Re: [office-formula] Syntax issues

[Eike Rathke <erack@sun.com>]

Hi Andreas,

On Thu, Sep 07, 2006 at 11:47:08 -0600, Andreas J. Guelzow wrote:

> > Imagine the deletion
> > of a sheet-local name where also a global name exists: suddenly all
> > calculation changes.
> 
> Well, in any case if you delete a used name the calculations will
> change. If you don't fall back to a global name you would just get
> errors.

Which would be congruent with the general behavior that if you delete
something that's part of a reference (sheet, row, column, global name)
you get a #REF or #NAME error.

> > and a local name is not copied when duplicating a sheet.
> 
> That is still the case. And I am not sure whether local names ought to
> be duplicated or not.

I think so, because that would keep the entire sheet's structure, data
and formulas, intact. Anyway, that's on a side note and application
implementation specific and nothing for ODFF.


> > Anyway, to me a reference Sheet1.$$Name2 should imply that when there is
> > no sheet-local name Name2 defined for sheet Sheet1 it is an error.
> 
> Suppose there is a global name Name2 and no local sheets. And Name2 is
> defined as [.A1].  Then
> 
> On Sheet2, how can you access Name2 as interpreted on Sheet1? 

You don't, because you explictly defined Name2 to be sheet-relative,
referring the same sheet the name is used on. Think of it as a 3D
reference where the sheet is relative with offset 0 and the sheet's name
not being displayed, the same as with other formula's cell references if
copied via clipboard, for example. If you want the global name to refer
a distinct sheet you define the name as [$Sheet1.A1]

> As far as I am concerned $$Name2 should translate as [.A1]
> and Sheet1.$$Name2 as [Sheet1.A1]

This is a special case though. It does not hold when Name2 is defined as
[Sheet2.A1] because following that example it would had to translate to
[Sheet1.Sheet2.A1]

> Don't try this in Gnumeric. Currently we don't let you define [.A1] as
> an expression. 

Calc does it.

  Eike

-- 
Automatic string conversions considered dangerous. They are the GOTO statements
of spreadsheets.  --Robert Weir on the OpenDocument formula subcommittee's list.