At 14:08 20/05/2009 -0500, Clifton Liles wrote:
Let me try to explain this. If you put the formula in a cell and
execute it only the date remains (A). If you copy and paste this,
you will get 'A', always. Just like if you type '123' in a cell and
copy and paste it, it will always be '123'. Now if you make a macro
of the formula then when you execute it in a cell, then you will get
the current date/time that will never change, which is what I think
you ask for in the beginning. Also if you copy and paste the
formula in will do the same, but after it is executed you only have
the text string that represents NOW. I do not believe there is
anything that you can put in a cell that shows the date/time of when
you inserted it and does not change with a recalc and you could copy
and paste and get a new NOW.
I hope I have made this clearer and not muddier.
You've made it very clear and not at all muddy. But what you say is,
I believe, demonstrably not true. You say "... if you copy and paste
the formula ... you only have the text string that represents
NOW." A simple glance into the input line above the sheet will show
this not to be so: what is in the cell is still the formula, not a
string that is the result of execution of that formula. Indeed, when
you copy and paste the formula, Calc makes the alterations that you
would expect - modifying the cell reference to refer to its own cell
rather than the source cell. And if you make what should be a
trivial change to the formula in the input line - say removing and
replacing the final parenthesis - the formula (still there!) is
stimulated to be recalculated and the current time appears.
Some representation of the formula must be there for it to be able to
be modified for each target cell. Any formula pasted or filled into
a cell and automatically modified must be recalculated, but this does
not happen in this case. The only explanation, I think is first that
what gets put into the cell must be some combination of the formula
and its current value from the source cell, and only then does Calc
recalculate the value for the modified formula in the new cell. But
it's now too late: the old value, carried over with the formula, in
this case prevents the recalculation doing what would be expected.
Why is the old value carried over? Is it something to do with
carrying over the cell format? Interestingly, using Paste Special
and pasting nothing but Formulas does not change the result.
Brian Barker
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