[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]
Subject: [OASIS Issue Tracker] Commented: (OFFICE-497) Public Comment: VeryWeak String Support in ODF
[ http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-497?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=14865#action_14865 ] David Wheeler commented on OFFICE-497: --------------------------------------- The original comment by Leonard Mada was as follows: ======================================================= The current Formula Specification and OOo implementation thereof have a very weak support for strings. Even fundamental string functions are lacking This makes the use of ODF a poor choice for many research fields, where a lot of the data is in text format. I especially miss the following functions: 1.) an extension to FIND() and SEARCH() that returns '0' IF string is NOT found, instead of the '#NA!" (greatly eases work with complex searches) 2.) count number of occurrences of a substring within a string, e.g. COUNTSUBSTR("I11.0; E11.5; I25.5", "I") = 2 3.) SPLIT string into substrings => perform operations on the substrings SPLIT("I11.0; E11.5; I25.5", ";", IGNORE = " \n\t", SORT = TRUE) returns an array("E11.5", "I11.0", "I25.5") SPLIT("I11.0; E11.5; I25.5", ";", IGNORE = " \n\t", SORT = TRUE, pos = 1) returns "E11.5" SPLIT("I11.0; E11.5; I25.5", ";", IGNORE = " \n\t", RETURN_NUMBER = TRUE) returns (int) "3" ... ======================================================= We have resolved item #1, though in a different way. Part #1 proposes "an extension to FIND() and SEARCH() that returns '0' IF string is NOT found, instead of the '#NA!" (greatly eases work with complex searches)". This illustrates a general complication when handling errors. Instead of creating many new functions, we defined a single new function: IFERROR( Any X ; Any Alternative ) This Computes X. If ISERROR(X) is true, return Alternative, else return X. We also defined a similar IFNA(X; Alternative). This resolves the problem in a general way, without requiring new functions for everything that might also return an error. Unfortunately, spreadsheets have historically not emphasized string/text processing, so there's little experience to standardize. We will probably want to postpone these to future specifications, once that experience exists. > Public Comment: Very Weak String Support in ODF > ----------------------------------------------- > > Key: OFFICE-497 > URL: http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-497 > Project: OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC > Issue Type: New Feature > Components: OpenFormula > Affects Versions: ODF-Next > Reporter: Robert Weir > Priority: Minor > Fix For: ODF-Next > > > Copied from office-comment list > Original author: Leonard Mada <discoleo@gmx.net> > Original date: 7 Jun 2007 20:35:34 -0000 > Original URL: http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/200706/msg00003.html -- 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
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]