I am using Calc in LO 6.0.2. Is there any parenthesis highlighting that can be enabled for the formula bar? I have a habit of missing parenthesis in long formulas so this would be useful. If it not a feature, is there a way to request such an enhancement?
Peter
Enhancement requests are to post to bugs.documentfoundation.org as if they were bugs.
(Often they are.)
You surely noticed that you can edit formulae also in the cell-grid area after you entered the cell for editing with a left doubleclick otr by F2. There the corresponding half of a pair of parentheses is displayed bold if you placed the cursor behind the other half.
(A trick I use sometimes: Insert some spaces to get a visual subdivision.)
The most efficient way to get things clearly arranged, often applicable, is to use shorter formulae, and in specific no deeply nested calls to the IF function.
Consider this example, inspired by @Lupp’s answer.
=IF(1=1;IF(1=2;IF(1=2;IF(1=2;3;4);5);IF(1=2;3;6));IF(1=2;3;7))
The cell-grid area of Calc looks like this (notice the bold )). That’s helpful for medium-complexity formulas but not so good for large, ugly ones.
Selecting part of a formula and pressing F9 shows a partial result.
For large formulas, I typically copy and paste the formula into my favorite text editor. Not only does it show the match more clearly, but one keystroke (%) can jump to the other matching paren.
Indenting also helps.
Presumably, other editors such as Notepad++ or Emacs could be used in the same way.
Lupp, I did notice the cell grid editing will bold parenthesis pairs, but I should have been a little more detailed. Sometimes it is easier if pairs are highlighted in different colors to more easily discern their relationship. The bold highlighting in LO is sometimes a little difficult for me to see. I had gotten used to syntax highlighting in Notepad++ and have seen such highlighting elsewhere. Your suggestion about spaces is a good on and I have started to do this. Thanks.
Jim K, thanks for the F9 tip!
Yes. I also have problems to catch the highlighted “brother”, and editing in a cell set to bold font I need to switch that off interim.
Concerning the multi-color dream I’m sceptical. At least with my formulae with many referencs, among them large ranges of different kind, I sometimes feel bedazzled and quit trying to rely on the colours.
My pipe-dream: A floating editor callable for complicated situations, offering lots of support on request.
The Function Wizard exists… Ctrl+F2 on an existing formula and you can step through the functions using the Next and Back buttons.
Yes. It’s a different thing, however. Useful anyway.