OpenOffice 4.0.0 : no Zotero toolbar

Hello,
The extension Zotero will not work with AOO 4 because it treats by a toolbar.
It appears in the Extension Manager with AOO 4.0.0 (contrary in LibO 4.0.4 it's not the same problem) :
I placed a message in this forum on May 23rd see https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/27064/zotero-libreoffice-plugin-not-working-with-libreoffice-4-beta-2/
but no answer since.

It's a new gestion of Toolsbar whith AOO 4.0.0 : Zotero must change the code of the extension as all Extensions whith a toolbar.

The WindowState.xcu (files tbCalc.xcu, tbWriter.xcu, etc.) are not any more used. The structure of the section OfficeToolBar of the file AddonUI.xcu was modified. It is explained in the report https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=121577 (see the examples).

Thank you
  • As far as I can tell (and I hope I'm wrong about this), at the moment, the only way to support OpenOffice 4.0 is to distribute a different extension for it that can't work with LibreOffice or earlier version of OpenOffice, and even so, everything will break for current OpenOffice 3.4 users when they upgrade to OpenOffice 4.0. The changes required are trivial, but this is kind of a bizarre decision on the OpenOffice developers' part. I'm still hoping they'll reconsider, since I do not really want to have to package two versions of the extension, nor do I want to have to help our confused users who upgrade to OpenOffice 4.0 and lose their Zotero toolbar because they have the wrong version of the extension installed.
  • Hello,
    I understand your position, however what account is not to evolve and of this fact to help the users to support the changes.
    The AOO 4 is a major version. It will anyway be necessary you to be thought of by a new extension as AOO 4 as you propose for LibO and Word of the different versions.
    Here is the page of developers if you change opinion(notice),
    http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Sidebar_for_Developers
    "This page will teach you how to write panels for the sidebar, either as extensions or in the core (core means C++ code in the OpenOffice source repository).

    For a general description of concepts and names please see the main sidebar page. "

    I am only one a simple user, besides French language...
    Very cordially,
  • I think you misunderstand what Simon is writing. He knows how to fix this, but it's a bad idea for AOO to be changing this in a way that requires separate plugins for AOO and LO as well as AOO 3.4 and 4.0.
    If that's indeed the case, that's just a bad decision on their part that makes the life of plugin developers unnecessary burdensome.
  • Hello,
    I agree with numerous persons on this bad choice to modify toolbars, but it is necessary not of my competence to judge nor to hope for a back return which will not be made!
    Certain extensions were already modified for AOO 4 by their creator.

    Rather than to waste time in empty discussions, it would be more effective to forge ahead!

    Best Regards,
  • Well, if OpenOffice 4 is going to break all current Zotero plugin installations regardless of what we do, one question is whether to drop support for OpenOffice and try to get these users onto LibreOffice instead...
  • Hello,
    I consider at your disposal the extension as AOO 4 whom the forum Openoffice.fr worked out this morning which settles down in AOO 4 after 2 files FireFox and which shows the Zotero toolbar.
    In any case, this file will be given to the users of the forums in the publication of AOO 4.
    I am surprised with the attitude of competition that there is no reason to maintain between two programs of the free AOO or LibO in front of the formats owners and closed.
    Cordially
  • edited July 22, 2013
    @papayes, feel free to write in French.

    Also, I think most open source developers are hoping for a quick demise of OpenOffice.org, which has been mismanaged for many years. I much rather see that the Zotero developers don't waste time in sustaining its relevance in the marketplace, and instead forge ahead with more useful ways to spend their time.
  • I don't think that's the case anymore. OpenOffice has been revived to some degree via the Apache foundation and is now at least reasonably active (hence the upcoming 4.0 release).
    The two projects are involved in a rather ridiculous flame&FUD war
    e.g. http://www.robweir.com/blog/2012/10/libreoffices-dubious-claims-part-i-downloads.html,

    which I'm sure is incredibly productive...

    But in terms of competition - treating extension developers reasonably is part of software quality and the whole point of competition is that you get punished if you make mistakes. Like Simon, I'd be pretty confident that Zotero users are much more loyal to Zotero than to either LO or AOO, so we can likely redirect 95% of frustrated AOO users coming here to LO. That's competition.
  • @adamsmith Agree.

    I haven't used LibreOffice before but if it works basically the same way as OpenOffice I'll use it as long as it doesn't break the Zotero plugin, that's what's more important to me. I'm installing LibreOffice now.
  • smh
    edited August 1, 2013
    Thanks for everybody's comments so far!

    For those looking for it, the patched version papayes mentioned seems to be at: http://forum.openoffice.org/fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=31892&p=216833#p216833 (I haven't tried it yet. Edit: I have tried it out, and it seems to work just fine, and the differences between the original and the patched do seem to be very minimal. I know that's not the point, but still...)

    I would also like to offer my five cents on the opinion to discontinue support for Apache Open Office.

    1) I very much understand the frustration around the decision to have such fundamental (and potentially unnecessary) changes that break third-party extensions.

    2) I also agree that current zotero users will (grudgingly) switch their word processor rather than moving away from zotero.

    3) However, especially for professionals, who rely on their well-established routines, the transition to a different word processing platform is a major inconvenience, a major source of insecurity, and, regardless of how similar the two branches still are, a change in working routines that will slow us down in our work, and that is frustrating. I'm not sure that the frustration will be directed at Apache for all users :(

    4) Possibly more important: I think that new users, thinking about whether they will start using zotero or a different citation manager, will indeed make that decision based on whether zotero supports the wordprocessor they already have installed. Introducing friends and colleagues to zotero, I have seen this reaction many times. The first question often is: does it support "my" wordprocessor? And, arguably, AOO still has a very large userbase.

    5) Lastly, AOO is not going to go away. And with other extensions having made the transition and more making it as we speak, it is increasingly unlikely that they will reconsider the changes over there. Looking at the update intervals of the wordprocessor plugin, I think (and hope) that maintaining different versions for LO and AOO is not entirely out of the question.

    Ultimately, I feel that, yes, this is a problem AOO has unnecessarily created for all of us. But it also is a problem that will need to be solved. I don't think that simply asking users to switch their main productivity tool (which is, after all, the wordprocessing platform) is, long-term, the most feasible (or the most gracious) way to go. I also don't think that discontinuing support for OpenOffice is in zotero's best interest.
  • edited August 11, 2013
    I'm won't rule out supporting AOO 4 if there is sufficient user demand, but I think most of our existing users would be better served by switching to LibreOffice. That it is impossible for us to distribute an extension that doesn't break on update from AOO 3.4.1 to AOO 4 makes me think that the AOO 4 is not a great choice for people who rely upon Zotero for their everyday work.

    I wrote a message to the OpenOffice dev list a while ago. You can find here. It spells out the technical issues in detail and asks for a solution that would make things easier for us and our users without breaking any extensions that have already been updated for AOO 4.

    I did get one response, which completely ignored the suggestion I made and most of the issues involved with distributing two separate extensions for AOO and LibreOffice, but noted that I might be able to help users who've updated AOO get a working version of the extension using auto-update. This is only true if you think that the "Updates for extensions are available" bubble is a salient enough feature for our users to notice, but again, I won't rule it out.
  • Thanks for the swift reply. Together with your OpenOffice dev list message, it did help me understand the problem better. The more I think about this, the less AOO's design decision seems to make sense. And yes, the reply you got doesn't help at all. Especially with AOO, where the update notification is indeed tiny.

    For what it's worth, I felt that the workaround you proposed in your post seems like the best possible compromise. Ship both Addons.xcu files and decide upon install which one to use. I realize that you outlined the workaround not least to illustrate the absurd contortions AOOs decision forces extension developers to go through, but at least for me this would have solved the problem: The first thing I did when the extension was 'gone' after upgrading to AOO4 was to reinstall it via the zotero firefox extension...

    Again, just to offer my five cents, I would believe that this is what many of your users would do: realize that the extension is gone and try to reinstall it. If the plugin were to recognize the installed word processor and adapt accordingly, this would work just fine.

    So, thanks again, for your reply but also for at least not ruling out supporting AOO4 in the future (despite all this)!
  • The Apache OpenOffice folks have finally added documentation on how to create an extension that works with AOO 4, older versions of OpenOffice, and LibreOffice. We've thus incorporated support for AOO 4 into the LibreOffice plugin, which you can try out in the LibreOffice dev XPI.
  • edited August 16, 2013
    @Simon: i'm confused about the LibreOffice plugin you point to. this is what i did:

    1. clicked 'Install LibreOffice Integration Trunk XPI' on the page you refer to in Firefox 22.0, and followed the dialogs.
    2. after reboot, checked that the new plugin is installed in Firefox: Tools: Add-ons: Extensions. it lists 'Zotero LibreOffice Integration 3.5.8.r10151' instead of the previous '3.5.6.SA.4.0.8', so i think it succeeded.
    3. opened an existing AOO 4.0.0 Writer document with citations and a bibliography, saw that the Zotero toolbar with picture buttons is back (yay! in Writer 3.4.1 with the previous plugin, the pictures changed to text labels at some point, and i could not restore them), and tried to insert a new citation. so far, so good.

    however, when i try to add a second citation or edit an existing one after that first one, nothing happens. focus moves away from the Writer window chrome when the buttons on the Zotero toolbar are clicked, but the Zotero search bar does not appear.

    note the above attempt was with Firefox running. if i shut it down and start Zotero Standalone, i can add one citation again, but no more.

    if i shut down both and try to add another citation in Writer, i get the following 'Zotero LibreOffice Integration Error':

    "The version of the Zotero LibreOffice Integration component installed within LibreOffice, OpenOffice.org, or NeoOffice does not appear to match this Zotero Standalone version. Would you like to attempt to reinstall it?

    Please ensure your LibreOffice installation is properly detected. If you continue to experience this error, click the "Manual Installation" button within the wizard to show the directory containing the LibreOffice component. Double-click this component or add it from within LibreOffice, OpenOffice.org, or NeoOffice to complete the installation procedure.

    [OK] [Cancel]"

    the first paragraph is correct. if i start Zotero Standalone again, Tools: Add-ons: Extensions lists 'Zotero LibreOffice Integration 3.5.6.SA.4.0.8', and it is enabled.

    did the 'LibreOffice Integration Trunk XPI' installation not update that one?

    i've seen the second paragraph before. it confuses the heck out of me. how can i tell if my OpenOffice installation is properly detected? what am i fixing now - Firefox? Standalone? Writer? two of them? all of them? which directory am i looking for, and which component? i think i have two components ATM (3.5.6 and 3.5.8), but i don't know their name, or where they are (clicking 'Install LibreOffice Integration Trunk XPI' on the referred page started a Firefox 'setup' automatically - it did not show a filename). and why is a 'Manual Installation' in *Office mentioned? AOO Writer: Tools: Extension Manager already lists 'Zotero LibreOffice Integration 3.5.8', and the error was about the version in Standalone. how should i update that one?

    (sorry about the rant, but i think this kind of detailed, branching information should not be presented in a dialog; i know up front that i won't remember what the steps are i should follow, after i dismissed it.)

    how should i update the plugin in Standalone, and how can i insert more than one citation again in AOO 4.0.0?

    (context: Windows XP Professional SP3, Zotero 4.0.12, Zotero Standalone 4.0.9.1)
  • jeroenvg: Can you create a debug ID for what happens when you try to add two citations to a document with Firefox open?

    You should ignore Zotero Standalone at the moment. It will work once we officially release this update.
  • i'd love to, but for some reason the Zotero toolbar is missing again in AOO 4.

    AOO Writer now reports Tools: Extension Manager: Zotero LibreOffice Integration 3.5.7. so, i downgraded automatically from 3.5.8. maybe through my repetitive switching between Firefox/ Standalone.

    Firefox now reports Tools: Add-ons: Extensions: Zotero LibreOffice Integration 3.5.8.r10152 (one revision up from my last post) as enabled.

    can i restore 3.5.8 in AOO 4 by clicking 'Install LibreOffice Integration Trunk XPI' from the referred page again?
  • Follow these instructions in Firefox to reinstall the extension in LibreOffice.
  • done. debug ID is D1330411530.

    note the problem slightly changed; the Zotero search bar won't appear when /the cursor is inside an AOO frame/.

    the first two attempts to add a - already cited in the document - citation were successful. in attempts three and four, i was trying to add a citation inside an AOO frame. after clicking the 'Insert Citation' button on the Zotero toolbar, focus moved away from the Writer window, but the Zotero search bar didn't appear.
  • The interface for displaying dialogs changed in OpenOffice 4, and inserting a citation in a text frame displays a warning since we can't determine its position relative to the rest of the document. I've adjusted the plugin to deal with the changes to the dialog interface. If you reinstall the dev XPI from the link above and follow then follow the instructions to reinstall the extension in OpenOffice, you should be able to insert a citation in a text frame.
  • confirmed fixed. thanks for your quick help!

    and sorry again for my grumpy rant; i get a bit nervous when something i use about daily breaks.
  • I am trying to use zotero in openoffice 4.11. I am simple user and not a computer geek. Is there any way to get the zotero working with open office or will I have to buy all kinds of expensive text programms and data managers?
    Thank you
    ER
  • yes, but you'd actually have to tell us what's not working if anything.
  • I can open zotero in firefox but on the text document the toolbar does not come up any more. I have just down loaded libre office but it is the same there. A few weeks ago I was able to put citations into texts now there is nothing I can do. I followed all the steps of the trouble shooter several times.
    ER
  • edited January 24, 2015
    I followed all the steps of the trouble shooter several times.
    Unfortunately that doesn't actually tell us what you did.

    The first thing to try would be to re-install the LibreOffice add-on from the cite tab of the Zotero preferences. Have you done that?
    If so, what operating system, what Zotero version, what Firefox version, and what version of the Libre/Open Office add-on are you using?
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