Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I have been using OpenOffice for quite some time on both windows and linux. I think my concern is a bug that should be reported, but I do not understand the OpenOffice bug reporting system.

The feature I am describing used to work fine in earlier versions (though I don't know precisely when trouble developed).

In a normal letter, I place the header information for subsequent pages in variables. So, I use a "date" variable for the letter's date and a "text" variable for the name of the recipient. I then use "show variable" in the second page header to display these items.

The date is working fine. But, for some reason, when I close the document and then reopen it, the "show variable" text in the header displays a "zero". I then have to delete the "show variable" and re-insert it, whereupon it will display the correct variable information.

Interestingly, this is only a problem when I put the "show variable" in a header. If I put it in the main text, then it saves and reloads correctly.

This seems to be happening in OpenOffice 2.3.1 on both windows and linux.

If there is something I may be doing incorrectly, please advise. Also, if you can explain to me how to search the OpenOffice bug tracker system for this issue, I would appreciate that information as well. When I go to the bug tracker page, I can't understand what category to look under.

PS -- there is also a separate issue with this problem in the KDE builds (both OpenSuse and Kubuntu). In those builds, if I use the "input field" variable, it crashes OpenOffice. (As a result, I have to install two versions of OpenOffice in OpenSuse and Kubuntu. KDE requires its own OpenOffice build, and then I install another version direct from the OpenOffice.org site.

This bug has already been reported here : Issue 82544 - Variable shown in header seems to lose the connection to the defined variable (with a workaround). You should subscribe and vote for it (up to 2 votes per issue).

NB: tagged the thread as Issue and moved it to the Writer forum.

Thank you so much for the prompt reply and for finding the bug report!

It was difficult to understand the workaround, so I will give my explanation of it here, in case anyone else is interested. (Anyway, this is the method that works for me).

My document has an 'input field' called "lastname" and it has a 'show variable' for lastname in the header of all following pages. After storing and retrieving, the 'show variable' always shows a '0'.

I used 'set variable' to insert "lastname" in a header BEFORE the 'input field' defines the current value. I gave it a "-" for a value, but I also marked it "invisible". This seems to solve the problem and thereafter the 'show variable' in the header works correctly.
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BTW, for persons new to using variables, I find that I must insert a 'set variable' to create my "lastname" variable in the first place. Then I can select it and insert an 'input field.' I typically then delete the original 'set variable' -- but with this particular problem, leaving an invisible 'set variable' in the top header seems to be a pretty good idea.