Re: [office] A small step on "Empty Cell"

[Andreas J Guelzow <andreas.guelzow@concordia.ab.ca>]

Hi,

As far as I am concerned #3 is meaningless, since for the user this just means the cell "looks" empty (for example it could have a number format that for zero only shows the empth string and so looks empty when it has the value 0). As a spreadsheet user, a cell being empty really just means ISBLANK returns TRUE.

#2 is concerned with storage of the spreadsheet in ODF format. I believe that should be the consequence of #1.

Andreas

On 2020-06-25 12:04 p.m., Svante Schubert wrote:

Dear TC members,

Regina and I discussed a bit offline and we would like to suggest a small high-level semantic suggestion before we start working out the details.

She suggested and I am following this idea to accept that there are different semantics on "Empty Cell" within the specification, that we have to define each and explicitly name them:

1. The case whenÂ@office:value-type="void" and ISBLANK is returning trueÂÂ
   From the perspective of formula calculation, a cell is empty, if there is no calculable content (according to the existing ODF formula set).
2. From the XML perspective the cell is empty, if <table:table-cell> has no descendants. (This case is likely never used within the specification).
3. From a userÂperspective, likely derived from the view on a table on a sheet of paper, the table is empty if there is no content.
   Which brings us to the follow-up question that Andreas recently raised: WhatÂis content?

Perhaps it helps to make smaller steps and agree with little by little instead of trying to eat an Elephant.

Best regards,

Svante

--

Andreas J. Guelzow, PhD FTICA

Registrar & Director of Enrolment Services

Professor, Mathematical & Computing Sciences

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