Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 58147
RTF files generated by bmwi-softwarepaket.de can not be opened
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:38:26 UTC
Hi, The German ministry of economy is offering a web form to generate business plans (http://bmwi-softwarepaket.de/). Filling out the form generates an RTF file that can't be imported by OOo 2.0. Trying to open the attached sample results in Read-Error. File format error found at 1329,15(row,col).
Created attachment 31626 [details] Sample file
I tried with various programs: “2.0 German version WIN XP: [680m3(Build8968)]â€: Document will not be opened, error message "formatting error line 1329, col. 15 “1.1.4 (German) WIN XP: [645m52 (Build 8824)]â€: Document will not be opened, error message "formatting error line 1329, col. 15 WORD2000: Document will be opened, but opening takes very much time, in between error message "not enough memory"- WIN WORKS 4.5a: Opens Document without problems. EditPad light, Only test for file errors: Opens Document without problems (but of course, undreadable, because this format is not supported). It seems that it's a problem of the "bmwi"-software and not an OOo problem, but someone with more RTF-knowledge should check that (and contact bmwi?) @bero: pls. add some more information concerning "bmwi"-software version, name of the program you used for creating the document, support address, ...
Wrong decision: OOo might show an error message, but should be able to open that document. So back to prio.3
just for the records: tried to open the file using KWord 1.3.3, Abiword 2.0.6... KWord: crashes!! Abiword: error while importing the file (no crash...) ==> seems to me to be an error of the bmwi-software....
KWord 1.4.2 can open parts of it but doesn't get all the info. I agree that probably the bmwi software is buggy, but since M$ crap can open it they won't care (if they cared they'd output a more standard format in the first place) and the users will blame OOo (you wouldn't want to hear what our business guy told me after spending 6 hours to fill out the forms just to find out he can't open it), so we probably need some "bug compatibility" with M$ here. The stuff he used to generate this RTF is the online business planner (web forms at https://www.bmwi-softwarepaket.de/gp/, as of 2005/11/18). They don't provide a support address, but there's a "contact us" web form at https://www.bmwi-softwarepaket.de/swt/kontakt/?open=5746&active=5746 (but whether or not they actually read what anyone writes there is anyone's guess). Even if we can get them to fix their output, we should probably fix importing the broken one -- similar errors are likely to occur on other "made for M$ without any testing on other platforms" stuff.
KWord 1.4.2 can open parts of it but doesn't get all the info. I agree that probably the bmwi software is buggy, but since M$ crap can open it they won't care (if they cared they'd output a more standard format in the first place) and the users will blame OOo (you wouldn't want to hear what our business guy told me after spending 6 hours to fill out the forms just to find out he can't open it), so we probably need some "bug compatibility" with M$ here. The stuff he used to generate this RTF is the online business planner (web forms at https://www.bmwi-softwarepaket.de/gp/, as of 2005/11/18). They don't provide a support address, but there's a "contact us" web form at https://www.bmwi-softwarepaket.de/swt/kontakt/?open=5746&active=5746 (I've already asked them to fix their file generator, but whether or not they actually read what anyone writes is anyone's guess). Even if we can get them to fix their output, we should probably fix importing the broken one -- similar errors are likely to occur on other "made for M$ without any testing on other platforms" stuff.
I don't know the RTF-specs, but I'm pretty confident that the parenthesis must be matching. The attached document has one closing parenthesis more than opening ones. When I remove the one in line 1329, then the document can be opened. Note that the document contains drawing objects on the first page. OOo doesn't support these yet (see issue 3790). $ diff businessplan.rtf fixed.rtf 1329c1329 < \par }\par }{\b --- > \par }\par {\b
Created attachment 31636 [details] The fixed document with matching parenthesis
It is generallya problem of the bmwi software. It generates too less parenthesis for a valid RTF code. OO Writer would need a comlex algorithm (like MS Word) to "fix" this automatically.
This Issue requires more information ('needmoreinfo'), but has not been updated within the last year. Please re-test with one of the latest versions of OOo - the problem(s) may have already been addressed. Either use the recent stable version: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html or consider trying the new OOo 3 BETA (still in testing): http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/ Please report back the outcome so this Issue may be closed or progressed as necessary - otherwise it may be Resolved as Invalid in the future. You may also wish to search for (and note) any duplicates of this Issue that may have advanced further : http://www.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi Many thanks, Andrew Cleaning-up and Closing old Issues as part of: ~ The Grand Bug Squash, pre v3 ~
Still reproducible with 3.0.0 Beta (and AbiWord 2.4) So I believe this can remain an "OOo Later" Enhancement issue.