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  1. OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC
  2. OFFICE-4162

Adding "structured references" to reference a part of a database range

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    Details

    • Type: Improvement
    • Status: New
    • Priority: Major
    • Resolution: Unresolved
    • Affects Version/s: None
    • Fix Version/s: None
    • Component/s: OpenFormula
    • Labels:
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      Description

      A "structured reference" works on a database range. It allows to reference part of a target area of a database range without using range addresses. It uses keywords to refer to the database labels, database totals and the block of database records and has a special keyword for intersection. A "structured reference" allows to reference a column by using the label value. These methods can be combined.

      Microsoft Office has such feature for its Excel Table and calls it "structured reference" in the UI. LibreOffice has it implemented for the case of working with xlsx-files and calls it "TableRef" in core. A similar feature is missing in ODF. Such feature will not only improve interoperability, but is valuable in itself. It makes formulas for the user better readable and easier to maintain.

      The idea is to add a new alternative "DatabaseRangeExpression" to the symbol "Expression".

      A detailed proposal will follow.

      You find the BNF of "structure-reference" for MS OFFICE in section 2.2.2 in [MS-XLSX]. However, it needs a bugfix see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1854713/syntax-definition-of-structure-reference-misses-br.

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            • Assignee:
              Unassigned
              Reporter:
              regina.henschel Regina Henschel
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              • Created:
                Updated: