Defining a reusable spreadsheet-function by extracting the function from a complex calculation in a spreadsheet document

摘要

The invention relates to a computer-implemented method for displaying data values calculated by a spreadsheet-function, the method comprising:
Specifying one or more formal output parameters by specifying, for each formal output parameter, a first cell of a spreadsheet document,Specifying one or more formal input parameters by specifying, for each formal input parameter, a second cell,Specifying a spreadsheet-function body,
wherein the specified spreadsheet-function in operation provides a user with the option for:Calculating a first output parameter value,Displaying the one or more first output parameter values or a data value having been derived thereof in a 3rd cell,Calculating a second output parameter value, andDisplaying the one or more second output parameter values or a data value having been derived thereof in a 4th cell, wherein the 3rd cell and the 4th cell display their respective data content within the spreadsheet document at the same time.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically defining a reusable spreadsheet-function and for displaying data values calculated by the reusable spreadsheet-function, wherein the computer includes an input/output, a processor, a memory and a display; wherein a first cell of a spreadsheet document is specified for an output parameter value to be calculated as a result of a spreadsheet-function; wherein a second cell of the spreadsheet document is specified for an input parameter value to be used for calculating said result by the spreadsheet-function; wherein a spreadsheet-function body is specified by cells of a spreadsheet document; with one or more formal output parameters, one or more formal input parameters and the specified spreadsheet-function body specifying a spreadsheet-function; the method comprising the steps of:
a. modifying the computer implementation to establish a distinct storage area composed of a plurality of storage elements each selected from the group consisting of a linked list, an entry of a hash-map, an element of a queue, a frame of a stack, a frame of a LIFO stack and mixtures thereof; b. modifying the computer implementation to cause the computer to automatically extract the reusable spreadsheet function from a complex calculation specified by a set of connected cells in a spreadsheet document by finding references pointing to or from cells belonging to said set of cells specifying the complex calculation, the extraction comprising:
i. receiving a selection of a set of cells from a user selected by a mouse;ii. providing a GUI element, the GUI element being configured, upon an interaction of the user with said GUI element, to trigger the automated specification of the spreadsheet-function based on the selected set of cells, the automated specification comprising:
1) determining all cells belonging to said selected set of cells which are referenced by a cell not belonging to the selected set of cells;2) using one of said determined cells as a formal output parameter of the spreadsheet-function to be specified;3) using said one formal output parameter cell as starting point for specifying the function-body of said spreadsheet-function to be automatically specified:4) by following all references starting from said one formal output cell, whereby the function-body of the spreadsheet-function to be specified is constituted by all cells being referenced by said one formal output parameter cell via one reference and/or via one or more chains of references and which do not comprise a reference to a cell not belonging to the selected set of cells; and5) using the formulas and/or data values and/or references contained in the cells belonging to the selected set of cells to specify the function-body of the spreadsheet-function;6) using said one formal output parameter cell as starting point for specifying one or more formal input parameters of said spreadsheet-function to be automatically specified by determining all cells within the selected set of cells which each:
are referenced by the formal output parameter cell via one reference and/or via at least one chain of references; andwhich each comprise a reference to a cell not belonging to the selected set of cells;using each of the one or more found selected cells to specify one formal input parameter of the spreadsheet-function to be specified; and c. storing the specified spreadsheet function, formal output parameter and formal input parameter in a distinct storage element of a distinct storage area and maintaining without over-writing, whereby it is callable and reusable.