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Improvements to formula editor
  • Guy_Cuthbert        Guy_Cuthbert March 1, 2009 11:46AM
    The formula editor has improved greatly since early versions, but a few further simple improvements would help no end:

    * Resizable window - increasing the width of the editor would make longer formulae easier to read
    * Comments - please can we have some kind of comment ability e.g. start a line with ' or // or similar
    * Customisable TAB indent - I use TAB to indent content and make more complex formulae easier to read, but the dfualt spacing moves text too far - I would like 2-8 spaces (user configurable)

    ... and nothing to do with the editor BUT... can we please have a SELECT CASE type formula - nested IFs are SO messy and hard to read/teach/explain!!
    Atheon Analytics Ltd
    w: www.atheonanalytics.com
    e: guy.cuthbert@atheon.co.uk
    t: +44 8444 145501
    m: +44 7973 550528
    s: guycuthbert
  • 2 Comments
  •     steve March 1, 2009 3:49PM
    Guy, thanks for the suggestions.

    Resizable window: a no-brainer; noted.

    Comments: already there in 2.5, and we've resumed preview uploads (please check the daily builds and the list of new features). In short, /*comment*/ in formulas.

    Tab indent in formulas: I don't think an customisable option will benefit anyone but the most advanced users (such as yourself). I favour changing the default setting; 4 sounds about right, don't you think?

    Select/case: the CHOOSE function goes part-way, and in fact you can cobble together an alternative to nested-if using CHOOSE, but it's not hugely intuitive. I'm guessing you want:
    SELECT(field, value1, result1, value2, result2, value3, result3, defaultResult)?
    Equating to: (pseudocode)
    IF field=value1 THEN result1 ELSE IF field=value2 THEN result2 ELSE IF field=value3 THEN result3 ELSE defaultResult
    This would only work for exact matches, so you couldn't say "if A is between 3 and 6".

    Or how about:
    IFELSE(condition1, result1, elseCondition2, result2, elseCondition3, result3, defaultResult)?
    Equating to: (pseudocode)
    IF condition1 THEN result1 ELSE IF condition2 THEN result2 ELSE IF condition 3 THEN result 3 ELSE defaultResult
    This would be more powerful than SELECT, but for those which SELECT would work for, IFELSE would be more verbose.

    Perhaps we need multiple new functions to address these kinds of problems.
    It would help if you could have a look at a few of your deeply nested IF statements and checked to see what would be most useful - give examples.
  •     steve March 9, 2009 4:16PM
    Guy, your suggestions have been taken on board.

    Tonight's build of 2.5 will include:
    * Resizable formula editor window
    * Tab stops of 3 spaces (found to be ideal)
    * IF function extended to support IF(test1, value1, test2, value2, test3, value3..., else_value) - no more nested IFs
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