Calc "upgrade" feature on the next version, ??

[spgandau]

Hello,
I have been very well helped by the OOo community while I sorted through an issue with Calc. So, for those who helped, thanks!

Here is my observation / and request: ( I could not find anything that touched this topic elsewhere in the forums, so I hope this is an acceptable place to post)

My recent issue revolved around the fact (unknown to me) that Calc interpreted all my formulas as text, instead of formulas. Apparently, as soon as I manually created a formula in the formula bar, Calc defaulted that entry as a "text" entry, and not as a formula (even though I started everything with an equals sign " = "). I was helped and eventually got the formulas working, but it seems that every time that I manually enter a formula in the formula bar, this is an issue (I do use the formula wizard, but sometimes it is quicker and easier to manually enter the formula in the formula bar).

I discovered that I needed to do a "Find & Replace" to find any ".*" (period and asterisk) and replace it with "&" (ampersand). That routine does work and it will properly set Calc to correctly interpret any formula in a cell.

But my request is this:

Since I am already within the Calc program, why not have the program automatically recognize that I have used an equals sign (" = ") and default to interpreting the cell contents as a formula?

Is it possible that this issue is specific to my computer and OS? or my OS and OOo version?

Any response by those who are involved in the design of this program would be appreciated!

Regards,

Scott

MacBook
MacOS X 10.4.11
1.83 Ghz Intel
512 MB Ram
OOo v2.3.0

[acknak]

... why not have the program automatically recognize that I have used an equals sign (" = ") and default to interpreting the cell contents as a formula?

I can assure you that is already the normal behaviour. What you have experienced is not normal, although I'm not sure what might cause it.

What happens if you do this:
File > New > Spreadsheet
Enter 2 and 3 in the first two cells (A1,A2), then click the "Sum" button (Greek sigma, ∑) on the formula toolbar

The numbers should automatically be included in the formula, and it should read: =SUM(A1:A2)

Does that happen for you?

[Hagar Delest]

That's the second time I see that behavior, see also that thread : [Solved] Sorting data numerically. The attachment has the same behavior, I'm not an expert for Calc so can't really tell what's the issue.

[ajpursell]

I don't get any problem (just tried it out in Ubuntu). I can either click on the "=" in the input bar or enter "=" manually and, in either case, the input is treated as a formula.

This may be a problem for users of Mac OS X only.

[Hagar Delest]

Have you tried with the file attached in the other thread ?
Even if it's a problem with the Mac OS, why the file should be damaged also ?