[OASIS Issue Tracker] Commented: (OFFICE-2380) 4.9 Reference Listand 3.8 Reference List [NEEDS-DISCUSSION]

[OASIS Issues Tracker <workgroup_mailer@lists.oasis-open.org>]

    [ http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-2380?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=18168#action_18168 ] 

Eike Rathke commented on OFFICE-2380:
-------------------------------------

Re: 1. Patrick wants to know when an error must be thrown, either all of the time, or for specific functions:
All functions shall return an error if a ReferenceList was passed as a parameter and the function does not expect one.

Re: 3. Some functions might accept reference lists and it is not so clear:
That seems to be a misunderstanding, I never said that. We clearly have ReferenceList type parameters where they are allowed. What I wanted to say is that without the examples it might be obscure why a ReferenceList is not accepted by all functions that accept a Reference.


To better keep track of this, this is what draft22a says in 3.9 ReferenceList:

A reference list contains 1 or more references, in order. A reference list can be passed as an argument to functions where passing one reference results in an identical computation as an arbitrary sequence of single references occupying the identical cell range.

Note: For example, SUM([.A1:.B2]) is identical to SUM([.A1]~[.B2]~[.A2]~[.B1]), but COLUMNS([.A1:.B2]), resulting in 2 columns, is not identical to COLUMNS([.A1]~[.B2]~[.A2]~[.B1]), where iterating over the reference list would result in 4 columns.

A reference list cannot be converted to an array.

Note: For example, in array context {ABS([.A1]~[.B2]~[.A2]~[.B1])} is an invalid expression, whereas {ABS([.A1:.B2])} is not. 

Passing a reference list in these cases shall generate an error.


To solve
5. Patrick observes that "passing a reference list in these cases shall generate an error" is not precise.
I propose to change
Passing a reference list in these cases shall generate an error.
to

Passing a reference list as parameter where a function does not expect one shall generate an error. Passing a reference list in array iteration context to a function expecting a scalar value shall generate an error.


> 4.9 Reference List and 3.8 Reference List [NEEDS-DISCUSSION]
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: OFFICE-2380
>                 URL: http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-2380
>             Project: OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: OpenFormula
>            Reporter: Patrick Durusau
>            Assignee: Eike Rathke
>             Fix For: ODF 1.2 Part 2 CD 2
>
>
> In both cases there is a partial description of cases where passing a reference list would result in an error. In 4.9 for example, "many statistical functions," but without saying which ones. 
> The language then concludes with: "Passing a reference list in all these cases should generate an error."
> Since "all these cases" have not been enumerated, I have deleted it in both instances.  

-- 
This message is automatically generated by JIRA.
-
If you think it was sent incorrectly contact one of the administrators: http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/secure/Administrators.jspa
-
For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira