493987 - copy detail from website to excel spreadsheet does not configure to worksheet columns.

Status: NEW

(Core :: DOM: Editor, defect, P5)

Description

[Ernest Kroll]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

a website contains detailed data in columnar form. i copy specific row(s) to my excel worksheet that contains columns that will accommodate said data. when i paste special/html data, it copies all the data into the first column highlighted on the worksheet.
NOTE: This works fine with IE7. I am forced to use IE7 to perform this function instead of Firefox which is inconvenient because i would like to use Firefox consistently.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.link to above url
2.highlight desired row data in detailed listing
3.copy
4.switch to excel worksheet
5.paste special/select html data/enter

Actual Results:  
all selected data pastes to selected column 'a' in excel worksheet

Expected Results:  
selected data should paste across columns starting with selected column 'a' in excel worksheet

if i paste special/unicode text or just text, the columns will paste through the appropriate columns, except that the last field will rap around to column 'b' instead of column 'f'. column 'f' is set for numeric data and column 'b' is set for date, so the numeric data is displayed in date form naturally. 
for some reason IE handles this paste special/html data properly, while Firefox does not. 

i realize that the url i am using is protected, but i don't have any other example available.

Comment 1

[Andrew Perry]

I get this same problem on Firefox 3.5 - the text from a table will not paste appropriately across columns in Excel, rather it all goes in the first cell.

Comment 2

[Robert H. Bernard]

I also get this behavior in Windows.  The table data I copy is from Firefox 3.5 and later, and the app I paste into is Excel 2003.

I have examined the copied data from the Windows Clipboard and it does have tab characters, 0x09, where expected, so some other missing information necessary for Excel to recognize it as a table is not copied onto the clipboard.

I have also created a bugzilla report for a similar problem with Firefox 3.5 for MacosX and later (I don't have any earlier versions of Firefox 3 for MacOSX).  Using these versions of Firefox, when I attempt to paste into Mac Excel I get an error "Excel cannot paste the data."

On the Mac I have done some digging using a MacOSX application called Pasteboard Explorer.  The Mac clipboard accepts multiple flavors of data, called "pasteboards", during a copy operation, and after the Copy from Firefox 2.0.0.1 or 2.0.0.2, the Mac clipboard board receives TWENTY different pasteboards.  One of these, (I haven't yet found out which), is used when pasting into Excel.

However, after a copy from the same web page table using Firefox 3.5 or 3.6, the Mac clipboard only receives FOUR different pasteboards.  I believe that the flavor of pasteboard expected by Excel is not being created, and that is why Excel gives the Error message about not being able to paste.

I hypothesize that Windows clipboards have a construction similar to pasteboard flavors, and on Windows versions of Firefox 3, the same bug is present, and the pasteboard flavor is not being created.  In the case of Widows Excel 2003, is accepts whatever it can get so it doesn't have to issue an error message.

The MacOSX version of Excel that I am using is very old, and is probably not as forgiving of clipboard errors as a newer version.  That doesn't excuse Bugzilla from ignoring your bug report, Mr. Kroll, for so long, especially since yours has been confirmed by Andrew.Perry.  Mine is only lately files, and has yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, I am goimg to try to locate a copy of Windows Firefox 2.x and see if it works as well as the Mac verson with regard to pasting table data into Excel.  If either of you have access to a copy of Firefox 2, would you please try it and see what happens, and write back to me.  If the table is properly pasted into the correct columns, it will confirm my hypothesis that the bug we both are reporting is the same, and crept in at version 3.

How can all of us get together to light a fire under Bugzilla?

Bob Bernard

Comment 3

[Robert H. Bernard]

Commentor [e-mail] told me that Excel Paste Special does past correctly when TEXT mode paste chosen.  This is a temporary work-around.

I think that this is the same bug as reported with exhibits as Bug 547459.  Possible other Bugs that sound similar are 530098, 458518, 548032.

Comment 4

[kaushal]

[Blocking Requested - why for this release]:

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]:

Comment 5

[Jens Stutte [:jstutte]]

Bulk-downgrade of unassigned, >=5 years untouched DOM/Storage bugs' priority.

If you have reason to believe this is wrong (especially for the severity), please write a comment and ni :jstutte.