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Subject: Re: [office-formula] 5.10.2 Automatic Lookup of Labels


Hi ericpa,

On Tuesday, 2008-11-25 06:29:01 +0000, ericpa@microsoft.com wrote:

> I understand that several spreadsheet applications at one time have
> had features that automatically resolve references based on text in
> cells in the same row or column.  

Or around..

> For Excel, we introduced the feature many years ago with high
> expectations.  In subsequent versions we turned it off by default
> based on complaints from customers and ultimately removed the feature
> entirely  given the unpredictable nature of using the feature.

There may indeed be situations where the outcome is unpredictable, e.g.
it depends on the order in which label cells and formulas are entered.

> I wanted to pass on that information to this group in the event that
> it may have some effect on the inclusion in this specification.
> I propose that if the section remains in the specification that a note
> is added that describes some of the pitfalls of using the
> functionality.

Seconded.   5.10.2 Automatic Lookup of Labels   has a note at its bottom
saying so. Maybe we should even mark usage of this feature as
deprecated? Any good wording for doing so?

However, the use of defined labels, element <table:label-range> with
attribute table:label-cell-range-address, as given in   5.10.1 Lookup of
Defined Labels   should not be affected.

  Eike

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

PGP signature



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