Join Selected Cells Not Working

Discussion of bugs in Seamonkey
Post Reply
tanders321
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: March 7th, 2022, 9:13 am

Join Selected Cells Not Working

Post by tanders321 »

Any suggestions with this? I kept it on an old version for a few years in order for it to work (due to complaints of joining tables not working), but suddenly it's not. I updated and it's still not working. I desperately need this feature! Any help would be great! Thank you (I'm even open to another free editor...I'm working on schedules I'm posting online, and need tables)
User avatar
WaltS48
Posts: 5141
Joined: May 7th, 2010, 9:38 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Join Selected Cells Not Working

Post by WaltS48 »

I use Geany if you are looking for a replacement for the Composer component.

A web search may turn up something.
Linux Desktop - AMD Athlon(tm) II X3 455 3.3GHz | 8.0GB RAM | GeForce GT 630
Windows Notebook - AMD A8 7410 2.2GHz | 6.0GB RAM | AMD Radeon R5
Potatofox
Posts: 11
Joined: October 2nd, 2015, 7:59 am

Re: Join Selected Cells Not Working

Post by Potatofox »

Hello!
It's probably too late for this case, but for someone else I can give my solution.
I do the same, I use Composer pages to make pages with tables, without publishing on internet.
And I have had the same problem with tables several times.

To solve the way I did it you have to make some technical manipulations, easy and low level but can be complicated for someone who has no idea about "source code" or "html".

*

In abstract:
Apparently SeaMonkey Composer sometimes creates extra lines or columns, and this blocks the table editing.
So in the source code of the page you have to find the extra code it has added and remove it.
You just need a text editor with 2 empty pages, like Gedit, Pluma, Kate, etc.
Small problem: I'm in french, I try to translate the menu items I indicate, I hope you will recognize them.

*

In 9 steps.
WARNING: at certain steps you an lose the problematic table content if SeaMonkey or your computer closes without saving, if you want to avoid this risk you can make a copy of your page before operations.

1/
You can write anything special just before the problematic table, let's say: aaaa.
This step, as well as the 2nd copy made in the text editor pages, are not obligatory, but they can help you find this table later with Ctrl+F in the text editor, if page has much content or several tables.
Othewise you can ignore these steps and do a

2/
Display the source code of the page with the problematic table.
Display > HTML Source

3/
Copy it in the empty text editor page n°1 (text editor: Gedit or else).
This step has a small interest for finding more easily the table because Ctrl+F doesn't seem to work in the source code page.
But it is also important in order to keep a copy of the original page with the problematic table still having its content (text or else), because after that we will empty it.
Click on the source code page > Ctrl+A to select all the text > Ctrl+C to copy it > In the text editor page, Ctrl+V to paste it.

4/
Empty the content of the problematic table to see more clearly in the table code where the problem is (otherwise it is full of your text and harder to read).
Display > go back to the (o) Normal edition mode > Right click in the problematic table > Table selection > All cells > Press [ <- ] or [ Enter ] key to erase the content but keep the table structure.


5/
Like in 2/ and 3/, go back to HTML source and copy it in the empty text editor page n°2.

6/
Here, search the code corresponding to the problematic table wich now has no content.
Typing Ctrl+F and aaaa can help you find it quick under it.
Normally, when for instance you have a table with 2 rows and 4 columns, the code should be something like:
I added separations to show more clearly the 2 <tr>...</tr> that are the 2 cells lines.

Code: Select all

<table width="100%" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" border="1">
<tbody>

<tr>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
</tr>

</tbody>
</table>
The important thing here is the number of rows and columns.
<tr> begins an row, </tr> closes a row, then there are 2 of each.
<td> begins an column, </td> closes a column, then there are 4 of each.
You must count them, to check if the numbers are OK, what happened several times to me is that rows count was OK (counting them was not needed then), but there was an extra cell (here it would be 5 <td(...)></td> instead of 4), that created a column empty or filled with coding text that had no reason to be here.
If you have many rows and columns, counting can be easier to count by adding spaces between row codes like I did and like I do again here (and I add the column that souldn't be here):

Code: Select all

<table width="100%" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" border="1">
<tbody>

<tr>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>
</td>
<td valign="top"><br>  <- Here.
</td>                  <- And here. The column n°5! I can erase it.
</tr>

</tbody>
</table>
(And maybe, if the problem came after having merged cells of the same column instead of cells of the same line, the extra cell can be a <tr></tr> instead of a <td></td>, I don't know.)

7/
Erase the column in the n°1 text editor page (it should be an empty or filled with useless code column).
Compare the 2 text editor pages until you find it.

8/
Replace now the ancient version of the page with the repaired version.
In text editor page n°1, select all the text and copy it (Ctrl+A and Ctrl+ C) > In the source code Composer page, erase the old version and replace it by the repaired one (Ctrl+A, press [ <- ] or [ Enter ] key, Ctrl+V).

9/
Go back to Display > (o) Normal edition mode.
Now table is OK!
Last edited by Potatofox on April 29th, 2023, 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ubuntu user (but looking for better).
Sorry for my bad english I'm french.
Potatofox
Posts: 11
Joined: October 2nd, 2015, 7:59 am

Re: Join Selected Cells Not Working

Post by Potatofox »

About other WYSIWYG editors with tables, others exist in Linux, you can find them searching with words like "wysiwyg" or "editor table" in software like Software or Discover ou Synaptic.

Searching WYSIWYG in Software brings
- Paper (Snap or Flatpak).
- MarkText (showed Snap only, but appears as Flatpak in Flathub though https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.marktext.marktext).
Both in Markdown language, I've not tested them.

Enabling Flatpak https://flatpak.org/setup/Ubuntu can give access to more possibilities, like we cans see when Software brings Paper. But well in fact a search with "WYSIWYG" on Flathub https://flathub.org/apps/search/wysiwyg I only saw MarkText in addition, and Trilium in addition too https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.zadam.trilium, neither tested.
Knowing that Snap and Flatpak have advantages and disadvantages, esp. often big package size.
Search words like "wiki" or "markdown" could bring results also.

I personnally can't live without making tables, I never come across this topic on internet, I don't know if people live without tables or if they use an editor I don't know about, for the moment I use SeaMonkey Composer pages.

*

I can't really advise another WYSIWYG editor as I made too few tests, I just can say a bit.

No:
- Abiword.
Columns width ot tables seem always fixed. To me it makes them unusable.
- Calligra Words.
Same.
- BlueFish.
Same? It used to have auto-adjustable columns but they aren't anymore if I remember well.
- ...

Maybe:
- Kompozer.
No more developped since years but seems still working.
- BlueGriffon.
Kompozer sucessor. Free (freedom meaning) software, with pay options but free (price meaning) version can suffice according to one's needs.
- LibreOffice Writer.
Columns width is blocked by default but it can be modified?
When a table is created > Rigt click on it > Table Properties > Columns > Checking "[_] Adjust columns proportionnally" seems the thing to do, but in my computer at least it can't be checked, box stays unchecked!
Probably there's a way.
- ...
Ubuntu user (but looking for better).
Sorry for my bad english I'm french.
User avatar
davidb_sk
Posts: 127
Joined: July 16th, 2020, 4:25 pm
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Contact:

Re: Join Selected Cells Not Working

Post by davidb_sk »

I know I'm really late to the party on this one. But, in case anyone has the same issue in the future and stumbles across this thread, I'll post my answer.

The only time I have difficulties with joining cells in a table (in Composer) is if I try to vertically join tables after I've joined cells horizontally. If I do the vertical joining first, everything works fine. In the screen capture below, I've done all of the editing using the WYSIWYG editor (aka the Normal view tab):

Image

In the second table, I did the vertical joining first. In the first table, if I wanted to do a vertical cell joining, I'd first remove the horizontal cell joining. I don't know why, but if I don't do the verticals first, Composer doesn't do them after a horizontal cell joining.

I hope this helps.
My current rig: Acer Aspire One D257, ALT Linux (Sisyphus x86_64), Window Maker (0.96.0), SeaMonkey (2.53.18.1)
Post Reply