[Issue] Opening Pocket Excel files

[cgg]

I have rather an old iPAQ still running Windows CE 4.20 (2003). It seems this is no longer supported (in terms of Microsoft Office <-> Pocket PC format conversion) now I have "upgraded" to Windows Vista. So I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to start using OpenOffice to access the Pocket PC pocket excel and pocket word files directly.

In trying to load Pocket Excel files using OpenOffice 2.4 I found two issues (on Vista):

• (1) OpenOffice doesn't seem to use the .pxl file extension to select the appropriate filter (so a generic text conversion prior to loading into writer is offered)
• (2) Selecting pocket excel using "files of type" in the open dialog results either in an empty document being loaded or "General Error. General input/output error."

In case this was a remote access problem I copied the pocket excel files I've been trying onto a local disc.

I know this filter uses java so I checked that OpenOffice knows about a JVM It is using version 1.6.0_05.

I had found the same issue previously with an earlier version of OpenOffice 2 in Windows 2000.

I tried to use OpenOffice 2.3 on Linux (Fedora 8) and was confused to find that this file type does not seem to be supported at all (it's not even an option in the "files of type" open dialog). On Fedora 8 OpenOffice uses the Free Software Foundation JVM v1.5.0 rather than a Sun one - perhaps this is an issue.

Does any one know whether I should expect OpenOffice to be able to open pocket excel files?

[Villeroy]

Does any one know whether I should expect OpenOffice to be able to open pocket excel files?

You should not expect any software to support all of the top-secret, obfuscated crap Microsoft throws at it's users.

[alexmay]

The fact is though that the OO specs say that it has been able to open pxl files since version 2.0.
I seem to have had a bit more luck, but not much.
If I open a spreadsheet and then choose open file and then choose pxl as the file type, the file seems to open without any error. Only trouble is, every cell is blank.
Can anyone help with this?

[Hagar Delest]

There are some threads here about that file format but users could open their own files.

Can you upload here a file so we can try?

NB: Linux distro often ship the Novell version of OOo which can be different, especially for the import/export filters.

[Villeroy]

The fact is though that the OO specs say that it has been able to open pxl files since version 2.0.

Ah, I see now. Never noticed that.

I tried to use OpenOffice 2.3 on Linux (Fedora 8) and was confused to find that this file type does not seem to be supported at all (it's not even an option in the "files of type" open dialog). On Fedora 8 OpenOffice uses the Free Software Foundation JVM v1.5.0 rather than a Sun one - perhaps this is an issue.

Replace all packages related to OOo and Java with the original rmps by Sun downloadable at http://www.openoffice.org I'm pretty shure that your problem will be solved together with several other problems you did not notice yet.

[alexmay]

I am running the latest oo from openoffice.org and I still have the problem.
I can save to pxl and my pocket device reads the file fine,
but when I try and reopen the pxl file that I created with oo,
I just get a blank page.
An example file is attached.
I had to put it in a zip archive as this forum wouldn't allow a pxl upload!

fosseway.zip

This is an example of a file saved by oo which it can't open.

(1.91 KiB) Downloaded 161 times

[Villeroy]

This import filter seems to be broken. Please, file an issue http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... =74&t=1625

[Cambirder]

I can open it with no problem using Star Office 8, no joy with 2.4 or 3.0 though.

[alexmay]

Issue filed at http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=88648

[dcoshea]

I've updated the bug report with some information showing that the Fedora-packaged OpenOffice 2.3.0 doesn't have this bug but the openoffice.org-packaged OpenOffice 2.3.0 does, and also with an error message shown on the console when the bug occurs. Is it likely that anyone who can fix the bug will see my update?