Calc - active formula bar in BOTH active windows?

[drmiles968]

I want to audit a multi-tab spreadsheet, I have 2 monitors. I open two Calc windows on my file, and put one on each screen. So far, so good. However, there is a small annoyance. When I click on a cell in one of the windows, I can see content (e.g. a link to the other sheet I am looking at) in the formula bar, but when I click on the second window, only the SECOND window’s formula bar is active and my first one goes blank.
I realise that Calc is probably single threaded for cell editing so can’t maintain two active edit contexts on the same spreadsheet, but I would prefer it if the inactive formula bar just persisted whatever it was showing, even if it’s not active. That way, it is easier to refer to it when I’m picking the target(s) in the other window for review.

Does anyone have any insight into how multiple windows are managed and whether there is any way that this could be done? I don’t want to submit a change request without refining the question a bit more. Any suggestions welcome.

thanks
Miles

[mariosv]

Bug 81636 - Not possible to view two formulas at the same time in different Calc instances

[Villeroy]

Two work-arounds:

• menu:View>Formulas toggles between formulas and results.
• The FORMULA function.

[drmiles968]

Thanks Marios, that is exactly the thing. The final entry in that bug report shows exactly the code responsible for clearing the input field when focus changes. I am not a coder, but it might be reasonable for someone able to build the LO codebase to comment out that particular function to see how it then behaves.
There are distinct functions for deactivating the edit activity (transferring edit control) and clearing the edit view, so merely skipping the ‘clear’ action might be OK. The view will be rewritten with new content if focus returns.
I suppose it’s worth asking on the bug tracker… and the bug has had many other notifications since at least 2014 so it is something that other users have noticed.