RE: [office-comment] Filling numbers & dates

["Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamilton@acm.org>]

Leonard, looking at your example in response to Eike,

Oh, when the result of a calculation is a range set or a matrix, that is a
different game, and the rules for what cells are impacted when there is a
non-scalar result like that seem to work fine.

So, your proposed function is not for a fill option but for a
straightforward way to use a built-in function to descriptively yield a grid
(row, column, array, matrix, etc.) of values populated by a constant (or an
iterated formula ...) as the function result.  How one shapes the result and
the notation for populating the result would take more discussion.

Just to be clear, the formula does not change any cells, it is the delivery
of the formulas result that might be used to set the value of one or more
cells.  It is useful to avoid thinking of the formula doing it.  Think of
the cell that uses the formula as doing it after obtaining the formula's
result.   

 - Dennis


-----Original Message-----
From: Leonard Mada [mailto:discoleo@gmx.net] 
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/200810/msg00007.html
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2008 11:15
To: office-comment@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [office-comment] Filling numbers & dates

Hello Eike,


Eike Rathke wrote:
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/200810/msg00005.html
> Hi Leonard,
>
> On Friday, 2008-10-31 01:15:08 +0200, Leonard Mada wrote:
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/200810/msg00004.html
>   
>> This is a proposal to enhance ODF with a FILL() function. I planed to  
>> post it long ago, but never got the time for it.
>> [...]
>> Spreadsheets notably lack such a construct.
>>     
>
> For a very good reason: a function should never modify the content of
> spreadsheet cells.
>   

[ ... ]

Lets say the user writes in A1:
{ =REPEAT(1, 20) }

This would then populate A1:A20 with values of 1. A perfectly valid 
array formula.

I tested this in Calc:
{ =MMULT(A1:B20;D1:E2) }

And guess what? It did change cells D6:E25 (I entered the formula in 
D6). I could almost swear that any other formula does change the content 
of the cell.

[ ... ]