DUPLICATE DATA
[was: Re: [sc-dev] MOVE Calc Usability Page?]
Hi Eike,
I have partially rewritten the wiki in the hope to clarify this issue
(see
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Calc/To-Dos/Usability#Duplicate_Data).
Eike Rathke wrote:
Hi Leonard,
On Tuesday, 2007-07-31 21:35:07 +0300, Leonard Mada wrote:
For i80139 please note that for "3.2 DATA LINKS" external references are
already implemented (could be enhanced though to not create an internal
sheet and handle things a bit different)
Nahh, a bidirectional-link does not work (neither for 2 different
spreadsheets, nor for intra-spreadsheet links; the latter link-mechanism
does not exist at all). If I link to a cell having a formula, it does
not work, either. So it is basically never usable, because most of the
time there will be a formula somewhere in the spreadsheet blocking this.
I may have misunderstood what you actually wanted to achieve. Are you
speaking of referring external data, or links in the sense of URLs that
take you to some different location when clicked? Please elaborate.
Lets say, we have in cell A1 = 50. In cell B1 we write: =A1.
Now, lets assume, we find out later that '50' is wrong, it should have
been '20'. In this trivial example, one may change the value in cell A1.
BUT in a non-trivial example, A1 is hidden in a 100,000 cells
spreadsheet and one is actually working with the data copied from the
original table (after some filtering) in a second table. One sees the
cell B1 and wants to operate the change here. The change in B1 should be
ported then back into cell A1.
What we need is a bidirectional reference that links cells A1 and B1, so
that when I change B1, this change is reflected in the value stored in
A1, too. This is like a Unix Hard-Link! A1 and B1 should be hard-linked.
Please note, that we may have many B1-cells (copies of the original
data), so we need to change every single value (IF we do not have
references in place, BUT copied only the data). For different
spreadsheets, we may use the link-function. BUT:
If we link to a cell that contains a formula or a reference, the result
is devastating. Lets say, in document 1 we have a column named MySum,
where each cell is =SUM(Ax:Bx)
Now we link from a different document 2 to this column. What we actually
get is =SUM(AxBx), but Ax and Bx refer to this new spreadsheet, not the
original one, where these values are stored. So I will have to link to
ALL data. Then what is the simplification of doing the analysis in a
new spreadsheet? I need to copy everything into the new spreadsheet. I
don't think there is a complex spreadsheet *without formulas*, so
basically this functionality is useless for me, too.
"3.3 TRACK CHANGES" is already
implemented (see menu Edit.Changes), and "3.4 VERSIONING" is already
implemented (see file save/load dialog). Which leaves only "3.1
COLLABORATIONS" that is already handled by some other issue.
Nahh, mediawiki has a far better versioning/changes functionality than
every spreadsheet application. And that is rather a poor alias for
spreadsheets. Therefore, I am eagerly awaiting to see something more
advanced, something really mind breaking.
Well, you should have pointed that out that more clearly it seems.
Eike
I have posted another issue (see
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=80325) detailing some
of the track changes issues. This is only a glimpse of what is doable
and even I may not yet think of everything that is needed. Though
functional areas and tracking changes in a computed value (downstream)
are surely high priority. [By the way, I do not use the existing track
changes, because in its current state it is largely useless in my work.I
would need years to track every change.]
Sincerely,
Leonard
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