On debian stretch hp-toolbox fails at status page because of a trival programing error using python str

[charisz]

Debian 9.4, python 2.7.13, hplip 3.18.3
On hp-toolbox gui if status page is choosen, the application crashes.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 569, in Tabs_currentChanged
    self.TabIndex[tab]()
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 1315, in updateStatusTab
    self.updateStatusTable()
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 1410, in updateStatusTable
    tt = str("%s %s"%(dt.toString(),desc))
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe1' in position 3: ordinal not in range(128)

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 569, in Tabs_currentChanged
    self.TabIndex[tab]()
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 1315, in updateStatusTab
    self.updateStatusTable()
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 1431, in updateStatusTable
    i = QTableWidgetItem(str(t))
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe1' in position 3: ordinal not in range(128)

devmgr5.py
line 1410 >> tt = str("%s %s"%(dt.toString(), desc))
line 1431 >> i = QTableWidgetItem(str(t))

In this line the coercing to string is not work because the values can contain unicode characters.
Using "to_uncode" function (from the sourcecode of hplip) in these cases will solve the problem.

By-the-way Can I found the source code somewhere, perhaps I could file a PR?

[Shivani Mandora (shivani1709)]

Hi,

Debian 9.4 is not yet supported by HPLIP , so some functionalities might fail . Please use any previous versions of Debian.you can download supported hplip version source code from this link.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/hplip/files/hplip/
Debian 9.4 will be supported by HPLIP in the future release.

Thanks,
Shivani mandora.

[Alejandro Dini (alete89)]

it also affects me in debian, but debian or its version is not the problem:

alejandro@debian:~$ hp-toolbox

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.18.10)
HP Device Manager ver. 15.0

Copyright (c) 2001-15 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

warning: Fax disabled.
warning: Fax disabled.
warning: Please install version 2.0+ of Reportlab for coverpage support.

##CLICK ON STATUS TAB AND THEN:

\Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 569, in Tabs_currentChanged
    self.TabIndex[tab]()
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 1315, in updateStatusTab
    self.updateStatusTable()
  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui5/devmgr5.py", line 1409, in updateStatusTable
    tt = str("%s %s"%(dt.toString(),desc))
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe9' in position 2: ordinal not in range(128)
Aborted
alejandro@debian:~$

[Alejandro Dini (alete89)]

I confirm what ~charisz said

'' Using "to_uncode" function (from the sourcecode of hplip) in these cases will solve the problem. ''

changing from str() to to_unicode() in lines 1409 and 1431 fixes this issue.