Summary: | RFE: Value Highlighting: do not highlight constant expressions as formulas | ||
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Product: | LibreOffice | Reporter: | Dag Wieers <dag> |
Component: | Spreadsheet | Assignee: | Not Assigned <libreoffice-bugs> |
Status: | NEW --- | QA Contact: | |
Severity: | enhancement | ||
Priority: | low | CC: | andrew, dag, erack, jmadero.dev |
Version: | 3.6.1.2 release | ||
Hardware: | All | ||
OS: | All | ||
Whiteboard: | |||
i915 platform: | i915 features: | ||
Attachments: | Demo to show how value highlighting could be improved |
Description
Dag Wieers
2012-09-15 21:22:08 UTC
Can you provide a test case just so we can easily see the issue? We just like working off a document that the bug submitter has personally created and seen the issue with so then we see the identical stuff. Marking as NEEDINFO. If this isn't possible please just let us know and reopen as UNCONFIRMED, otherwise please attach a simple document and mark as UNCONFIRMED. I am going to test now regardless but I'm not in a position to upload a document and it would be much better if we could have one that you created. Thanks for your understanding and help. Sounds like a reasonable enhancement request at first glance :) You know what, nevermind, way too simple to reproduce. Marking as NEW and prioritizing Enhancement: Not really a bug, just how it was designed but it could be made better and your recommendation seems like the way to go Low: Not many people use this feature and it's a minor issue regardless. ProposedEasyHack: Honestly not sure about this but could be so I marked it, one of our devs will have to confirm this Created attachment 68958 [details]
Demo to show how value highlighting could be improved
OK, I read your first comment/mail then created a test-case, and only now when posting it saw your second comment/mail. So I might as well attach it ;-)
Not an easy hack. First needs UX team input because personally I would not like to mark any formula cells as fixed value. I just wanted to add a few thoughts in case anyone chooses to take this seriously and pursue it. I will start with the following: Calc "incorrectly highlights fixed mathematical calculations as formulas". I would prefer if you stated that you desired Calc to have some ability to figure out that certain types of formulas may be able to be treated as constants for some particular purpose. The trick, of course, is that it is a formula, and even if another cell is not directly referenced, some of the side effects may cause the value to not be static. When ever a function or operator is used, it is difficult to know that the operator will not do something that is not directly obvious, so if this is pursued, I expect that it would read more like.... A formula containing only constant values and only uses operators from some specific set and can only call / use functions from a specific set. Where can this go wrong? consider what happens if an operator or function returns a different value based on a date or time. In my world, it is not uncommon to write your own function that may directly accesses other stuff in a way that is not obvious by looking at the parameters. For example, a function that knows that it should look at a specified set of cells that control what is returned. This is legal, it just cannot modify any cell on the sheet that called the function. That said, limiting cells to only contain arithmetic operators with constant operands would likely suffice, but I expect that the change will require a change to published interfaces and services ( because you absolutely do NOT want a cell to state that it is a constant value when it is really a formula, because then every other piece that wants to treat it in a certain way because it is formula will fail ) when I need to deal with that, I usually simply do a copy and then "paste special" and I paste in the values of interest. From a user's point of view I would find it confusing to have some formulas highlighted as numeric values and some highlighted as formulas, not knowing the exact reasons and differences why it is so. The current behavior is simple and memorable, formulas are highlighted as formulas and not highlighted as numeric values. Eike: Should we go ahead and close this as WONTFIX? I concur, whether I put "150" in a cell, or instead "=1800/12". Both are a different representation of 150. There is no influence from outside, the value will be the same. There are reasons for people to use "=1800/12" or "=100+50" because it adds specific information into the cell that would otherwise be guessing. I'd make a distinction between a cell that uses functions or other cells, and cells that don't. Seems more useful, especially in the cases where people do what I do (and from experience I know this is often done in accounting/TCO calculations). Such constant expressions could be marked in a different color, not blue nor green, maybe red or whatever to indicate it's a expression that never changes. However, we certainly have more important work to do, but if someone feels an itch feel free to scratch and patch ;-) I'm changing subject of this RFE because highlighting is not incorrect, it's just not what the reporter would like to see. Using different colors would work indeed. I understand that it is not a priority, and it may not be an easy undertaking. |
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