Calc functions not described in the Help system

The following Calc functions do not appear to be described in the LibreOffice v6.3 Help system. Should I raise a bug in the Bugzilla system at https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/ to cover these omissions?

Obviously if a function doesn’t appear in the Help system, then the Help button on the Function Wizard dialog cannot work as expected when that function is selected. Should I raise a different bug for that, or would it be covered by the first one?

1) FINDB
2) FLOOR.MATH
3) FLOOR.XCL
4) NETWORKDAYS_EXCEL2003
5) OPT_BARRIER
6) OPT_PROB_HIT
7) OPT_PROB_INMONEY
8) OPT_TOUCH
9) PDURATION
10) REPLACEB
11) SEARCHB

Regards,

Steve

Nor 6.2 help system. There seems a lot of work to keep up with the
documentation.
At least some seem to be here.
https://documentation.libreoffice.org/assets/Uploads/Documentation/en/CG4.1/ODT/CG4116-CalcFunctions.odt
Some on the MS site.
steve

Hello Steve

Some functions are indeed not documented, and experts are welcome.
Specifically for OPT_ :
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=92084

The XCL and EXCEL2003 suffixes in function name is for compatibility
with Excel

In
https://help.libreoffice.org/6.3/en-US/text/scalc/01/04060106.html?DbPAR=CALC#bm_id3157404

There is an explanation off the MATH suffix, but I agree that an entry
specific is better.

On the others, please open a bug for the records, and add bug 80430 in
the "BLocks" field so it will be linked to bug 80430 meta bug.

Thank you and kind regards

Olivier

PS
A collection of Help contents gap and bugs
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/showdependencytree.cgi?id=80430&hide_resolved=1

Hi Steve and all

Some on the MS site.

Of course both spreadsheets applications shares a lot of common
functions. However I politely advise our contributors not to blindly
copy & paste contents of commercial products or unlicensed contents.
Help pages and our documentation must be in our own words and out of
legal claims.

Cheers!

Olivier,

Thank you for that information. I didn't previously know about META bugs
and was also interested to find 108827 (META for the Calc Functions).

As you are probably aware, I'm currently working on Chapter 18 of the Calc
Guide (Description of Functions). This is a somewhat bigger task than I
imagined but that's ok, I'm battling through it.

In working through this chapter I have found a range of problems with the
Function Wizard and the (built-in / online) Help pages. These fall into
three rough categories:
(1) Cases where the Help system doesn't address a function (see earlier
email). An obvious knock-on in these cases is that the Help button on the
Function Wizard won't work sensibly for these functions.
(2) Cases where although the Help system does include a function's
description, the Help button on the Function Wizard doesn't appear to be
linked to the correct item in the Help system.
(3) Cases where there are inconsistencies between the description of a
function in the Help system and its implementation in the Function Wizard.

I suspect the most efficient way for me to proceed is to carry on updating
the chapter and at the end of my task, raise all the problems / bugs /
inconsistencies in one go. At that point I'll try to avoid covering
problems that are already in the system (e.g. the inclusion of OPT_
functions in the Help).

Does that make sense?

Regards,

Steve

Hello Steve

I just added the Help pages for FINDB, REPLACEB and SEARCHB.

They are in the following links
https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-US/text/scalc/01/func_findb.html
https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-US/text/scalc/01/func_replaceb.html
https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-US/text/scalc/01/func_searchb.html

NOte that these pages will be available in 6.4
Regards
Olivier

Hello Steve and all team

(snip)

In working through this chapter I have found a range of problems with the
Function Wizard and the (built-in / online) Help pages. These fall into
three rough categories:
(1) Cases where the Help system doesn't address a function (see earlier
email). An obvious knock-on in these cases is that the Help button on the
Function Wizard won't work sensibly for these functions.

Yes. Chapter 18 has a very dense contents.

(2) Cases where although the Help system does include a function's
description, the Help button on the Function Wizard doesn't appear to be
linked to the correct item in the Help system.

I am aware of the issue of some dialogs Help button not opening the
right Help page for the function or tab displayed. It is a bug. But if
you click on any function argument text box and press F1, you will
likely to get the right page, though.

(3) Cases where there are inconsistencies between the description of a
function in the Help system and its implementation in the Function Wizard.

This is hard and very time consuming to fix. A systematic review will
consume an enormous amount of time, besides requiring deep knowledge on
the function purpose. We try to fix these inconsistencies ad-hoc, when a
bug report pops.

Another issue that may rise is: Which side is wrong? the Help page or
the function implementation in the wizard? There is no clear answer
because the Help page can serve as reference for the software, but the
software can also evolve and turn the help page inconsistent or
obsolete. There are a number of cases where the functions arguments have
changed in the past and the help page was not updated.

(In some cases I had to pick the QA test files in the source code to
verify the consistency of the Help content).

I suspect the most efficient way for me to proceed is to carry on updating
the chapter and at the end of my task, raise all the problems / bugs /
inconsistencies in one go. At that point I'll try to avoid covering
problems that are already in the system (e.g. the inclusion of OPT_
functions in the Help).

Does that make sense?

Perfect sense. What is most needed in documentation and Help here are
many pairs of eyes, that can report inconsistencies (please use
bugzilla). If you don't mind, please open bug reports on individual issues.

Kind regards
Olivier