Hi Eike,
Eike Rathke wrote:
...
Nice idea, but I doubt we'd implement that soon. Apart from that, a
hard link to a cell containing a formula should be prevented, and
entering a formula in A1 would have to break all hard links pointing
to A1 and change them to "soft-linked" usual cell references. To me
this appears as a new source of user confusion.
Well, I see, there are some difficulties in implementing hard-links, but
they are solvable. I came up with the following idea:
a.) with array-formulas, one has: '{=_some_formula_}'
b.) basically, hard linked cells should be _displayed_ similarly,
using e.g. '[]'-braces
i.) non-formulas, i.e. proper values, should be displayed in the
'Input line' as:
[ _the_value_ ] when clicking on the cell (without actually
editing the value)
_the_value_ when editing or clicking inside the formula
input line editor
ii.) for formulas, display:
[= _the_formula_ ] when clicking on the cell
= _the_formula_ when editing the formula
iii.) for array-formulas, display:
[{= _array_formula_}] when clicking on the cell
= _arraay_formula_ when editing the formula
So, basically:
- add the '[]'-braces when displaying the result in the 'Input
line'-editor
-- this avoids confusion and clearly identifies hard-links
- remove the '[]'-braces when editing the values/formula
- accept changes with simple 'ENTER' for non-array-formulas
- accept changes with 'CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER' for array-formulas
The '[]'-braces are nothing special, they are just here to avoid
confusion. The actual changes are made in the original cell. [Creating
and removing hard-links should be done through the menu/context-menu.]
With this solution, I do not see why entering a formula inside 'A1'
should break the hard-links (and convert them to soft links).
Implementing this is surely a complex task, but I am sure it is doable.
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.
I don't follow here. When linking to another document you get copies of
the results of the cells linked to, not the formulas themselfs. So you
still get SUM(Ax:Bx) of the original data.
There are two ways to link to external data:
1.) The Menu-entry : 'Insert' -> 'Link to External Data...'
- this does NOT work with formulas. Maybe I am doing something
wrong, but I could not get it to work.
- tried it with OOo 2.3 dev (222?) and still no success.
- formulas (and named ranges) point to current document cells,
and NOT to the original-document cells,
therefore they are non-functional
2.) Linking directly through writing a reference to the particular
cell in the original document, e.g.
type in a cell in the new document: '=
_original_document_#_cell_to_be_referenced_'
- this works, but is more cumbersome
REASON:
- when one creates a spreadsheet and wants to export some data,
than it is easier for the
*original* *developer* to create some named ranges that SHOULD
be exported
- the end user, that needs that particular data for a 2nd
spreadsheet (he is not necessarily the same developer)
just links to these named ranges (using the 'Link to External
Data' mechanism
- he does NOT need to know the structure of the first
spreadsheets and
search for the relevant data fields
Well, I hope this clarifies some of the issues.
Sincerely,
Leonard
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