localc 5.1.4.2 - comment and reference issues

users
#1

only tested on ods format - preferred over xls,xlsx, etc

spreadsheet with page1 and page2 "spreadpages" both with "View/Freeze rows
and columns set in cell a2

###################### comment issues ############################
with comment in "show" state... cell a1
comment window does not stay on top when you scroll when the comment window
position and/or size is below row 1
suboptimal workaround, increase row 1 height -

with comment in "hide state"
comment window position and size are gone default postion and size is used
suboptimal workaround - use the enter key to space down the comments below
the bottom of row 1

what most(IMHO) user want is "show" state size and position maintained in
"hide" state regardless of Freeze position

############################ reference (nternal to one sheet) issues
if you link =$page1.$A$1 to page2 cell a1 changes to the cell update
immediately but changes to comment content, size or position never to
regardless of global localc general updating setting

On spreadsheets with only internal links the "Edit/Links" is ghosted.

it would be nice to have a hotkey to update INTERNAL links including row
height, comment window content, position and size

#2

reference (internal to one sheet) issues
if you link =$page1.$A$1 to page2 cell a1 changes to the cell update immediately but changes to comment content, size or position never to regardless of global localc general updating setting

That's because what you have here is not a link but a formula. Formulae evaluate values only and do not carry over other aspects of a cell - formatting and so on. Remember that your formula, referencing only a single cell, is a special case of something more general. What would you want to happen if your formula were instead
=Sheet2.$A$1+Sheet3.$A$1 ? The destination cell couldn't inherit aspects of formatting from both of two different cells. Note that a formula such as this, which happens to reference another sheet or sheets in the same spreadsheet, is no different from one that operates only within a single sheet.

On spreadsheets with only internal links the "Edit/Links" is ghosted.

Again, that is because these are formulae, not links.

it would be nice to have a hotkey to update INTERNAL links including row height, comment window content, position and size

You would break most people's idea of how a spreadsheet should operate if you achieved this.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker

#3

reference (internal to one sheet) issues
if you link =$page1.$A$1 to page2 cell a1 changes to the cell update immediately but changes to comment content, size or position never to regardless of global localc general updating setting

That's because what you have here is not a link but a formula. Formulae evaluate values only and do not carry over other aspects of a cell - formatting and so on. Remember that your formula, referencing only a single cell, is a special case of something more general.

Whatever label you choose (formula, link or reference) it's about replicating cell data from one cell to another. Deferring to your "formula" label, when you set it up using Edit/Paste Special you ARE given the option to include/exclude formatting, comments and make it a "link" so if these are not to carry over why have those options in the first place?

What would you want to happen if your formula were instead
=Sheet2.$A$1+Sheet3.$A$1 ? The destination cell couldn't inherit aspects of formatting from both of two different cells. Note that a formula such as this, which happens to reference another sheet or sheets in the same spreadsheet, is no different from one that operates only within a single sheet.

Point taken, IMHO it would be rare you'd want linked comments in many to one references with those rarities easily worked around. I can't see the need but you could treat those rarities in the same way we do when merging multiples cells with data into one. Or simply default to using the first cells format, comment, etc...

On spreadsheets with only internal links the "Edit/Links" is ghosted.

Again, that is because these are formulae, not links.

Yes, but there is no Edit/Formulas and I was trying everything before posting.

it would be nice to have a hotkey to update INTERNAL links including row height, comment window content, position and size

You would break most people's idea of how a spreadsheet should operate if you achieved this.

"most people" don't use comments at all, much less linked comments. No one I know who does disagrees with this being a deficiency.

#4

Whatever label you choose (formula, link or reference) it's about replicating cell data from one cell to another.

But there *are* different ways of doing this.

Deferring to your "formula" label, when you set it up using Edit/Paste Special you ARE given the option to include/exclude formatting, comments and make it a "link" ...

You are quite correct, of course: although in this case Paste Special creates what is essentially a formula, it does describe it in its options as a "link".

...so if these are not to carry over why have those options in the first place?

As I'm sure you understand, Paste will generally carry over formatting constructs to the target cell and Paste Special allows you to select which aspects are included. But as soon as you select the Link option in Paste Special, you are creating a formula instead of pasting values, and formatting and comments are no longer included. I can see that this is what you see as a problem.

it would be nice to have a hotkey to update INTERNAL links including row height, comment window content, position and size

You would break most people's idea of how a spreadsheet should operate if you achieved this.

"most people" don't use comments at all, much less linked comments.

This is something of a straw man: my comment was in reply to your suggestion about formatting generally, not just comments!

No one I know who does disagrees with this being a deficiency.

I can't dispute that, of course - but this question is surely not settled by counting friends? When I said "most people", I wasn't referring to actual people whose opinions I have sought, but to my understanding of how spreadsheets are used. The sort of circumstance that I imagine is having one sheet or area of a spreadsheet where data is entered or detailed calculations performed and another where the results are drawn together in a report. In this case, there will be formulae (yes, "links" in this case) to harvest results from other areas into the report. In this case, I can appreciate the use for comments, but surely these will be very different in the two places? In the source area, the comment might indicate to the person entering data what the various cells represent and which values are carried over to the report, but in the report itself they would be addressed to the reader of the report and might explain the significance of the values instead. If there were comments in both places, I'd expect them to be very different. And other formatting aspects you mention might well need to be different in the two areas. That was my only point.

But I'm not responsible for spreadsheet software design and content myself with describing what happens and suggesting that I perhaps understand why it is done the way it is. I'm not disputing your right to an alternative opinion.

Brian Barker