Re: [libreoffice-users] [Calc] How to work with long formulas?

On 03/21/2013 07:18 PM, Mirosław Zalewski wrote:
> Hi
>
> Some time ago I had to write a function that will display filename of current
> Calc workbook. After some Googling and trial and error I came up with this
> monster:
>
> =RIGHT(MID(CELL("FILENAME";A1);2;
> FIND("'#";CELL("FILENAME";A1))-2);LEN(MID(CELL("FILENAME";A1);2;
> FIND("'#";CELL("FILENAME";A1))-2))-FIND("$$$";SUBSTITUTE(
> MID(CELL("FILENAME";A1);2;FIND("'#";CELL("FILENAME";A1))-2);"/";"$$$";
> LEN(MID(CELL("FILENAME";A1);2;FIND("'#";CELL("FILENAME";A1))-2)) -
> LEN(SUBSTITUTE(MID(CELL("FILENAME";A1);2;FIND("'#";CELL("FILENAME";A1))-2);"/";"")))))
>
> (Of course it could be shorter if only temporary cells were allowed; you can
> clearly see that much of this function is multiplication of some formula set.)
>
> Since I am beginner of Calc, I had really hard time working on this. That made
> me wonder:
> how do I effectively work with long formulas in Calc? What
> tools/extensions/tips are there to ease my work?
> How can I keep track of relevant parts of each function, their input and
> output values etc?
>
> How do you guys handle such things?
>
> Thanks in advance for any tips.
One question to ask is what is the final output supposed to be? Often 
this will give clues to the type of functions needed and their order. 
Also, I tend to scroll the Calc function list to see if there is a 
function I am not familiar with that does what I want. Often I have 
found a complex formula can be made more manageable by searching for 
functions and finding some that make the final formula more compact and 
easier to understand.

I do not try to memorize the functions.

--
Jay Lozier
jslozier@gmail.com


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