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

From
Andreas J Guelzow <>
Date
2020-06-25T18:17:25+00:00
ID
Thread
Re: [office] A small step on "Empty Cell"
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 haveÂ
      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:

        

          
            
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).

            
From the XML perspective the
              cell is empty, if <table:table-cell> has no
              descendants. (This case is likely never used within the
              specification).

            
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

      

    
    
-- 

      

        

          

            

              

                
                  
                    

                       
                        
                          
                            

                              
                                

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