[mdlug] Why is a blank cell != zero value in OpenOffice-Calc 3.5

[Adam Behnke]

looking in libre, perhaps =value(a1)+value(b1)

On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 3:01 AM, Adam Behnke <abehnke at gmail.com> wrote:
> is it a case were the formula is like =a1+b1 ? i'm wondering if
> editing the the formulas a bit will fix the issue, like =sum(a1+b1)
>
> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Jeff Hanson <jhansonxi at gmail.com> wrote:
>> With shell scripts the "test" command (aka. "[") treats nulls as strings so
>> it may be a general programming convention.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 6:06 PM, R KANNAN <rk111810 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 5:56 PM, R KANNAN <rk111810 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > > On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 5:51 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > >> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 5:44 PM, R KANNAN <rk111810 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > >> > OpenOffice Users,
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > I opened an exiting (from OO 2.2)  spreadsheet in Oo-Calc 3.5 aand
>>> > found
>>> > >> a
>>> > >> > lot of #VALUE in cells where I had a formula prodcing perfectly
>>> > >> acceptable
>>> > >> > numbers. Then I found that some of the cells where I had blanks were
>>> > >> > considered by Oo-3.5 to be strings and that is why all these
>>> formulas
>>> > are
>>> > >> > failing.
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > Why is a blank cell considered to have a zero numerical value. Is
>>> > there a
>>> > >> > global setting which does this?
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > Thanks for any input.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Check the cell formatting? Perhaps that may be having an impact.
>>> > >>
>>> > >
>>> > > No. I tried that but did not help. I had to go to each of the blank
>>> cells
>>> > > referred in the formulas and 'delete contents'. I probably have
>>> hundreds
>>> > of
>>> > > these cells in non-contiguous columns and rows.
>>> > >
>>> > > This sheet was perfectly fine in OO2.2 :-(
>>> > >
>>> > > BTW I am using Libre Office 3.5 in Ubuntu 12.04 if it makes any
>>> > difference.
>>> >
>>> > If a cell is an empty string, it probably has ['] as its content.
>>> >
>>>
>>> Nope. All the cells where I successfully managed to fix by 'delete
>>> contents' did not have anything.
>>>
>>> >
>>> > You might be able to do a search-and-replace for empty string and
>>> > replace it with, well, not sure. Maybe some kind of scripted "for all
>>> > cells within this range, call "delete contents" if cell is empty"
>>> >
>>>
>>> I have not written any macros but maybe this is an opportunity for me to
>>> learn :-)
>>>
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > :wq
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