bugGNU Octave - Bugs: bug #47146, When using xlsread, get the...

 
 

bug #47146: When using xlsread, get the message "Detected XLS interfaces: UNO*; (* = default interface)"

Submitter:  Andre Minella <aminella>
Submitted:  Sun 14 Feb 2016 07:32:40 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Octave Package Severity:  3 - Normal
Priority:  5 - Normal Item Group:  None
Status:  Invalid / Not an Octave Bug Assigned to:  None
Originator Name:  Open/Closed:  * Closed
Release:  * 4.0.0 Operating System:  * Microsoft Windows
Fixed Release:  None Planned Release:  None
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Mon 15 Feb 2016 03:04:37 PM UTC, comment #4: 

André,

Specifying the full path would only be required if the file is in another subdirectory than the working/current directory.
AFAIK (or rather: as far as I intended) relative paths, or just a file name, should also work, except -on Windows- if the file is on another drive (-letter).
I'll have a look to see if that works as it should.

BTW there are plans to move spreadsheet I/O into core Octave. I expect that then there will be a different priority order of interfaces.

I'll close this report with "Invalid" - simply because it wasn't a real bug.

Philip Nienhuis <philipnienhuis>
Group Member
Mon 15 Feb 2016 10:29:26 AM UTC, comment #3: 

Dear Philip and Lachlan,

Thank your very much for your help. Now I can understand what's going on.

Yes, I have LibreOffice on my computer, so the system preferred it.

Indeed, data is loaded. In my case, I have noticed that, every time xlsread is used, it is necessary to set the full path of the file, as in the example that I have sent (even adding the corresponding path right before).

Yes, using 'OCT' changes the default interface:

“Checking requested interface(s):
OCT*; (* = default interface)”

Best,

André

Andre Minella <aminella>
Mon 15 Feb 2016 09:19:07 AM UTC, comment #2: 

Did it work for you? that is the most important thing. Or are you just alarmed over the warning messages?

Apparently xlsread found that you have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed and wants to use it behind the screen. Well, that's good.
If you don't want Octave to use OpenOffice/LibreOffice, try:

Y = xlsread('D:\Research1\database.xlsx','quarterly','B33:B83', 'OCT')

If you'd type "help xlsread" (or "help xlswrite") you'd see some more explanation.

What happens is that xlsread (and several other spreadsheet I/O procedures in the io package) search for support software ("interface"). There are several Java-based interfaces, including UNO, even Excel itself through a system library (COM), and finally there's an option to not use external support SW at all ("OCT" interface).
xlsread searches all of these in a certain order, the most reliable ones / most tested ones first.

Now, "OCT" is still considered more experimental than "UNO", so it comes last in the search order. Apparently on your system xlsread found OpenOffice or LibreOffice ("UNO"), which is automatically preferred then over "OCT", so you must instruct xlsread to overwrite that automatic choice, see above.

That alarming warning messages about UNO only happens once per Octave session. UNO has always worked fine for me, yet a little slow for small files.

Philip Nienhuis <philipnienhuis>
Group Member
Sun 14 Feb 2016 10:47:09 PM UTC, comment #1: 

Is this an error or just a warning.  i.e., does Y get loaded?

If it is an error, could you please post a small example spreadsheet that causes the problem?  Try cutting the original down to the smallest case that gives the error.

If it is just a warning and Y actually gets loaded, what behaviour would you like?  It looks like an important warning, so just suppressing it would not be good.

Lachlan Andrew <lachlan>
Sun 14 Feb 2016 07:32:40 PM UTC, original submission:  

I am trying to read excel data using io package, but I get the following the message:

“Detected XLS interfaces: UNO*; (* = default interface)

PLEASE NOTE: UNO (=OpenOffice.org-behind-the-scenes) is EXPERIMENTAL
After you've opened a spreadsheet file using the UNO interface, xlsclose on that file will kill ALL OpenOffice.org invocations, also those that were started outside and/or before Octave! Trying to quit Octave w/o invoking xlsclose will only hang Octave.”

My program lines are the following:

pkg load io
Y = xlsread('D:\Research1\database.xlsx','quarterly','B33:B83');

I would appreciate it if someone could me assist me with that.

Best regards,

André

Andre Minella <aminella>

 

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    Follow 4 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2016-02-15 philipnienhuis StatusNeed Info Invalid / Not an Octave Bug
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2016-02-15 philipnienhuis StatusNone Need Info
    2016-02-14 aminella Carbon-Copy- Added aminella

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