"print selection only" does not work in firefox

[astro]

Binary package hint: mozilla-firefox

Distribution : Ubuntu 8.04 x86 freshly installed
Package : firefox 3.0~b5+nobinonly-0ubuntu3

The "Print selection Only" option only prints a small part of the selection (about half a centimeter in height that is the first line, the first line and half the second line depending on the font size)

Example:
Open firefox
Open http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=179
Select the text starting with "Announcement: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Released- Read more here." just below "Threads in Forum : Development (Feisty Fawn) - (CLOSED)" and ending with "Display Options Moderators" (included) near the end of the html document.
File->Print
In the Option tab, select "Print selection Only"
Click Print.
I get only the first and a half line printed.

Note: The problem happens both when printing to PDF or to my HP printer.
Note 2: Printing selection in firefox 2 on Ubuntu 7.10 worked well.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

most likely an upstream issue.

 tag mt-upstream

thanks

 - Alexander

[Daz (vic-court)]

Since the upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 I too have this problem using my HP printer. When I select to "Print selection only" I get only the first line or nothing at all printed.

This is one of many problems resulting from 8.04 which has somewhat put me off Ubuntu.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 09:09:13PM -0000, Daz wrote:
> Since the upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 I too have this problem using my HP
> printer. When I select to "Print selection only" I get only the first
> line or nothing at all printed.
>
> This is one of many problems resulting from 8.04 which has somewhat put
> me off Ubuntu.
>

Does this work in ffox 3 RC1?

 status incomplete

 - Alexander

[Daz (vic-court)]

The problem now exists in my Firefox v3.0b5.

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

> Does this work in ffox 3 RC1?

Chances could be improved of getting an answer to the question if (s)he is provided with instructions for how to test this without disturbing his/her package management system setup. I haven't had much luck in getting responses to my requests for such instructions in similar circumstances (otherwise I'd post the instructions myself). :-)

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Bob Kline wrote:
>> Does this work in ffox 3 RC1?
>
> Chances could be improved of getting an answer to the question if (s)he
> is provided with instructions for how to test this without disturbing
> his/her package management system setup. I haven't had much luck in
> getting responses to my requests for such instructions in similar
> circumstances (otherwise I'd post the instructions myself). :-)
>
Can you please follow the instructions at the following link on how to
start witha clean profile and test it with Firefox RC1 with a new profile.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Bugs

--
Sincerely Yours,
     John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

[Daz (vic-court)]

Thank you John. I have now tested this out using a new profile and the result is the same. I have also downloaded a Ubuntu 8.04 disc image and tried this feature when just booted from the disc with the same result. As pointed out above, "Print selection only" worked OK with my setup using FF2 under Ubuntu 7.10. I have now installed "ksnapshot" which will print a selection successfully.

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

John Vivirito wrote:
> Bob Kline wrote:
>
>>> Does this work in ffox 3 RC1?
>>>
>> Chances could be improved of getting an answer to the question if (s)he
>> is provided with instructions for how to test this without disturbing
>> his/her package management system setup. I haven't had much luck in
>> getting responses to my requests for such instructions in similar
>> circumstances (otherwise I'd post the instructions myself). :-)
>>
>>
> Can you please follow the instructions at the following link on how to
> start witha clean profile and test it with Firefox RC1 with a new profile.
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Bugs
>
>

Hi, John.

Not sure whether you were directing this request to me or to Daz (or
both), but in any case while the instructions to which you link appear
to have plenty of useful information about juggling Firefox profiles,
they don't address the issue to which I was referring. I've seen
estimates that there are over 8 million Ubuntu users. I'd be surprised
if as many as 8,000 of them (.1%) have a sufficiently thorough
understanding of how the package management system works to know the
answers to all of the following questions:

   1. If someone asks me to install a package on my Ubuntu machine and
      it doesn't show up in Synaptic's list of available packages, what
      do I do?
   2. If I need to manipulate the list of package sources, how do I know
      which ones to trust?
   3. If I need to add sources for packages, how do the sources interact
      with each other?
   4. What are the possible drawbacks to adding package sources?
   5. If I remove sources, what happens to the packages I got from those
      sources?
   6. What bad things can happen if I install software without going
      through the package management system?
   7. What are all of the things I could do to cause the package
      management system to stop working correctly?
   8. What do I do to fix the package management system if it stops
      working correctly?

Surely the Ubuntu team wants to get bug feedback from a broader
community than this elite subset of Ubuntu gurus. I'm definitely not in
that group, but these are questions that cross my mind when I'm asked to
try the latest beta of some program to see if the bugs are fixed, and I
know I've got plenty of company. I've asked on more than one occasion
for someone to direct me to documentation which addresses these
questions comprehensively, and I'm inclined to think that such
documentation doesn't exist, based on the lack of response. I'd be
delighted to be proved wrong (even if that proof comes with some "it was
right under your nose, silly" ridicule), and I'd be more than happy to
use those instructions if they show me how to install Firefox 3RC1
safely so I can do the testing you ask for.

(As an aside, I suspect that Daz didn't even realize you were asking
him/her to test with a different version of Firefox than is available by
default with 8.04, based on the mention of switching profiles without
identifying the version of FF used for the test.)

--
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:<email address hidden>

[Daz (vic-court)]

I certainly didn't realise that I was being advised to test a differnt version of FF than the one that came with Ubuntu 8.04.

I am quite new to Ubuntu, having got to it because I don't want to go from Windows XP to Vista. I have already put too much time into Ubuntu and realise that it is not an alternative to Windows unless you are a real enthusiast and much more knowledgeable than I am. I will keep Ubuntu as a backup, in case Windows crashes etc. but after this 8.04 upgrade I don't think that it is a viable alternative to Windows (I am sad to say).

Daz

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

Daz:

Sorry it didn't work out for you.

In fairness to the Ubuntu maintainers, while it's not uncommon in the Linux world to be told "we'd like you to install and test this beta software that might mess up your system and confuse the package manager, and we're not going to tell you how to avoid the possible pitfalls" the Windows equivalent is "we'd like you to reformat your hard disk and re-install the operating system." Neither world is perfect.

Good luck with Windows.

Cheers,
Bob

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Sat, Jun 07, 2008 at 07:51:15PM -0000, Daz wrote:
> I certainly didn't realise that I was being advised to test a differnt
> version of FF than the one that came with Ubuntu 8.04.
>
> I am quite new to Ubuntu, having got to it because I don't want to go
> from Windows XP to Vista. I have already put too much time into Ubuntu
> and realise that it is not an alternative to Windows unless you are a
> real enthusiast and much more knowledgeable than I am. I will keep
> Ubuntu as a backup, in case Windows crashes etc. but after this 8.04
> upgrade I don't think that it is a viable alternative to Windows (I am
> sad to say).
>

If we ask you to test something its because you have filed a bug and
we want to deal with your bug; if you file a bug on windows you wont
get a reply at all.

Anyway, for me it works fine in firefox 3 RC2; i guess it works in
firefox 3 RC1 too. That version will be pushed out today most likely,
so try in a day or two after pulling all updates.

The way it worked for me was:

Select part of a page, go to File -> Print ..., switch to "Options"
tabulator and select "Print selection only".

I printed to file as i have no printer, but there shouldnt be much a
difference.

If you got the update let us know if its fixed for you.

Thanks!

 status incomplete

 - Alexander

[Daz (vic-court)]

Hi Alexander,
Many thanks for your reply. I do take the point that I would not get any feedback from MS over a Windows issue. I am indeed very impressed at the feedback that I have received. I apologise if I seemed unappreciative but being a newby I didn't quite know what to expect from posting a bug report.

I will look out for the FF update.

Thanks again, Daz

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

Alexander Sack wrote:
> Anyway, for me it works fine in firefox 3 RC2; i guess it works in
> firefox 3 RC1 too. That version will be pushed out today most likely,
> so try in a day or two after pulling all updates.
>

RC-1 has been released, and the bug is fixed in that version.

What's the best forum for pursuing answers to the questions I posted
earlier in this issue? I'd like to contribute to documentation (perhaps
a FAQ) to which maintainers could refer when asking less experienced
users to install and test versions of software packages which aren't
available by default from the package manager. Of course, I'll need
assistance finding out what some of the answers are myself first. :-)

--
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:<email address hidden>

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

 affects ubuntu/firefox-3.0
 status fixreleased

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From: Alexander Sack <email address hidden>
To: Bug 223357 <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Bug 223357] Re: "print selection Only" does not work in firefox3

On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 04:22:54PM -0000, Bob Kline wrote:
> Alexander Sack wrote:
> > Anyway, for me it works fine in firefox 3 RC2; i guess it works in
> > firefox 3 RC1 too. That version will be pushed out today most likely,
> > so try in a day or two after pulling all updates.
> >
>
> RC-1 has been released, and the bug is fixed in that version.
>

thanks.

 affects ubuntu/firefox-3.0
 status fixreleased

> What's the best forum for pursuing answers to the questions I posted
> earlier in this issue? I'd like to contribute to documentation (perhaps
> a FAQ) to which maintainers could refer when asking less experienced
> users to install and test versions of software packages which aren't
> available by default from the package manager. Of course, I'll need
> assistance finding out what some of the answers are myself first. :-)
>

what questions do you have in particular in mind for the FAQ?

 - Alexander

----- End forwarded message -----

 - Alexander

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

On Wed, 2008-06-11 at 17:37 +0000, Alexander Sack wrote:

> what questions do you have in particular in mind for the FAQ?

All of the ones I listed in
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/223357/comments/8

--
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:<email address hidden>

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Bob Kline wrote:
> Alexander Sack wrote:
>
>> Anyway, for me it works fine in firefox 3 RC2; i guess it works in
>> firefox 3 RC1 too. That version will be pushed out today most likely,
>> so try in a day or two after pulling all updates.
>>
>>
>
> RC-1 has been released, and the bug is fixed in that version.
>
> What's the best forum for pursuing answers to the questions I posted
> earlier in this issue? I'd like to contribute to documentation (perhaps
> a FAQ) to which maintainers could refer when asking less experienced
> users to install and test versions of software packages which aren't
> available by default from the package manager. Of course, I'll need
> assistance finding out what some of the answers are myself first. :-)
>
>
Try either Mozilla team mailing list if related to Ubuntu's version of
Mozilla or Mozilla upstream has a forum or you can try answers.launchpad.net

--
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

John Vivirito wrote:
> Try either Mozilla team mailing list if related to Ubuntu's version of
> Mozilla or Mozilla upstream has a forum or you can try answers.launchpad.net
>

I believe if you look a little more closely at the questions you'll see
that they aren't specific to Mozilla at all, but are applicable to all
of Ubuntu. The answers.launchpad.net site looks promising, though; I'll
give that a shot (if I can ever get http://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu
to respond -- it seems to be having a rough morning). Thanks.

--
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:<email address hidden>

[astro (bernard-godard)]

It's not fully fixed. It still prints the selection incompletely. Several lines at the end of the selection are not printed.

[Daz (vic-court)]

After the recent upgrade to FF3 the "Print Selection only" works perfectly for me. So, as far as I am concerned the bug is now fixed.
Many thanks,
Daz

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

Daz wrote:
> After the recent upgrade to FF3 the "Print Selection only" works perfectly for me. So, as far as I am concerned the bug is now fixed.
>

I'm not so sure. I just brought up http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/ in FF3
(release), selected the first blog article (from the title "Installing
Vista Fonts in Ubuntu" through the numbered list at the end of the
article: "... easier to install fonts.") and tried printing the
selection. Not only did Firefox not print all of the selection, much of
what it did print got printed twice. So I guess I'd say we're moving
backwards with selection printing. :-(

--
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:<email address hidden>

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

In an earlier comment I reported:

> RC-1 has been released, and the bug is fixed in that version.

At this point the final release for Firefox 3.0 is in the default repositories for Ubuntu 8.04, and sad to say, the bug is back (perhaps in a worse form: see my previous comment).

To reproduce:

 * install Ubuntu 8.04
 * run sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
 * open Firefox
 * load https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/223357 (this page)
 * select the comment posted 2008-06-19 containing the substring "I'm not so sure."
 * pull down the File menu
 * choose Print
 * select the Options tab
 * check the box for "Print Selection Only"
 * click the Print button

Expected result: printed page containing selected comment
Actual result: printed page with headers and footers only

This is a serious bug. It's not as bad as "sets the monitor on fire" but it's a real productivity killer.

[Daz (vic-court)]

Yes I reproduced the bug by following your instructions above. But I then Print Selection from my banking website and also from the Met Office website and it worked perfectly. So it seems to work in some situations but not others.

Daz

[Joel Montes de Oca (joelmontes01)]

It looks like it does not work within frames or something.... I made a little screen cast to show the problem inside Wikipedia.

You can also see how if select the blue table at this page.http://www.ncccusa.org/news/080215yearbook1.html, it will not print.

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008061015 Firefox/3.0

[65 (pencileraser)]

It's definitely not the most desirable method, but using Firefox 3 in Wine will allow you to print selection from content with frames, no problem. There was a document I just _had_ to print only a portion of, so this workaround worked in a pinch.

[Daz (vic-court)]

I am now finding that with Firefox 3.0.1 the "Print selection only" is working fine. I am using it regularly without a problem.

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

> .... working fine.

Yes, confirmed with both of the last two repro cases given above. I'm puzzled that "65" reported that he/she still needs to use Wine to work around the bug.

[65 (pencileraser)]

Yeah, what do you know, it works fine for me now.

[Thomas Hotz (thotz-deactivatedaccount)]

Your Ubuntu version is EOL on the Desktop. Does this error still occur with a newer and supported Ubuntu version? Thank you for telling us!

[Bob Kline (bkline)]

> Does this error still occur ...?

Not as described in the original report, which said that only one full line and portions of two additional lines were printed, but the behavior is still not correct in 12.04 LTS / Firefox 17.0. I followed my own repro instructions in comment #21, and the output omitted all but a couple of pixels' height at the bottom of the top line (the line which says "Daz wrote:" which was included in the selection), but printed the rest of the lines intact; see the attached image of the print output, showing that the top line is almost completely chopped off. This would be a regression, as several of us posted comments quite some time ago confirming that the bug had been fixed.