Excel - ReferenceError - TextDecoder is not defined

BaudouinNP · 9 September 2021 12:25

It works indeed with Chrome !

I think for me this solution through a web browser is perfect

maybe you will face the same issue with Power BI ? You might want to check that

teocomi · 9 September 2021 12:27

Thanks for confirming @BaudouinNP ! The Power BI connector is set up in a different way, so won’t have this issue.
Although it means we have to fight with its power query language

daviddekoning · 10 September 2021 12:53

is there a possibility for a solution to this that doesn’t require updating windows? in most production environments, individual users aren’t able to update their Excel or Windows, and even if they can, it’s a significant barrier to adoption

teocomi · 10 September 2021 14:01

To avoid that we’d need to find a replacement for TextDecoder, exactly used here:

github.com

specklesystems/speckle-server/blob/22349df275f5f159201ac7e0643ba0a3677e1d27/packages/objectloader/index.js#L193

    
      
              yield obj
            }
          }
          
          
processLine( chunk ) {
            var pieces = chunk.split( '\t' )
            return { id: pieces[0], obj: JSON.parse( pieces[1] ) }
          }
          
          
async * getRawObjectIterator() {
            const decoder = new TextDecoder()
            const response = await fetch( this.requestUrl, { headers: this.headers } )
            const reader = response.body.getReader()
            let { value: chunk, done: readerDone } = await reader.read()
            chunk = chunk ? decoder.decode( chunk ) : ''
          
          
  let re = /\r\n|\n|\r/gm
            let startIndex = 0
          
          
  while ( true ) {
              let result = re.exec( chunk )

Feel free to explore options! But I’m a bit reluctant to go that way since Internet Explorer has been officially discontinued

daviddekoning · 14 September 2021 01:06

thanks @teocomi!

I checked the version of Windows and Excel that I am running and based on the page you linked above, it appears that the Add-In is running with Microsoft Edge with original WebView (EdgeHTML) (e.g. not Internet Explorer, but also not Chromium-based Edge). I am getting the TextDecoder error on Desktop, but it works fine in the browser.

MDN indicates that TextDecoder support was added to Edge in version 79, which (unsuprisingly?) is the first chromium-based version.

So it appears that despite IE’s depreciation, there is still no guarantee that TextDecoder is available. I’m not quite sure what the next steps are, but thought I’d share the results of my digging.

teocomi · 14 September 2021 08:52

Thanks for digging into it David!
I think at this point it’s worth opening an issue to look at possible alternatives, see: ObjectLoader: TextDecoder not supported in old browsers · Issue #407 · specklesystems/speckle-server · GitHub

It’d be worth also trying to update your Edge and seeing if that goes away?

daviddekoning · 14 September 2021 12:49

Sounds good - unfortunately, updating Edge is beyond my control. (“Some settings are managed by your organization”…)

gokermu · 14 September 2021 13:42

Same thing in my case too. Although using the browser version solves the problem, many end users will not take the trouble.

teocomi · 6 January 2022 13:17

@gokermu and @BaudouinNP

We’re trying to fix this issue for good now but are struggling to reproduce it, could you please:

try see if it’s fixed already by any chance with some of the latest updates?
tell us exactly which version of IE is being used by your Excel? To do so check out the gif below

Thanks!

gokermu · 6 January 2022 19:17

Not solved on my end @teocomi.
SSL: On

gjedlicska · 7 January 2022 13:39

Apparently @gokermu had an older version of Excel installed, which was not reporting the rendering engine version. He got over the TextDecoder issue with updating Excel itself.

gokermu · 7 January 2022 14:17

Yep , after I downloaded a newer version of Excel, I don’t get the Error anymore.

mtam · 14 January 2022 06:35

Hi, I am trying to import from Revit columns into Excel and I come across this error: Something went wrong: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading ‘referencedId’)

I have tried on Edge (Version 97.0.1072.55) and Firefox 96.0.

In the Windows version of Excel I receive this error: Something went wrong: ReferenceError ‘TextEncoder’ is not defined

gjedlicska · 14 January 2022 09:58

Hey @mtam,

regarding the TextEncoder issue, we still have a hard time to get a handle on, where it comes from, because we cannot recreate an environment that produces this issue. Could you post a screenshot with the connector details as shown above?

Regarding the referencedId maybe @teocomi can help.

Thanks

teocomi · 14 January 2022 19:27

Hey @mtam yes the the referencedId one sounds like another little bug. Could you please share the stream in question with me so I can replicate it?

gjedlicska · 16 January 2022 12:51

Also @gokermu had a commit, that produced the referencedId issue.