Hi members,
Here here are my thoughts about issue OFFICE-931, to be discussed in the
next meeting:
What is called a "data frame" in the issue proposal already exists in
ODF as element <table:database-range> (9.4.15, ODF 1.4). It even has
already an attribute table:contains-header (19.604, ODF 1.4) as
requested in the proposal. Excel has such "data frame" as "table". Only
the requested special kind of references are missing in the ODF
standard. Thus I see no need to extend the element <table:named-range>
(9.4.12. ODF 1.4), and it would not fit to the purposes of the element
as indicated in its attribute table:range-usable-as (19.704, ODF 1.4).
The proposed adaption of a "data frame" when inserting row or columns,
it nothing to be specified in file format, but is matter of how an
application handles it.
The idea of addressing a column using the column header is correct. Such
a concept also exists in Excel. There it is called “structured
references”. In Excel it cannot be used on a “named range”, but requires
a “table”, see above. The issue OFFICE-4162 addresses the concept of a
“structured reference”. I had also presented the concept in an email.
https://groups.oasis-open.org/discussion/first-thoughts-about-structured-references#bmf62d0a62-b00d-4160-9822-e0ce07b2e0bb.However, the OFFICE-4162 issue is still in state “New”.
My proposal is therefore to accept issue Office-4162, i.e. to set it to
“Open” and to close issue OFFICE-913 with a remark, that the concept of
a "data frame" already exists in the standard as element
<table:database-range> and that work on the proposed special kind of
addressing has been started in issue 4162.
A “structured references” cannot be used in Excel for the column index
in the VLOOKUP function. I also don't think much of extending the column
index parameter of the VLOOKUP function to allow such a reference in
addition to the numerical value. This would cause problems in import and
export filters. Instead, the XLOOKUP function should be included in the
standard. Such special references are possible for parameters in the
XLOOKUP function. The issue for including XLOOKUP in the standard is
OFFICE-4154.
We might extend the standard to allowing "structured references" in all
cases, where the datatype of a parameter allows a reference to a cell
range. That idea has to be discussed in the work on OFFICE-4162.
Kind regards,
Regina</table:database-range></table:named-range></table:database-range>