improvements to INDEX()



Excel's INDEX() is much more powerful than Gnumeric's, I've guessed that
this is simply due to lack of time for implementation and so I offer here
a patch that much improves the situation

This patch alters the behaviour of INDEX() and updates the help to match.

* INDEX() now returns a reference when appropriate rather than a simple value
which means you can use it with functions like ROW(), COLUMN() and CELL() to
give useful results.

* INDEX() now returns range references or arrays (as appropriate) for some
inputs which were previously poorly defined or error states. This matches
Excel much more closely than before e.g. INDEX(A1:C4,2,) returns a reference
to A2:C2 which can then be used together with array syntax to fill multiple
cells with results.

* INDEX() now has a special case matching things of the form INDEX(A1:A6,4)
which was previously meaningless in Gnumeric and now returns a reference to
A4. This is purely an Excel compatibility change and can be removed if
considered unsavoury.

I can also prepare an XL compat test sheet for INDEX() if that's helpful

Nick.

Attachment: index.patch
Description: Text document



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