Re: [libreoffice-users] Strange issue with NOW() that i have not encountered before

At 16:21 31/10/2019 -0400, Tim Deaton wrote:
> On 10/30/2019 5:11 PM, Brian Barker wrote:
> >  At 20:02 30/10/2019 +0000, Pete Nikolic wrote:
> > > I am having an issue with NOW() .
> >
> > Unfortunately for you, NOW() means "now"; it may be that you need a 
> > THEN() function!
> >
> > > I am using =IF(ISBLANK(A3),"", IF( ISNUMBER(B3), B3, NOW() ) )
> > > I have copied this by dragging the corner of the cell to 100 other 
> > > cells the problem is when i enter data into a cell in column 3 ...
> >
> > Er, column A, perhaps?
> >
> > > ... the time changes in every cell in column 3 and it should not.
> >
> > You clearly don't want it to, but since NOW() means "now", it 
> > should. By default, each time you make changes to a spreadsheet, 
> > formulae are recalculated, and since all your formulae contain a 
> > reference to NOW(), that will be updated to the current date and 
> > time, not the one at which previous changes were made.
> >
> > [...]
>
> This reply confuses me. The OP is using NOW() as the final option in 
> a nested IF() statement. So, to my understanding, NOW() should not 
> be executed unless both of the first two options fail. Otherwise, it 
> appears that the mere presence of the NOW() statement as one of the 
> options causes the rest of the IF() statement to be rendered null 
> and void. To me, that behavior makes it a bug.

But both the IF() tests *will* fail in the circumstances the 
questioner is referring to: they failed when he entered data on other 
rows earlier - and caused the date and time to be produced in the 
cell - and will do so again when the formula is recalculated as a 
result of a new entry on a different row. On any row where either of 
the IF conditions is true, NOW() is indeed not used and no problem is seen.

Brian Barker 


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