GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 680641
gnumeric should warn when there is a circular referencing
Last modified: 2018-05-22 13:51:50 UTC
Circular referencing can happen by accident in a complex workbook. So gnumeric should warn the user when there is a circular referencing. If this is a desired action, then the user can accept it. If it is not, the user can correct it.
At what time do you think that warning should happen? Note that it is easy to construct formulas that will have circular references only on some of their evaluations and not on others.
It seems we should check when a new formula is entered if it makes a circular referencing.
Does entering =if(A2,A1+1,3) in A1 create a circular reference? It would depend on the value of A2 which could change at some later time without user intervention. Personally, I thin kit is up to the user to enter the correct formula. I would be annoyed to get warnings that my formulas may not be right.
Hi Andreas, you are right that we might check not only when entering a new formula but also when a value is changed. Of course we can make option to disable the warning but it should be there by default since it prevents from doing bad calculations.
So warnings would pop-up simply because of a recalculation? Note that there are many volatile functions that change values without user interaction. I also don't see how this would prevent anybody from doing bad calculations. If a user erroneously creates circular references, the same user is as likely to enter other incorrect formulae. I think such warnings would even increase the chance of bad calculations if the user starts depending on the warning.
What are these volatile functions which change their value?
for example all random number functions, stuff like NOW, TODAY, EASTERSUNDAY, etc., functions frim the gda plugin if they would work, and probably others I can t think of at this time.
OK so circular referencing does not systematically mean circular calculations. Still, we should warn when there are circular references.
Doesn't have to be a warning message box (I can see that would be annoying if the reference was intentional), just a note in the status bar to say that the file contains a circular reference. Thanks Tim
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message -- This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity. You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnumeric/issues/192.