Bug 128708 - It is important to give the user a hint if wrong or outdated results are displayed
Summary: It is important to give the user a hint if wrong or outdated results are disp...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsDevEval
: 124783 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: Calc-UX
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Reported: 2019-11-11 10:37 UTC by b.
Modified: 2023-05-08 18:55 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


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Description b. 2019-11-11 10:37:00 UTC
Description:
short: 

sometimes wrong or outdated results are stored in files, and displayed on screen when reloading the file, 

i think it would be nice if the users gets a hint on that

>>> for military and other critical use it's a 'must have'! <<<

long: 

in my opinion libreoffice calc lacks some functionality to keep users informed about the status of the processed file

i think three cases should be handeled

1) - the loaded file displays wrong or outdated values, for whatever reason, something should be red in that case, green if everything is ok, and on mousover show a note 'outdated values loaded with file, consider recalculation' or 'values loaded from file match current calculation results', 

2) - the user changes something in a map / sheet and it's not recalculated (e.g. reg. autocalculate being 'off' or whatever other reason), something should be red in that case, green if everything is ok, and on mousover show a note 'shown results not recalculated after changes, consider recalculation' or 'all changes recalculated', 

3) - the user changed something in the map / sheet and it's not saved after that, something is! red in that case (a little floppy symbol at the bottom of the window), that could be placed in better sight of the user, green if everything is ok (as is it's grey when no saving is neccessary), and on mousover it shows a note 'The document has been modified. Click to save the document.', it's combined with functionality. 

------------ 

for 1) this is the most critical point, users may be trapped by shortcomings in files they get from others, shortcomings in files saved with buggy versions, or other problems out of their sight and influence, 

see: https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=120013#c17

you can check the file 

http://bugs.documentfoundation.org/attachment.cgi?id=145073

by opening with a zipper proram (e.g. 7zip) and opening the file content.xml inside with a browser (e.g. firefox), 

i couldn't find a cell reference in the entries, thus it's not too easy to find the affected entries, i think they are the lines 

<table:table-cell table:style-name="ce111" table:formula="of:=SUM([.C$3:.C12])-SUM([.D$3:.D12])" office:value-type="float" office:value="1900" calcext:value-type="float">

near the end of the file, 

somewhere else Eike Rathke and others stated that it's not possible to check whether recalculation is neccessary, i think it should be possible, just do a recalc in background - with reduced priority to lessen impact in workflow, and compare to displayed or stored results, 

this point affects the whole range of autocalculate off, compatibility with xls and xlsx files and 'freshness' of calculations there, settings for recalculate on load in options (are they removed?) and so on ... 

contrary to check and explain what happened to irritated users one by one after they stepped into problems - consider calculating target coordinates for missile s - it could be a better idea to keep all users informed before problems occur. 

during the check of necessity of a recalculation (this can happen in the background with reduced priority) the signal could be yellow with a hint-text 'processing data integrity check' 

------------

for 2) this is critical too, users may be trapped by settings done by others, settings they forgot about, or other stuff blocking recalculation. 

------------

for 3) it could be 'nice to have' that symbol somewhere 'in sight' of the user, perhaps a stacked 'hamburger menu symbol' in the upper right corner of the screen, one dot (bottom) for 'loaded file lacks recalc', one (middle) for 'actual work not saved', one (top) for 'changes require recalculation', when a user see's 'all green' he knows 'everything ok' (despite unfixed bugs). 

------------

apologize if i missed something already in the program, 

reg. 

b. 

Steps to Reproduce:
see above description

Actual Results:
user uninformed

Expected Results:
would ease use of program when user gets qualified status information, 


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
actually testing: 

Version: 6.4.0.0.alpha1+ (x64)
Build ID: d456ca6efb98d707427228e8131dfe8a5f27e2f6
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 6.1 Service Pack 1 Build 7601; UI render: default; VCL: win; 
Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI-Language: en-US
Calc: threaded

user profile reset?: no as it's not a bug, 

opengl enabled?: no
Comment 1 b. 2019-11-11 12:58:11 UTC
have seen that i started similar request before, see: 
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=124783

that - not this - may be closed as dup
Comment 2 b. 2019-11-11 13:00:07 UTC
*** Bug 124783 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 Heiko Tietze 2019-11-26 12:26:23 UTC
We discussed the topic repeatedly. So in bug 107929 - Set "Prompt user" as default for "Recalculation on file load" => WF, bug 114998 - Externally Linked Data should update when pressing F9 => NAB, and bug 124784 - Replace messagebox on file load with user prompt for recalculation by an infobar => waiting for interested dev.
Comment 4 Timur 2020-01-11 10:08:36 UTC
b., I noticed you report a lot, but also with many duplicates, indicating you may have not searched before reporting, which would be a rule of thumb.
After Heiko's comment, that pointed you to already reported and discussed issues, please comment is there anything more left here. 

Note: please see if you have some other duplicates and bugs that already exist: https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/buglist.cgi?email3=newbie-02%40gmx.de&emailreporter3=1&emailtype3=substring&list_id=1068573
Comment 5 b. 2020-01-11 14:52:59 UTC
hello Timur, 

after Heiko's comment i'm waiting patiently if there is any progress in this bug or in thoose 'related', 

that's easy for this bug, as it's not an urgent problem, 

with other bugs - that i find more urgent because they produce wrong results - i am occasionally faced with the decision whether it is less bad to warm up an old bug or create a new one. 

It seems that depending on what I do, a forum member might think the other decision would have been better ... but I have to make a decision before I can get opinions on it. 

My gut feeling says that it would be more efficient to fix bugs than to manage them and their duplicates for years. 

if there would be an option to present findings to 'pros' and let them decide where to place them i'd happily use that. 

reg. 

b.
Comment 6 Timur 2020-01-11 15:18:39 UTC
You cannot confirm your own report, please do not go against rules.
Comment 7 b. 2020-01-11 21:12:46 UTC
sorry, whatever it was it was unintended ...
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2020-01-13 10:43:24 UTC
Let's keep the request in NEW.