Not able to append Excel sheets on macOS

Feedback & Ideas Implemented Fixes
1

@swaraj_singh with the latest version of 5.4 I see some early indications of problems with Excel writer and possibly missing values at least under macOS. Currently not on a machine so someone might check.

Edit: it has to do with the appending of sheets. The same data can be written to an Excel file but not being appended as a new sheet.

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KNIME 5.4 - Excel Check.knwf (694.7 KB)

knime.log (8.8 KB)

KNIME Excel Support 5.4.0.v202411201034 org.knime.features.ext.poi.feature.group KNIME AG, Zurich, Switzerland

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Thank you @mlauber71 for reporting the problem!

So far we have been unable to reporduce the issue on Windows and macOS (intel and Apple silicon).

would you double check if there is something else causing the issue?

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Thanks for the report! I am able to reproduce it from the SDK, but only there. No problem in the Release Candidate.

I think it’s a classloader issue, but am still investigating.

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When I install the Textprocessing extension, I can reproduce it from the RC.

(the tika plugin seems to load POI and then our Excel plugin finds a different class instance (same in name but different classloader), making a check fail)

Opened a regression ticket: AP-23687

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Hi @mlauber71!

Manuel and I are currently looking at the issue and we have trouble diagnosing it in all detail as the problem does not surface so easily in a development environment. However, we do have a theory and have created a zipped update site that provides a fix (or potential fix). It fixes the issue in Manuel’s product installation (which is where he could reproduce the issue, at least once). Can you confirm it also:

Here would be the update site (first download, then point KNIME to it): https://download.knime.org/tmp/2024-12-02_TextProcessing_Update_AP-23687.zip (it’s quite big, 1GB, due to all the models that come with it).

Once confirmed, we would make the change to our master build and then also port the change into the release build.

Thanks.
– Bernd (& Manuel)

PS: Big thanks if you confirm this quickly. We currently consider this a release blocker and that makes some people here, incl. myself, a bit nervous.

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Will check. It makes me nervous too since the Excel writer is a big deal … Thanks for taking this on so quick. Will try to have it first fail and then succeed after update …

Edit: I since detecting the problem installed the latest version of the update to the version from the hacking days and this seems not to have the problem on the macOS / M1. Also in the office today I uninstalled the Text processing extension and the problem was also gone while it was still there before.

I will try to install the version from the hacking days again. Test the problem and then instal your update to see what happens.

Edit 2: I can fire up my office Laptop again (Windows). Install the Textprocessing app, let it fail and then install the update you provided…

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@wiswedel I re-installed the (buggy) Text Extension. Let the Test-Workflow fail and then installed the fix you provided and now the Excel Writer seems to work again on my windows machine.

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If you need I can provide all the log files via Mail - sent to support ticket 40774

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Thanks for the confirmation (and the report in the first place). We’ll take care of the rest and make sure the fix will be included in the release on Friday.

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Internal ticket ID: AP-23687
Summary: Installing Textprocessing extension breaks Excel Reader/Writer
Fix version(s): 5.4.0