff". You can add multiple paths (and of course you can also remove them). For the feature to work, the "Scan whole media" check box directly underneath needs to be unchecked. And how does it work? It creates a .opiestorage file in the root directory of the medium - which means you can have different search locations on different CF cards. Simple and beautiful.

This feature has made my Zaurus 1000x more usable. It turns the Doctab from a huge pain into a powerful asset. To me, it is the single biggest improvement in 3.5.1 and it really deserved a separate issue of Mickey's OOO newsletter  . I only stumbled upon it because 3.5.1 tends to spontaneously unmount my CF card...
</rant>

[ksignorini]

Hey!  This is fantastic!

<my turn to rant>
But how the heck am I supossed to know that?  I can't find a readme file for OZ or its applications anywhere!  I'm typically a rtfm kinda guy, but I can't actually find tfm anywhere.  We need a doc subproject for OZ.  And if there already is one, as a newbie, it should have been the first thing I was blasted with when I installed OZ!
</my turn to rant>

I truly love the way OZ feels, and will stick with it, but documentation would sure have been a nice feature.


That said, I'm turning that puppy on right now!  Thanks again zenyatta for filling in the blanks for me.

Kent!

[zenyatta]

Well, your rant is justified. There is a recent thread somewhere titled Documentation Apocalypse concerned precisely with this "how the heck am I supposed to know that?" question. The upshot is that we're waiting for Rich Simpson (openzaurus.org webmaster) to start a Wiki where a New Documentation Project could start forming. Supposed to happen this week so I'm looking very much forward to that...

[lardman]

I think the web site is up.

You have to apply for a username & password as it's not an open wiki.

I've been busy, plus my last email to him was bounced for some reason, so I've not made any progress.


Si

[ksignorini]

I think the web site is up.

Um, which site--the new OZ under docs?  URL?

Thanks,
Kent!