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Posted to user@poi.apache.org by Andrea Nenni <An...@methodpark.de> on 2004/01/23 09:45:00 UTC

Opening HSSFSheets in MS Project - Is it a bug?

Hello everybody,

I still could not find a solution for my MS Project import problem.

Perhaps I shoud give you some more detailed information:

I create Excel sheets with POI and open them with Microsoft Project.
Each row in my sheet corresponds to a "task" in MS Project. (You can  
define special mappings to and from MS Excel in MS Project.)

Everything works fine, when the number of rows in the created Excel
file is odd. However, when the row number is even, MS Project will just
ignore the last row, i.e. one "task" is missing. There seems to be some
difference in the file ending between HSSFSheets with odd and even row 
numbers. Im still not sure, if this is a bug or just part of Microsoft's 
definition of the MS Excel format.

Next, I tried to cheat MS Project, by using an additional empty row at 
the end of the sheet. Consequentially, MS Project shows an empty "task"
at the bottom.

What I found somehow amazing: When I remove the additional row immediately
after adding it in POI, MS Project still shows the additional "task".

Has anybody an idea how to work around this problem?
Please help me.

Andrea


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RE: Opening HSSFSheets in MS Project - Is it a bug?

Posted by Andrea Nenni <An...@methodpark.de>.
Hello,

I dumped some of my Excel files with the org.apache.poi.hssf.dev.BiffViewer:

- "poi.dump" (from the Excel sheet created by HSSF)
- "excel.dump" ("poi.dump" opened and saved with MS Excel 2002)
- "openo.dump" ("poi.dump" opened and saved with Open Office 1.1.0)


This is what I see, when I compare the files with UNIX diff (-u):

--- poi.dump	2004-01-26 13:21:14.000000000 +0100
+++ excel.dump	2004-01-26 13:49:14.000000000 +0100

<snip>

 recordid = 0x200, size =14
 [DIMENSIONS]
     .firstrow       = 0
-    .lastrow        = 3
+    .lastrow        = 4
     .firstcol       = 0
     .lastcol        = 1
     .zero           = 0
 [/DIMENSIONS]
 
 ============================================

I get the same result when comparing "poi.dump" to "openo.dump".

My generated sheet has 4 rows. HSSF writes a "lastrow" entry of 3. 
MS Excel and Open Office both change the "lastrow" entry to 4 which
makes them readable for MS Project. 

I also had a look into the BiffViewer dump of a POI generated Excel
sheet with 5 rows. It has a "lastrow" entry of 5 (!). 

This looks like a bug to me which might cause the problems in opening
the file with MS Project.

Any ideas or comments?

Can anyone tell me, if there is an easy way to change the "lastrow" entry
in an Excel file? Is there a way to do it with HSSF?

Regards,
Andrea


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Avik Sengupta [mailto:avik.sengupta@itellix.com] 
> Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:26 AM
> 
> You'll probably need to test this with a hand crafted excel file, to
> find out if this is POI issue or an MS project issue. 


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Re: Opening HSSFSheets in MS Project - Is it a bug?

Posted by Avik Sengupta <av...@itellix.com>.
You'll probably need to test this with a hand crafted excel file, to
find out if this is POI issue or an MS project issue. 

On Fri, 2004-01-23 at 14:15, Andrea Nenni wrote:
> Hello everybody,
> 
> I still could not find a solution for my MS Project import problem.
> 
> Perhaps I shoud give you some more detailed information:
> 
> I create Excel sheets with POI and open them with Microsoft Project.
> Each row in my sheet corresponds to a "task" in MS Project. (You can  
> define special mappings to and from MS Excel in MS Project.)
> 
> Everything works fine, when the number of rows in the created Excel
> file is odd. However, when the row number is even, MS Project will just
> ignore the last row, i.e. one "task" is missing. There seems to be some
> difference in the file ending between HSSFSheets with odd and even row 
> numbers. Im still not sure, if this is a bug or just part of Microsoft's 
> definition of the MS Excel format.
> 
> Next, I tried to cheat MS Project, by using an additional empty row at 
> the end of the sheet. Consequentially, MS Project shows an empty "task"
> at the bottom.
> 
> What I found somehow amazing: When I remove the additional row immediately
> after adding it in POI, MS Project still shows the additional "task".
> 
> Has anybody an idea how to work around this problem?
> Please help me.
> 
> Andrea
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-user-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: poi-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
> 


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RE: Opening HSSFSheets in MS Project - Is it a bug?

Posted by Andrea Nenni <An...@methodpark.de>.
Hello again,

if anybody happens to stumble across the same MS Project problem that
I had:
I just added what I consider the solution to the problem as bug report 
and patch to the POI bugzilla database. The bug number is 26465.

Thanks for your interest.

Andrea


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrea Nenni [mailto:Andrea.Nenni@methodpark.de] 
> Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 9:45 AM
> To: 'POI Users List'
> Subject: Opening HSSFSheets in MS Project - Is it a bug?
> 
> 
> Hello everybody,
> 
> I still could not find a solution for my MS Project import problem.
> 
> Perhaps I shoud give you some more detailed information:
> 
> I create Excel sheets with POI and open them with Microsoft Project.
> Each row in my sheet corresponds to a "task" in MS Project. (You can  
> define special mappings to and from MS Excel in MS Project.)
> 
> Everything works fine, when the number of rows in the created Excel
> file is odd. However, when the row number is even, MS Project 
> will just
> ignore the last row, i.e. one "task" is missing. There seems 
> to be some
> difference in the file ending between HSSFSheets with odd and 
> even row 
> numbers. Im still not sure, if this is a bug or just part of 
> Microsoft's 
> definition of the MS Excel format.
> 
> Next, I tried to cheat MS Project, by using an additional 
> empty row at 
> the end of the sheet. Consequentially, MS Project shows an 
> empty "task"
> at the bottom.
> 
> What I found somehow amazing: When I remove the additional 
> row immediately
> after adding it in POI, MS Project still shows the additional "task".
> 
> Has anybody an idea how to work around this problem?
> Please help me.
> 
> Andrea
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-user-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: poi-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
> 
> 


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