Scope

[Patrick Durusau <patrick@durusau.net>]

Greetings!

I hope to be posting a version of part 1 for consideration as a 
committee draft later today and so wanted to take a few days to return 
to part 2.

Within ODF 1.2 documents, is it fair to say that OpenFormula impacts the 
following attributes:

table:formula which reads:

> The |table:formula| attribute specifies a formula for a table cell.
>
> Formulas allow calculations to be performed within table cells. Every 
> formula should begin with a namespace prefix specifying the syntax and 
> semantics used within the formula. Typically, the formula itself 
> begins with an equal (=) sign and can include the following components:
>
>    *
>
>       Addresses of cells that contain numbers. The addresses can be
>       relative or absolute, see 8.2.1.2. Addresses in formulas start
>       with a “[“ and end with a “]”. Sees 8.2.1.2 and 8.2.1.4 for
>       information about how to address a cell or cell range.
>
>    *
>
>       Function calls.
>
>    *
>
>       Logical operators.
>
>    *
>
>       Named ranges.
>
>    *
>
>       Numbers.
>
>    *
>
>       Operators.
>
>    *
>
>       Text.
>
> In addition to this, the calculated value of the formula is available 
> as well.
>
> Ed. Note Do we consider the operators in 18.963 to be a canonical list?
>
> attribute-table:formula
>
(obviously this needs to be re-cast to simply reference OpenFormula, 
where components are or are not defined.)

(Do we need to re-cast the cell addressing references to be handled by 
OpenFormula alone?)

and

text:formula, which reads:

> The |text:formula| attribute specifies the formula or expression used 
> to compute the value of a field.
>
> The formula should start with a namespace prefix that specifies the 
> syntax and semantic of the formula.
>
Yes?

Question: Does OpenFormula distinguish between what can appear as values 
for those two attributes?

As you can see from the definitions I quote above, it does not appear to 
me that OpenDocument makes any distinction between the two.

As a starter to the conversation of scope on OpenFormula, I am concerned 
with the syntax and semantics needed for those two attributes. That is 
to say that users of the OpenDocument format who also follow the 
strictures announced by OpenFormula for those attributes can 
successfully interchange documents. (I realize the concerns of some of 
the members of the formula SC are broader than that but I am trying to 
start off from a minimal subset on which I think we will all agree.)

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)