website/blog/translation-errors-and-the-big-oops.rst

With much fanfare, we released OpenLP 2.2 last Sunday. It's been a roaring success so far, but sadly it has also been plagued by unforseen bugs. A number of users have had OpenLP just crash on startup, and some folks have been unable to play videos. In this blog post, I'll show you how to figure out which issue you're running into, and a workaround for it until we can get a fix out (hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks).

There have been two main problems which cause OpenLP 2.2 to crash on startup. Firstly, three languages were hit by translation errors, and secondly, OpenLP on Linux won't start up due to VLC being missing.

The issues with videos can be divided into two situations. Firstly, our initial build of OpenLP for Windows was unable to detect VLC, and secondly, some folks might have been using video players that are not supported on their platforms anymore.

Translation Issues

The three languages affected by the translation bug are German, Estonian and Chinese (Taiwan). Fortunantely there is a workaround, just change the language back to the default English. But since OpenLP can't start you'll have have to change the settings where the settings are stored, which differs on platform.

Diagnosing the Problem

When this bug hits you'll see an error window opening up on startup, and the following Python traceback will be in there:

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<string>", line 44, in <module>
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/__init__.py", line 388, in main
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/__init__.py", line 141, in run
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/ui/mainwindow.py", line 526, in __init__
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/ui/aboutform.py", line 44, in __init__
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/ui/aboutform.py", line 50, in _setup
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/ui/aboutdialog.py", line 82, in setup_ui
   File "/Users/raoul/Projects/OpenLP/OpenLP-2.2/openlp/core/ui/aboutdialog.py", line 264, in retranslate_ui
TypeError: not all arguments converted during string formatting

Fixing the Problem

To change language on Windows:

1. Click on Start, Run
2. Type in regedit.exe and press Enter
3. Navigate down the tree to the OpenLP folder which is located at: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\OpenLP\OpenLP\core
4. Click the attribute language and change it to en for English
5. Save and close the Registry Editor
6. Start OpenLP

To change language on Linux:

1. Open a text editor (Kate on KDE, Gedit on Gnome or Ubuntu)
2. Open a file and look for /home/<user>/.config/OpenLP/OpenLP.conf (you may need to tell your file dialog to show hidden files)
3. In the [core] section find language and change it to en for English
4. Save the file and close your editor
5. Start OpenLP

To change language on Mac OS X:

1. Open Finder and go to Applications
2. In Applications, open the Utilities folder
3. Open the Terminal application, this will open up a command prompt
4. Type in defaults write org.openlp.OpenLP core.language en exactly as you see it here, and press <Enter>
5. Close Terminal
6. Start OpenLP

VLC On Linux

In some Linux distributions (notably Ubuntu and its derivatives), you may encounter and error when starting OpenLP.

Diagnosing the Problem

When OpenLP starts, you'll see an error window with the following traceback:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/openlp", line 44, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/__init__.py", line 384, in main
    sys.exit(application.run(qt_args))
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/__init__.py", line 142, in run
    Registry().execute('bootstrap_initialise')
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/common/registry.py", line 137, in execute
    result = function(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/lib/pluginmanager.py", line 60, in bootstrap_initialise
    self.hook_media_manager()
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/lib/pluginmanager.py", line 122, in hook_media_manager
    plugin.create_media_manager_item()
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/lib/plugin.py", line 204, in create_media_manager_item
    self.media_item = self.media_item_class(self.main_window.media_dock_manager.media_dock, self)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/plugins/media/lib/mediaitem.py", line 56, in __init__
    super(MediaMediaItem, self).__init__(parent, plugin)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/lib/mediamanageritem.py", line 82, in __init__
    self.setup_item()
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/plugins/media/lib/mediaitem.py", line 86, in setup_item
    self.media_controller.setup_display(self.display_controller.preview_display, False)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/ui/media/mediacontroller.py", line 322, in setup_display
    player.setup(display)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/ui/media/vlcplayer.py", line 147, in setup
    display.vlc_instance = vlc.Instance(command_line_options)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/ui/media/vendor/vlc.py", line 1359, in __new__
    return libvlc_new(len(args), args)
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/ui/media/vendor/vlc.py", line 3355, in libvlc_new
    ctypes.c_void_p, ctypes.c_int, ListPOINTER(ctypes.c_char_p))
  File "/usr/share/openlp/openlp/core/ui/media/vendor/vlc.py", line 211, in _Cfunction
    raise NameError('no function %r' % (name,))
NameError: no function 'libvlc_new'

Fixing the Problem

The workaround is really simple: install VLC.

Missing VLC on Windows

If you were previously using VLC in Windows, and now can no longer play any media, this is probably due to a problem that arose when building OpenLP for Windows.

Diagnosing the Problem

When OpenLP starts you'll see an error window appear, and there should be a traceback like the one below:

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\servicemanager.py", line 1462, in on_make_live
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\servicemanager.py", line 1478, in make_live
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\slidecontroller.py", line 808, in add_service_manager_item
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\slidecontroller.py", line 896, in _process_item
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\slidecontroller.py", line 1360, in on_media_start
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\media\mediacontroller.py", line 376, in video
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\media\mediacontroller.py", line 532, in _check_file_type
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\media\mediacontroller.py", line 345, in resize
   File "D:\OpenLP_Development\OpenLP_Code\2.2\openlp\core\ui\media\vlcplayer.py", line 234, in resize
AttributeError: 'MainDisplay' object has no attribute 'vlc_widget'

Fixing the Problem

The fix for this is really easy. We've already re-built OpenLP for Windows with a fix. Just re-download OpenLP and re-install it.

NB Make sure your are using the 32-bit version of VLC. OpenLP on Windows is a 32-bit application.

Missing Media Player

In some instances you might find that you cannot play any videos.

Diagnosing the Problem

When you try to play media, you get an error message like this:

File type unsupported

Fixing the Problem

Some of the older built-in media players aren't currently supported in Windows and Mac OS X. If you encounter this, simply download and install VLC, restart OpenLP, and you should be able to select VLC as your media player.

NB Make sure your are using the 32-bit version of VLC. OpenLP on Windows is a 32-bit application.

Rolling out Fixes

We're really busy trying to track down and fix these issues, but as you can imagine it's not always that simple or that easy, so please be patient. We are hoping to get a release out by the end of next week. In the case of the translations, if you speak that language, please can you check out the project on Transifex and see if you can help fix it.

Thanks for your patience and your support!

[ Image Credit: Coccinella - Lady bug, Macro ]