[Solved] Once Again External Links Process is Broken for Me

[mokanman]

I am again experiencing "The link could not be updated" with an existing external web page link within my spreadsheet and I believe it may have started occurring with a recent update to LibreOffice as on Ubuntu 18.04 I am now apparently using LibreOffice version 6.2.0.3. The external link I am pointing to is https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@z-us-64746/ext which works fine via Firefox. When I try to add this link to a new spreadsheet the External Data window Available Tables/Ranges box only displays HTML_all and HTML_tables. If I select HTML_all then only headings are extracted. HTML_tables displays "The link could not be updated".

This link works without a problem in the same spreadsheet when used on my Windows 8.1 machine in LibreOffice version 5.4.5.1 and there when I view the Available Tables/Ranges through the Edit>Links drop down, it displays two additional links to the two listed above: HTML_1 and HTML_wt-ext.

I have once again scoured the Internet seeking a solution to this issue but am coming up empty.

Can somebody help me with this, please?

[Villeroy]

Ubuntu 18.4 comes with its own version of LO 6.0 (ppa version) which has all the features I need (and I need a lot of them).
The attached spreadsheet document has been created with that ppa version on Ubuntu 18.4 and the link updates fine.
I call menu:Sheet>Link to external data... paste the URL, select "html_all" check "detect special numbers" (there are times and percents in it) and choose import language "English(USA)" (my default is German which would import incorrect text values from US numbers) and hit OK, save the document, close and reload, confirm update, call menu:Edit>Links... [Update] and everything updates just fine.

[mokanman]

Thank you for your quick reply Villeroy. When I originally upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 LibreOffice was upgraded to 6.0.6.2 and that is when this problem (or a similar problem) first occurred for me. The last version I used where the link was working was LO 6.1.3.2. I seem to be pointing to a SNAP source which I think I initiated to "unbreak" this same problem when it happened last time as I believe using SNAP pushed me ahead to a newer version. Prior to opening this thread I tried uninstalling and reinstalling from the Ubuntu repository but somehow am stuck pointing tot he SNAP source. I will look into how to "turn that off" but I'm also concerned that even if I am able to somehow point back at the 6.0 version that once the Ubuntu regular repository updates it will break again. Please see my previous thread on this topic to understand my concern: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=95898

What is the exact version of 6.0 you are using? 6.0.?.? By the way, your spreadsheet did not work for me in 6.2.0.3. However, it does work in 5.4.5.1 on Windows 8.1.

[mokanman]

Villeroy,

Well, guess what? I found that by uninstalling the SNAP version of LibreOffice that Ubuntu then defaulted to the version it comes with and that solved the problem! The LibreOffice version that my copy of Ubuntu defaults to is now 6.0.7.3 which is obviously a newer version than 6.0.6.2 which was the version where I first experienced this problem. Anyway, thank you for sharing your input as I would have probably not found the solution as quickly without it. I'm still concerned, however, at some point if this problem will be introduced in a future upgrade but that is a future problem and not one with which I should concern myself today. Thanks again for your help!

[Villeroy]

I'm not surprised. Snap installations are extremely complex, therefore prone to errors. The massive footprint on the system is not worth having the latest version of anything. If the vanilla version of some open source software on a Debian (Ubuntu/Mint/...) system is not good enough for me, I know of 3 options to install a later verision:
1) Download and install Debian packages from the project home page. Possibly they offer a repository for my sources.list. LibreOffice provides debian packages on their web site but they do not maintain their own package repository.
Download and extract the right package and run the dpkg program as root to install all contained *.deb files: sudo dpkg -i *.deb
2) Run some installation script provided by the creator of the software. Requires basic knowledge about file permissions and how to run a script as root. I installed some Brother printer drivers like this. They offer to download a script, you run it, the script asks for some details about the device, downloads the right files and puts them to the right places on the system. Other vendors ship all required files together with a script that puts everything in the right place and writes the config files.
3) Compile my own binaries from source code which may be very easy or very complicated. LibreOffice makes it comparatively easy to compile this software monster from a code repository. Software compilation requires developer tools and at least a rough understanding how they work.