Method and computing device for maintaining dependencies among reference elements

摘要

The disclosure is generally directed to a method and computing device for maintaining dependencies among multiple reference elements (e.g., formulas of a table or spreadsheet). In various embodiments, prior to a reevaluation operation carried out on the reference elements, a computing device receives an input of a reference element via a user interface (e.g., receives a user's input of a formula), assigns the reference element to a group based on the dependency between the reference element and one or more other reference elements, and assigns the reference element to a location within a dependency graph to which the other reference elements are assigned. In response to an event that requires at least one of the reference elements to be reevaluated, the computing device reevaluates each group of reference elements in sequence a group at a time.

主权项

1. A method for maintaining dependencies among a plurality of reference elements, the method, performed by a computing processor, comprising:
prior to an event requiring reevaluation of the plurality of reference elements
maintaining an interval-based dependency graph comprising a plurality of nodes, such that
each node of the graph represents a range of locations on which at least one of the plurality of reference elements depends, andeach reference element of the plurality of reference elements is associated with a node of the plurality of nodes representing the range of locations on which the reference element depends;assigning the plurality of reference elements to a plurality of groups based on one or more searches of the dependency graph, such that
no reference element of any group is dependent upon any other reference element of the group, andeach reference element of the plurality of reference elements is assigned to only one group of the plurality of groups; in response to an event that requires reevaluation of the plurality of reference elements
reevaluating each group of reference elements in sequence one group at a time, and in parallel within each group; anddisplaying the results of the reevaluation on a display device in communication with the computing device.