Bug 125626 - fill down command calculates illogical series
Summary: fill down command calculates illogical series
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2019-06-01 18:39 UTC by DV
Modified: 2019-08-08 15:43 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
screencap of undesired result (36.60 KB, image/png)
2019-06-01 18:41 UTC, DV
Details
undesired result spreadsheet -- thanks (18.10 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet)
2019-06-01 18:44 UTC, DV
Details

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Description DV 2019-06-01 18:39:15 UTC
Description:
When using the fill down cross to fill empty cells with a simple series, calc fills with an illogical series:

(screen-cap below)



Steps to Reproduce:
manually entered: J5 "=AVERAGE(B6:B25)"
manually entered: J6 "=AVERAGE(B26:B45)"

Actual Results:
highlight J5:J6 and fill down: J7 "=AVERAGE(B8:B27)"
highlight only J6 and fill down: J7 "=AVERAGE(B27:B46)"


Expected Results:
desired result would be J7 "=AVERAGE(B46:B65")

etc, etc, next logical series.

This can be really tedious when doing dozens (or hundreds) of calcs.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
Comment 1 DV 2019-06-01 18:41:26 UTC
Created attachment 151837 [details]
screencap of undesired result
Comment 2 DV 2019-06-01 18:44:04 UTC
Created attachment 151838 [details]
undesired result spreadsheet -- thanks
Comment 3 m_a_riosv 2019-06-01 23:47:16 UTC
Drag formulas it's copy formulas not like fill series, in your example it works properly.
Maybe not what you like, but it's not a bug.

A formula like
I6: =AVERAGE(OFFSET($B$1;((ROW()-5)*20)-15;;20))
can be dragged
Comment 4 DV 2019-06-02 13:59:41 UTC
I debated whether or not to open this as a feature enhancement or bug, but it is a bug.

drag fill fails given a very basic logical series, i.e.:

A1=AVERAGE(B1:5)
A2=AVERAGE(B6:B10)

by producing:

A3=AVERAGE(B7:B11)

instead of the next logical result in the series:

A3=AVERAGE(B11:B15)


the formula solution, while workable and appreciated, requires too advanced knowledge for 99.9% of users who will encounter this problem.  It's a switch back to Office type problem.
Comment 5 m_a_riosv 2019-06-02 23:40:00 UTC
If you are happy reopening and thinking that what you like in this particular case it's what should be, on your own, but it is not a bug.
Comment 6 Xisco Faulí 2019-08-08 09:30:51 UTC
@Eike, any comment here ?
Comment 7 Eike Rathke 2019-08-08 15:42:59 UTC
Calc is not filling a calculated series when dragging down formulas, it's like copy&paste instead. That's also how other major spreadsheet implementations work. In the attached example, as only J8 is chosen as endpoint, it's the same as copy-pasting J6 to J8. It becomes clearer when drag filling J6:J7 down until J9, then J8:J9 are a copy-paste of J6:J7 with keeping the relative references (and thus making them point to 2 rows below). There is no calculation of relative differences between two selected formulas, and there shouldn't be as it would be utterly confusing. Furthermore things would get unpredictable if a third cell was selected that again differs from the previous difference, or if formula cells were "incompatibly" different.