Bringing "dynamic array" to ODF

[Regina Henschel]

Hello everyone,

It's about the Excel feature “dynamic array”, bug 127808.

In the section “Non-Scalar Evaluation” (3.3, part 4) [1], ODF has rules 
on what to do if the actual result array has a different width or height 
than the target range. An adjustment of the target range to the actual 
result array does not occur in these rules. In order to be able to 
describe the “dynamic array” feature of Excel in ODF, these rules would 
have to be extended.

In the file format, the target range is defined by the attributes 
table:number-matrix-columns-spanned (19.683, part 3) and 
table:number-matrix-rows-spanned (19.684, part 3) of the element 
<table:table-cell> (9.1.4, part 3).

My idea is to extend the attributes of the <table:table-cell> element 
with a Boolean attribute table:matrix-is-dynamic. Such an attribute 
would not only serve as a hint for applications to allow dynamic 
adaption while the user is working with the opened document. It would 
also capture situations where the size of a database range linked to an 
external source changes and the spreadsheet contains expressions that 
use that database range.

For the dynamic size of a database range, the element 
<table:database-range> (9.4.15, part ) has the attribute 
table:on-update-keep-size (19.686, part 3).

What do you think?

I know, that it is also necessary to extend the formula syntax so that a 
dynamic range can be used as a parameter. This is bug 161399.

BTW: Does anyone already have concrete plans to implement something 
similar to the Excel feature “dynamic array” in LibreOffice?

[1] https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/

Kind regards,
Regina