Linked cell does not have any formatting

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#21

@Wanderer Ideas can’t break anything. Only how they are implemented. Obviously a separate formula or function that would accomplish copying character formatting would not break anything, as older sheets would not be using it.

To be fair, I didn’t know if there was or wasn’t a feature for this. That is the point of a discussion, to learn things. I’ve certainly learned not to expect much from the community here, unfortunately, so far at least.

and it is still unclear if this feature exists or not. Can’t anyone comment on karolus’s suggestion, LibreOffice: XTextCursor Interface Reference? What is this and how to use it?

#22

btw: copy <strg><c> and paste <strg><v> exists:
copyandpaste

1 Like
#23

So one could create CopyOnChange()-Macro, wich is called when the Source-Cell is changed.

#24

Your first attempt was not “I need another feature” but “This is a bug, fix it”. Quite different approach.

#25

It’s the specification of the API, which may be used to implement an automation (that you claimed you wanted, when explained your XY problem); automation means “create a macro, or extension, or control LibreOffice as a “server” externally - e.g., using Python/VBS/etc.”

#26

Never use various manual/direct formatting properties in a single cell.
Use the cell styles. It is enough to highlight a calculated/referenced values.
The spreadsheet softwares are not colorize books for children.

For examlpe:
There are some well usable workarounds for the more exact referencing of the special formatted characters:

  • Sub- and supercript characters what use the upper/lower index formatting feature: use real sub and supercript characters instead of the modified (shifted, reduced size) “normal characters”. The full featured UNICODE Fonts have sub and superscript characters. (Typical usage: the referenced engineering units, like the kg/m³. A shifted/reduced normal caracter “3” will be referenced as kg/m3, but a real superscript craracter “³” will be appeared as kg/m³ when you referenced it from an another cell.).
  • You can apply a Cell style by using the function STYLE() at end of the formula.
  • You can apply the conditional format feature - depending on the cell content.

But you can not apply different direct formatting properties for the parts of a single cell content by the built-in features in any spreadsheet software. Not in Excel, nor in Google sheet, nor in AOO/LO, …

You must use the copy/paste feature, or you need to repeat enter and format the content in an another cells.
And you can not format manually a result of a very simple CONCATENATE() function this way in the target cell.

#27

I think the closest analogue is Excel Camera Tool. A graphical object is created whose data source is the original cell range.

#29

Funny how such a basic question and possible solutions brings out all kinds reactionaries that don’t want anything to be done, and are actually hostile towards coming up with a solution!

@karolus Yes of course! Silly us, why even use functions at all when we can manually copy and paste hundreds, if not, thousands, of cells. In fact, better to never use any function again since we can do all the calculations on paper with pencil and abacus and then type the result into the sheet afterwards… :roll_eyes:

@Wanderer Yes I see, now you are at least hinting at something useful… did not know about Macros so will look into this further. but you still seem to like to put words in others’ mouths. Fortunately on a text based communication platform, everything is clear and can be verified. I never was so coarse and demanding to say “this is a bug, fix it”. Instead, Miguel first replied that there “is no way”. I followed up with a question as to why, so I could better understand any reasoning behind leaving out such an option/feature, only adding that it “seems like a bug”. When Miguel further solidified his position that there would never be any solution, and in fact the problem was with me, I was left no other choice than to pursue filing a bug report–quite a different reality than you paint! (Little did I know the flurry of reactions such an innocent quest would manifest)

#30

@Zizi64 With an imagination like that, maybe you’re the one that needs coloring books? Not only did I never mention color in my OP, but we aren’t even using any color for this particular project. Even so, teachers do use spreadsheets as coloring books for children, so you are even wrong on that front too! :rofl: I don’t think anyone appreciates attempts to control what we can do with the software’s already-existing capabilities. If you don’t want users applying per-character formatting, then you are welcome to fork the project and remove that along with all the other features you don’t want others using. Wonder if there will be any code remaining?

But I will thank you for mentioning Unicode, that is an idea worth looking into as we might be able to adjust the final display we are trying to achieve. Now after having spent some time looking through the characters, I’ve found similar letters that might replicate my example in the OP. However, the problem is finding the right font to render it all. Calc will only render the text using the single font assigned according to the cell’s formatting; if there are missing glyphs, then they aren’t rendered or just show up as squares. This is different from other applications which will just combine the fonts so all glyphs requested are rendered. Fortunately, after a while, I found Symbola will display everything, so was able to get the results below. Unfortunately, there is not enough variation in the sizes of the different scripts, and what we really need for this project is the ability to have text in different sizes like I showed in the OP.

image
image834×95 12.4 KB

@sokol92 errr, wrong forum? Nobody here is using Excel. I can’t see any of the example screenshots either, plus having an image in the spreadsheet instead of data in the cells themselves is a completely different use case.

I think that takes care of everyone then. Now on to the post where someone actually seems to have found a solution…

#31

Speak for yourself. Some of us need both. And if here is the ask-site there are a lot of excel-users doing headless Conversion to pdf with LibreOffice.
.
And if your idea had parallel implementations in excel it may be a good idea to implement the same syntax.

1 Like
#33

The very first words of the question were the only ones of self.criticism by the questioner. There should have been more. And the fact that no answers (in the sense of the questioner) were found isn’t exactly wrong terminology (of which we have a lot going down the about 30 comments above), but simply that there are none.

Spreadsheets aren’t made for that kind of job. The results of spreadsheet formulas delivered to spredsheet cells always are so called simple (about the same as scalar) types and error messages. No objects of any kind, no “in-cell-arrays” or “in-cell-tables” or “image anchors” or “cell-background-bitmaps”.

There were a few features (some very doubtable) added later, but basically the indispensable abilities of spreadsheets are concerning calculations hopefully also reasobnable ones in a few cases. These calculations need to be organized safe, efficient, and reliable. Though fancy formatting of text portions is rarely essential, the feature was implemented on the level of fix texts, mainly to support “prettyprint” of results.
OK. As long as this feature doesn’t interfere with the fundamental duties of spreadsheets, it may be there. The few additional MiBytes of code, download traffic, workstation constipation and the like are mostly disregarded tody, and I can’t help it as bad as that may be.
However, endangering the central functionality, at least concerning efficiency and the tiing-up of human reasources in development is inacceptable.

I wouldn’t object if my old car also was able to fly, but feel sure it can’t - and can’t learn it without getting useless on the road. For seeing flying cars I can watch a picture of the Bond type.

Spreadsheets are already developed to next-to-uselessness. Let’s stop that.

And: The only post here not just telling “No way!” or “But it must!”, but demonstrating a raw sketch of a workaround based on spreadsheet means, seems to be my answer (for those who also study the few lines of contained code). I still am waiting for a comment on it by the questioner - who surely can point out and sketch interesting enhancements.

#28

(I consciously post this as a solution though it is none.)

There was a related (very similar) question in a different forum about 2.5 y ago: Apache OpenOffice Community Forum - Format part of a string in a cell - (View topic) .
The questioner there didn’t talk of a bug or word any strange claims, but looked for a solution meeting his(f/m) supposed needs.
Since it looked possible that what he wanted to achieve might be useful in very rare cases, and because I like to play with strange ideas now and then, I playfully created a workaround for AOO using V4.1.7. At about the same time I moved the “solution” with LibO (V7.0) then to a Basic module having set just for convenience concerning the passing of cell access VBAsupport 1. It worked in the sense I expected without specifically regarding what any questioner wanted or supposed to be “correct”.
Having “headshakingly” read through this thread, I opened this reworked solution today - and found that LibO V 7.4.3 has slightly differenf VBAsupport which isn’t compatible with my old code. The “solution” I never had used myself needed an overhaul to work correctly again.
Please understand: I’m not complaining. I didn’t expect any earnings or whatever from my related work but what I actually got: an interesting pursuit and somehow slightly increased insight. Those who complain, and claim their offside view to be the true one, can’t get any advantage of such a discussion. Also for contributors here “efficiency” is minimal. For questioners of a specific kind it is exactly zero. Or below?
Not for use but for your further studies I attach an example containing code by Lupp.
aoo102275formattedTextPortions_LibO_7_4_3.ods (29.7 KB)

3 Likes
#34

Sorry for the late reply, had other pressing work to get done. Checking this out now on the weekend. I’m over reading the linked OOo forums page from 2.5 years ago when suddenly I come across Zizi again there, being the same negative nancy naysayer he is over here. Hilarious! you can’t make this shit up! lmao.

Ah but you also have to throw in some gaslighting too I see. I never mentioned the word bug until I was forced to come to that conclusion by Miguel’s lack of knowledge and explanation (I did ask why things were that way, at least twice, without response). As if it’s some crime to suggest something’s a bug anyway, lol. You people need to chill out. As someone who works in education I guess I find it important to be sure facts and truth remain at the forefront. No strange claims made here, just countering ignorance whenever I get the chance. Not sure how/why you came to the conclusion I wasn’t looking for a solution to meet our needs. That’s the whole point of these forums and the point of starting a discussion. On the contrary, it seems many users on this forum actively do not want others to find solutions, and readily spread misinformation, derailing the entire discussion. That is much more concerning, and strange.

I’ll bring your document and macros to the table at the next meeting and show it to the programmer, it might just be the starting point we need…

#35

The LibreOffice has not such feature what you need.
You have choose a wrong tool for your task. Please chose an another one.
.
Or YOU MUST write a macro subroutine that can do some similar thing what you need. You need launch it somehow (manually or by some Event), when you want to use it.
You can not create a user defined Cell function for this task without the usage of the MS VBA compatibility options. And this is not a good idea.
.
…Or you must change the source code of the Calc application and its API… The source code is freely available.

#36

@Zizi64: What about DNFTT?

2 Likes
#37

I don’t think that he’s a troll. Trolls are not such ignorant. In my opinion he is a spy and diversant payed by MS. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

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