You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to dev@openoffice.apache.org by Lei Wang <le...@apache.org> on 2012/07/27 07:32:54 UTC

[DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

In ODFF standard 6.3.5 Conversion to Number,
If the expected type is Number, then if value is of type:
● Text: The specific conversion is implementation-defined; an evaluator may
return 0, an Error value, or the results of its attempt to convert the Text
value to a Number (and fall back to 0 or Error if it fails to do so).
Evaluators may apply VALUE() or some other function to do this conversion,
should they choose to do so. Conversion depends on the actual locale the
application runs in, especially if group or decimal separators are involved.

It leave the implementation to decide whether to convert a text value to a
number, in which extent to convert a text value to a number. AOO now only
support convert string content to numeric, which is integer numbers
including exponent, and ISO 8601 dates and times in their extended formats
with separators. This cause issue 118942(
https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=118942).

In my point of view it is better to support more scenarioes to convert a
text value to a number, such as decimal. Though different locale has
different decimal separator, AOO can support decimal separator for current
locale and standard decimal separator, ".". It will be more complicated for
date format.

What's your suggestion?

RE: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by "Dennis E. Hamilton" <de...@acm.org>.
Ha!  I remember that.

Do you think there is room in the places where conversions have been left implementation-dependent/-defined to be strict about not defaulting but recommending explicit conversion by users?  That is, do strong typing but provide ways for users to specify casting of values?

 - Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Eike Rathke [mailto:ooo@erack.de] 
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2012 07:19
To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org; ooo-users@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Hi Lei,

On Friday, 2012-07-27 13:32:54 +0800, Lei Wang wrote:

> In my point of view it is better to support more scenarioes to convert a
> text value to a number, such as decimal. Though different locale has
> different decimal separator, AOO can support decimal separator for current
> locale and standard decimal separator, ".". It will be more complicated for
> date format.
> 
> What's your suggestion?

That reminds me of a famous quote I even had as my .signature on the
OASIS ODF TC lists:

| Automatic string conversions considered dangerous. They are the GOTO statements
| of spreadsheets.  --Robert Weir on the OpenDocument formula subcommittee's list.

Nothing more to say.

  Eike

-- 
 PGP/OpenPGP/GnuPG encrypted mail preferred in all private communication.
 Key ID: 0x293C05FD - 997A 4C60 CE41 0149 0DB3  9E96 2F1A D073 293C 05FD


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: ooo-users-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: ooo-users-help@incubator.apache.org


Re: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by Eike Rathke <oo...@erack.de>.
Hi Lei,

On Friday, 2012-07-27 13:32:54 +0800, Lei Wang wrote:

> In my point of view it is better to support more scenarioes to convert a
> text value to a number, such as decimal. Though different locale has
> different decimal separator, AOO can support decimal separator for current
> locale and standard decimal separator, ".". It will be more complicated for
> date format.
> 
> What's your suggestion?

That reminds me of a famous quote I even had as my .signature on the
OASIS ODF TC lists:

| Automatic string conversions considered dangerous. They are the GOTO statements
| of spreadsheets.  --Robert Weir on the OpenDocument formula subcommittee's list.

Nothing more to say.

  Eike

-- 
 PGP/OpenPGP/GnuPG encrypted mail preferred in all private communication.
 Key ID: 0x293C05FD - 997A 4C60 CE41 0149 0DB3  9E96 2F1A D073 293C 05FD

RE: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by "Dennis E. Hamilton" <de...@acm.org>.
There are several matters here.

First, the rules for OpenFormula apply to literals as argument and to references to cells where the value is of type text and the expected type is Number.

It does not apply to how *entered* values are converted.  In fact, there is no guidance at all about how *entered* values are converted.  Likewise, how cell values are formatted for the spreadsheet's presentation, for export in CSV, etc., are independent of these rules in OpenFormula.

It strikes me that entry of values through an user interface is the time to deal with these issues and that may resolve most cases.

For use of literals in formulas, there are ways for users to ensure that the desired interpretation is made by explicit conversions.  The same conditions apply when a cell value is text and it is intended to be used as a number.  Safe practice could be encouraged even if a given product provides the intended result, since there is no assurance of consistent treatment in an interchange situation.

(Multi-cell operandsare more complicated, when some cell entries in a range have values of different type.)

Without too much thought, I image three things that can be done, along with user guidance:

 1. The rules for conversion of entered values based on the specified cell format need to be clear, and that might also include understanding the cell display formatting in properly handling the cell input conversion.  Since the storage of Number types is canonical and not subject to locale considerations, this can isolate much of the problem.  The same applies to export into non-OpenFormula forms, such as CSV.

 2. Users need to be cautioned about what happens when cells and literals are of different types than the expected values.  It might also be useful for there to be warnings when text for Number expected arises.  There can also be user guidance on how to detect and prevent pathological cases.  

I recommend making the default behavior consistent with widespread practice, including consideration of the importance of Excel interoperability.  If there seems to be no simple way out of it, I think Error values are the appropriate response, so that an user is given the opportunity to provide an explicit resolution rather than contend with silent discrepancies in their own use or when their spreadsheet is interchanged.

 3. There are probably additional functions that could be introduced into OpenFormula, even as implementation-specified extensions (in accordance with provisions for that), to provide functions that will pass Numbers intact and will apply some formatting rule or function when text is found instead.  (The conversion of cells of explicit date and time types is already straightforward although it might need review.)  A few new functions may be sufficient to achieve complete, straightforward control on behalf of users, including forcing of an Error result.  The extensions could be agreed among the different implementations of OpenFormula, including in Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Gnumeric, Excel 2013, Google Docs, etc.  (But first, it should be verified whether there are means enough already.)

 - Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Lei Wang [mailto:leiw@apache.org] 
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 22:33
To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org; ooo-users@incubator.apache.org
Subject: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

In ODFF standard 6.3.5 Conversion to Number,
If the expected type is Number, then if value is of type:
● Text: The specific conversion is implementation-defined; an evaluator may
return 0, an Error value, or the results of its attempt to convert the Text
value to a Number (and fall back to 0 or Error if it fails to do so).
Evaluators may apply VALUE() or some other function to do this conversion,
should they choose to do so. Conversion depends on the actual locale the
application runs in, especially if group or decimal separators are involved.

It leave the implementation to decide whether to convert a text value to a
number, in which extent to convert a text value to a number. AOO now only
support convert string content to numeric, which is integer numbers
including exponent, and ISO 8601 dates and times in their extended formats
with separators. This cause issue 118942(
https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=118942).

In my point of view it is better to support more scenarioes to convert a
text value to a number, such as decimal. Though different locale has
different decimal separator, AOO can support decimal separator for current
locale and standard decimal separator, ".". It will be more complicated for
date format.

What's your suggestion?


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: ooo-users-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: ooo-users-help@incubator.apache.org


Re: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by Eike Rathke <oo...@erack.de>.
Hi Lei,

On Friday, 2012-07-27 13:32:54 +0800, Lei Wang wrote:

> In my point of view it is better to support more scenarioes to convert a
> text value to a number, such as decimal. Though different locale has
> different decimal separator, AOO can support decimal separator for current
> locale and standard decimal separator, ".". It will be more complicated for
> date format.
> 
> What's your suggestion?

That reminds me of a famous quote I even had as my .signature on the
OASIS ODF TC lists:

| Automatic string conversions considered dangerous. They are the GOTO statements
| of spreadsheets.  --Robert Weir on the OpenDocument formula subcommittee's list.

Nothing more to say.

  Eike

-- 
 PGP/OpenPGP/GnuPG encrypted mail preferred in all private communication.
 Key ID: 0x293C05FD - 997A 4C60 CE41 0149 0DB3  9E96 2F1A D073 293C 05FD

RE: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by "Dennis E. Hamilton" <de...@acm.org>.
There are several matters here.

First, the rules for OpenFormula apply to literals as argument and to references to cells where the value is of type text and the expected type is Number.

It does not apply to how *entered* values are converted.  In fact, there is no guidance at all about how *entered* values are converted.  Likewise, how cell values are formatted for the spreadsheet's presentation, for export in CSV, etc., are independent of these rules in OpenFormula.

It strikes me that entry of values through an user interface is the time to deal with these issues and that may resolve most cases.

For use of literals in formulas, there are ways for users to ensure that the desired interpretation is made by explicit conversions.  The same conditions apply when a cell value is text and it is intended to be used as a number.  Safe practice could be encouraged even if a given product provides the intended result, since there is no assurance of consistent treatment in an interchange situation.

(Multi-cell operandsare more complicated, when some cell entries in a range have values of different type.)

Without too much thought, I image three things that can be done, along with user guidance:

 1. The rules for conversion of entered values based on the specified cell format need to be clear, and that might also include understanding the cell display formatting in properly handling the cell input conversion.  Since the storage of Number types is canonical and not subject to locale considerations, this can isolate much of the problem.  The same applies to export into non-OpenFormula forms, such as CSV.

 2. Users need to be cautioned about what happens when cells and literals are of different types than the expected values.  It might also be useful for there to be warnings when text for Number expected arises.  There can also be user guidance on how to detect and prevent pathological cases.  

I recommend making the default behavior consistent with widespread practice, including consideration of the importance of Excel interoperability.  If there seems to be no simple way out of it, I think Error values are the appropriate response, so that an user is given the opportunity to provide an explicit resolution rather than contend with silent discrepancies in their own use or when their spreadsheet is interchanged.

 3. There are probably additional functions that could be introduced into OpenFormula, even as implementation-specified extensions (in accordance with provisions for that), to provide functions that will pass Numbers intact and will apply some formatting rule or function when text is found instead.  (The conversion of cells of explicit date and time types is already straightforward although it might need review.)  A few new functions may be sufficient to achieve complete, straightforward control on behalf of users, including forcing of an Error result.  The extensions could be agreed among the different implementations of OpenFormula, including in Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Gnumeric, Excel 2013, Google Docs, etc.  (But first, it should be verified whether there are means enough already.)

 - Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Lei Wang [mailto:leiw@apache.org] 
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 22:33
To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org; ooo-users@incubator.apache.org
Subject: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

In ODFF standard 6.3.5 Conversion to Number,
If the expected type is Number, then if value is of type:
● Text: The specific conversion is implementation-defined; an evaluator may
return 0, an Error value, or the results of its attempt to convert the Text
value to a Number (and fall back to 0 or Error if it fails to do so).
Evaluators may apply VALUE() or some other function to do this conversion,
should they choose to do so. Conversion depends on the actual locale the
application runs in, especially if group or decimal separators are involved.

It leave the implementation to decide whether to convert a text value to a
number, in which extent to convert a text value to a number. AOO now only
support convert string content to numeric, which is integer numbers
including exponent, and ISO 8601 dates and times in their extended formats
with separators. This cause issue 118942(
https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=118942).

In my point of view it is better to support more scenarioes to convert a
text value to a number, such as decimal. Though different locale has
different decimal separator, AOO can support decimal separator for current
locale and standard decimal separator, ".". It will be more complicated for
date format.

What's your suggestion?


Re: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by Martin Groenescheij <Ma...@Groenescheij.COM>.
On 28/07/2012 10:13 PM, Andreas Säger wrote:
> Things become weird in multi-lingual sheets 
> because the input rules differ from cell to 
> cell. IMHO, the interpretation of input strings 
> should always follow the globally set locale 
> regardless of the current cell formatting. 
> Formula literals behave that way, constant cells 
> do not.

Globally set locale is nice when I copy data from 
a webpage with the same locale, but most of the 
time that isn't the case.
At the moment Calc allows to select the following 
options for the Column Type :
  - Standard
  - Text
  - Date (DMY)
  - Date (MDY)
  - Date (YMD)
  - US English
  - Hide

Why can't we extend this to set the format for the 
column?
Or better implement a CSV editor like this one: 
http://csved.sjfrancke.nl/



---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: ooo-users-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: ooo-users-help@incubator.apache.org


RE: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by "Dennis E. Hamilton" <de...@acm.org>.
@Andreas: Your analysis needs to be broken down into parts and carefully examined.  Thank you for the extensive commentary.

For now, I have only general remarks:

I agree.  The ODF 1.2 OpenFormula specification does not address entry, display, cell formatting, and import/export cases.  There is ambiguity (and explicit implementation-dependency) with regard to text type where Number type (or date-time and time interval) are expected.

Nevertheless, an implementation can be precise where the specifications are either incomplete or when it is out of scope for the specification.

I also agree that failing hard is, in this case, superior to failing quietly and unpredictably by default.

The problem with entry parsing when the type of the cell is not considered leads to the problem of differentiating between 20120728 as a date or a number.  I agree that on entry, locale is a consideration if that and ambiguities such as 120711 are to be dealt with.  I favor your suggestion that a locale be provided to VALUE() and I would go to the cell format level too.  There are similar problems when multiple currency notations are used on the same sheet, etc.  Time zone also matters although it takes a crafty user to sort that out.

As a general principle, perhaps the idea is to ensure that fluent spreadsheet users can have ways to say precisely what is wanted and have guidance in determining where and when that works.  

For the casual users, it will take great art to assist them in avoiding likely pitfalls while also not frustrating them and especially in not having users feel stupid.  

 - Dennis

PS: I worked for Bob Bemer at the time ISO 8601 dates were being proposed in the 1960s.  I began using yyyy-mm-dd and yyyy-mm-dd:HH:mm (now correctly done as yyyy-mm-ddTHH:mm) immediately and have continued to do so.  I train my computers and software to use it (although OpenOffice-lineage Calc is rather uncooperative).  There was an effort to have check printers provide for ISO dates in the date field of hand-entered bank checks.  It didn't take in the US.  I use them any how and on many other documents where a date is requested (unless it specifies an exact format and boxes the digits must fit in).  I have never received a complaint.  I don't set the household clocks to 24-hour format because it confuses other family members.  But all others under my control have that format.  And, as someone who engages in international conference calls, I am comfortable with UTC.  I prefer that meeting times be announced in UTC so there is no question what local time that will be for me, wherever I am.  Someday, my calendar software will get this right all of the time, as it is pretty close but recuring appointments tend to be mangled as the result of daylight-time transitions.  Not everyone is so fussy and there is need to be of practical assistance nevertheless.


-----Original Message-----
From: Andreas Säger [mailto:villeroy@t-online.de] 
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2012 05:14
To: ooo-users@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Am 27.07.2012 08:20, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote:
> There are several matters here.
>
> First, the rules for OpenFormula apply to literals as argument and to references to cells where the value is of type text and the expected type is Number.

The current rules for implicit conversions used to be clear and 
consistent in OOo 2. The current compromise which converts integers and 
ISO dates is still reasonable. Excel gives different results depending 
on the language version.

[... lengthy elaboration of comments that deserves careful attention.  Thanks Andreas. ...]

That's it for now.

Greetings,
A.S


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: ooo-users-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: ooo-users-help@incubator.apache.org


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: ooo-users-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: ooo-users-help@incubator.apache.org


Re: [DISCUSS][CALC] String content to numeric value

Posted by Andreas Säger <vi...@t-online.de>.
Am 27.07.2012 08:20, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote:
> There are several matters here.
>
> First, the rules for OpenFormula apply to literals as argument and to references to cells where the value is of type text and the expected type is Number.

The current rules for implicit conversions used to be clear and 
consistent in OOo 2. The current compromise which converts integers and 
ISO dates is still reasonable. Excel gives different results depending 
on the language version.

>
> It does not apply to how *entered* values are converted.  In fact, there is no guidance at all about how *entered* values are converted.  Likewise, how cell values are formatted for the spreadsheet's presentation, for export in CSV, etc., are independent of these rules in OpenFormula.
>
> It strikes me that entry of values through an user interface is the time to deal with these issues and that may resolve most cases.
>
> For use of literals in formulas, there are ways for users to ensure that the desired interpretation is made by explicit conversions.  The same conditions apply when a cell value is text and it is intended to be used as a number.  Safe practice could be encouraged even if a given product provides the intended result, since there is no assurance of consistent treatment in an interchange situation.
>
> (Multi-cell operandsare more complicated, when some cell entries in a range have values of different type.)
>
> Without too much thought, I image three things that can be done, along with user guidance:
>
>   1. The rules for conversion of entered values based on the specified cell format need to be clear, and that might also include understanding the cell display formatting in properly handling the cell input conversion.  Since the storage of Number types is canonical and not subject to locale considerations, this can isolate much of the problem.  The same applies to export into non-OpenFormula forms, such as CSV.
>

The rules for German and English locale are unclear ("intuitive") but 
easy, reasonable and flexible enough to get adjusted to.

Things become weird in multi-lingual sheets because the input rules 
differ from cell to cell. IMHO, the interpretation of input strings 
should always follow the globally set locale regardless of the current 
cell formatting. Formula literals behave that way, constant cells do not.


>   2. Users need to be cautioned about what happens when cells and literals are of different types than the expected values.  It might also be useful for there to be warnings when text for Number expected arises.  There can also be user guidance on how to detect and prevent pathological cases.
>

Users want this or that instantly without thinking nor reading. Next 
time they want something completely different.
Most serious issue is that new spreadsheet users don't understand the 
difference between (literal) string and (formatted) number which are the 
only 2 types in Calc. This accounts for a huge part of all support 
questions since decades. There is no way to do it right other than 
insisting on clear technical distinction.
The documentation is unclear. There must not be any use of literal 
strings nor mention of "text formatting".
The excelish user interface is extremely misleading because a switch 
that turns off input interpretation without applying any number format 
at all is hidden in the number format settings. Number format "@" is not 
a number format at all nor does it convert anything between number and 
text (which is what even advanced users believe).

> I recommend making the default behavior consistent with widespread practice, including consideration of the importance of Excel interoperability.  If there seems to be no simple way out of it, I think Error values are the appropriate response, so that an user is given the opportunity to provide an explicit resolution rather than contend with silent discrepancies in their own use or when their spreadsheet is interchanged.

As far as I know, Calc's input methods are the same as in Excel.
The LibreOffice folks are about to shoot themselves into the foot. In 
version 3.6 with German locale I can not enter dates  without leaving 
the num-pad while needing at least 2 more key strokes for recent dates. 
A date needs to be entered with 2 or 3 numbers and 2 distinct 
separators. Apart from the extra key strokes, this means that German 
users can not type dates on the num-pad anymore.
The intention is to calm down the users who enter/paste/import sport 
results such as 12/9 or 12-9. For some reason they refuse to 
enter/import/paste text even when you explain them how to do it. They 
want the software to decide what a text is.

>
>   3. There are probably additional functions that could be introduced into OpenFormula, even as implementation-specified extensions (in accordance with provisions for that), to provide functions that will pass Numbers intact and will apply some formatting rule or function when text is found instead.  (The conversion of cells of explicit date and time types is already straightforward although it might need review.)  A few new functions may be sufficient to achieve complete, straightforward control on behalf of users, including forcing of an Error result.  The extensions could be agreed among the different implementations of OpenFormula, including in Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Gnumeric, Excel 2013, Google Docs, etc.  (But first, it should be verified whether there are means enough already.)
>

IMHO, it is a major problem that virtually nobody writes any add-ins.
The SUMIFS COUNTIFS of OOXML are trivial and they offer nothing new. 
These should be introduced for compatibility.

The current evaluation of string input by keyboard, clipboard or csv is 
undocumented.
Let me summarize it from a user's point of view:

1) By default, everything is evaluated as number if possible.
The = prefix triggers formula evaluation.
The ' prefix supresses evaluation all together.

2) We enter decimals with point or comma depending on the global locale 
which may be overridden by the number format locale.
23/ always enters the 23th day of the month which is very much 
appreciated by num-pad typers, but some people hate it. Please ignore 
the haters.
23/4 enters this year's 23th of April except for US locale where this 
has to be entered as 4/23.
Locale specific date separators may be used instead of the slash.
The colon is used as time separator except for the Italian locales which 
use a point.
ISO dates work with any locale setting.
The words TRUE and FALSE are recognized in the respective locale context 
as synonyms for 1 and 0. This is very different from Excel where boolean 
is a third data type apart from number and string.
Excel: =1=TRUE ==> FALSE
Calc: =1=TRUE ==> TRUE
Comment:
Input 1.234 may give different values on the same sheet depending on the 
individual cell's number format locale whereas the formula constant 
=1.234 follows the global locale.
IMHO, the evaluation should be consistent throughout the office suite 
depending on the global locale only.
Input 1.234 should always yield the same value within the same locale 
context even if an explicitly set number format locale may display 1,234.
Interestingly, I have never read any complaint about booleans beeing 
different from Excel.

3) The general number format shows decimal numbers without leading nor 
trailing zeros and a configurable maximum of decimals behind the 
point/comma. The general number format automagically applies one 
particular number format when the input string indicates boolean, date, 
time, date+time, currency or scientific number format.
Comment:
This is wanted behaviour for the general number format. IMHO, this works 
perfectly well for English and German numerals.
Some people expect crude ways of auto-formatting where the number gets 
interpreted and formatted as entered. This would make the spreadsheet 
effectively unusable.

4) Some number format categories change the evaluation method:
4a) Fraction: 3/4 yields 0.75 instead of 3rd April.
4b) Percent: A trailing % is added to all keyboard input effectively 
dividing the entered numeral by 100.
4c) Text (code @), which is no number format at all: It is more like a 
switch to turn off all evaluation for new input analog to the ' prefix. 
Newly entered numbers and prefixes are not evaluated. Any existing 
number or numeric formula result will be shown in the general number 
format. Even advanced users tend to believe that this number format 
converts to text and they expect that the existing string will be 
evaluated when removing the text attribute.

I think, all this is adequate, well established, very well thought, as 
easy as possible and as complicated as necessary given that each sheet 
cell is supposed to take any value of any type and sub-type for any locale.

Suggestions:
As already mentioned, the input method should be the same for all office 
numerals depending on the global locale only.
That is issue https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=72640

The default date of the general number format should have a 4-digit year 
to prevent certain input mistakes.

If AOO implements something analog to the latest LibreOffice date 
evaluation, then it should include a generous evaluation for format 
category "Date". Keep the old behaviour (day number with slash) when the 
cell is explicitly formatted as date.

On top of all number format options the number format dialog (which is 
the same in Calc, Writer and Base) should have a check box instead of 
number format category "Text". When you turn on this option, all the 
other options should be disabled (which is exactly what number format 
"@" actually does). The option should be labeled "New input as literal 
text" or something like that. Alternatively, it could be an evaluation 
switch which enables number formatting when evaluation is on.
The second most important option on that dialog is the locale option. 
All number formatting depends on the locale which should appear On top 
of the options besides the evaluation switch.

CSV export has an option "export as shown" which is what most people 
want. Usually we want to turn it off in order to get the maximum of 
decimal digits but this also removes all other formatting attributes. 
IMHO 0/1 booleans and decimal fractions are perfectly acceptable but 
dates and times should be exported as ISO strings rather than decimals 
based on 1899-12-30 00:00 which makes them unusable for any other 
application.

I try to explain to confused users that csv is a database exchange 
format in plain text and that Calc is neither database nor text editor. 
Calc has to evaluate strings in order to do what it is supposed to do.
If HSQLDB accepted more than point decimals and ISO dates we could have 
a very powerful csv editing tool on board. HSQLDB can link database 
fields to csv which preserves the decimals, dates, delimiters and 
encoding regardless of the displayed format in Base.

That's it for now.

Greetings,
A.S


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: ooo-users-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: ooo-users-help@incubator.apache.org