Footnotes fail in LibreOffice. Report 114597044

wrknowles

Environment: Intel MacBook Pro; MacOS 11.2.1; OpenOffice 7.1.1.2; Zotero 5.0.96.1

Zotero places references correctly when using intext (APA) references, but fails when using footnote (CMS 17 full note) references with a "Zotero experienced an error updating your document." error.

This does not appear to fail in Word,

In LibreOffice, Insert Footnote does not fail with any in-text formats (APA, CMS date, or custom developed intext formats). It appears to fail with all footnote and endnote formats (CMS and a number of custom styles).

dstillman

What version of Java?

wrknowles

I really don't know, but > java --version from the terminal gives:
openjdk 15.0.1 2020-10-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 15.0.1+9)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 15.0.1+9, mixed mode, sharing)

I thought that LibreOffice used its own private java, but I don't see where to find that out.

I'm pretty sure this was working two to three weeks ago, with no intentional changes. I think I did a Zotero update (it's on automatic update, so I'm not sure) since the last time I used this, I'm pretty sure that I haven't updated jdk since a clean install after updating to Big Sur in December. I don't think I've updated LibreOffice since footnoting last worked.

wrknowles

Oh, and whereis returns only one instance of java.

dstillman

Check the Advanced pane in the LibreOffice preferences. LO doesn't use its own Java.

Beyond that, if it works in a new document but fails only in an existing one, see Troubleshooting Errors in Word Processor Documents. If it doesn't work in a new document either, @adomasven will need to look into it.

wrknowles

Thanks. I knew it was somewhere. It's the Oracle 15.0.1 jdk. Switching it to the openjdk build, I am able to create new documents that work with footnoting. (That's an improvement.) However, every existing document that I opened fails with the same error. I opened up a four-year old document, added a footnote and sent you another trace: 1900714003. It looks like the same failure trace on a document known to work (and new at that time) from about a month ago.

I then switched back to the Oracle 15 jdk. I can now create new documents that can footnote, but existing documents fail. So at least both javas exhibit the same issue.

By the way, while I did my initial testing with a number of different footnoting citation styles, I'm keeping it simple and using CMS 17th, full note, as supplied with Zotero and APA 7th, as supplied with Zotero, as my testing styles.

adomasven

You're likely using the "Next style" parameter in your style which triggers an old LibreOffice bug. See this thread: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/73067/zotero-integration-error

You may post on the document foundation bug which may prompt someone to fix it: https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=124842

wrknowles

Nice diagnosis! And I can work around, but I think this surfaced in 5.0.96 or 5.0.96.1, because I think it was working in early February as I was demonstrating the use of Zotero to students. It's possible that I wasn't using a style sheet that exhibits.

I'll try to attach a file extract that exhibits the issue, but it appears that it only occurs when the Footnote style has a variant next style parameter.

adomasven

Zotero only ever sets 2 styles for LibreOffice - the Body style and the Footnote style in footnotes and if either of those have a Next style set it will break. This bug has been around for a long while, maybe you've changed some default settings in LibreOffice, or perhaps a LibreOffice update changed them.