3.3 OpenDocument Calculation Settings (influence?)

[Patrick Durusau <patrick@durusau.net>]

Greetings!

We say in 3.3 OpenDocument Calculation Settings:

> If it is in an OpenDocument file, formula recalculation *shall* be 
> influenced by “calculation settings”, and where they apply they are 
> part of the recalculation context. Several are defined in the 
> OpenDocument specification. Below are relevant calculation settings, 
> their default value (the value if there is no relevant setting at 
> all), and a description of their meaning:
>
First, I don't understand "be influenced by." These simply *are* the 
calculation settings. (full stop)

Some other document format or use may have other settings but then their 
conformance statements will say: use X calculation settings and 
functions a - zz from OpenFormula.

Second, to the extent these are defined in part 1, they should not be 
repeated here. It would be appropriate to have a table of those values 
with references to their sections in part 1.

BTW, I am still troubled by the invention of "recalculated formula" in 
order to distinguish these formulas from those say of MathML. My 
assumption is that I could be given a spreadsheet that involves 
functions my application lacks the ability to process and yet, due to 
the OpenDocument format being used, it can display the last result 
calculated by an application that could process the function. In that 
case, the formula has not been "recalculated."

Is there some reason why we can't simply say that the syntax, etc., 
defined for OpenFormula has been defined on the basis of interchangeable 
calculation semantics and may or may not be suitable for display 
purposes? Sort of a disclaimer that display other than of results is 
beyond our purview?

One more question:

When we say:
>
> Applications may choose to set a calculation setting to a non-default 
> value when creating a new document (giving the user the effect of 
> different defaults), but when writing to the OpenDocument format they 
> *shall* include any overriding value.
>
I assume that the first part "...choose to set a calculation setting to 
a non-default value when creating a new document...." includes 
applications that are creating new OpenDocument format documents. Yes?

If so, then what does it mean that upon saving in that format, "....they 
shall include any overriding value." ?

It seems to me that an application should save the settings that I have 
chosen (assuming those are allowed by the format) and write those to the 
format of my choice (assuming it supports them). But isn't that the 
purpose of saving a document?

I suppose my question is: Why would a format standard say anything about 
what happens when the file is saved? I would think users would shun 
software that saves files with settings other than the ones they have 
chosen, without us having to say anything about it. Yes?

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Patrick

-- 
Patrick Durusau
patrick@durusau.net
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)