Authors
Chris Chambers & Martin Erwig
Abstract
Labels in spreadsheets can be exploited for finding formula errors in two principally different ways. First, the spatial relationships between labels and other cells express simple constraints on the cells usage in formulas. Second, labels can be interpreted as units of measurements to provide semantic information about the data being combined in formulas, which results in different kinds of constraints.
In this paper we demonstrate how both approaches can be combined into an integrated analysis, which is able to find significantly more errors in spreadsheets than each of the individual approaches. In particular, the integrated system is able to detect errors that cannot be found by either of the individual approaches alone, which shows that the integrated system provides an added value beyond the mere combination of its parts.
We also compare the effectiveness of this combined approach with several other conceivable combinations of the involved components and identify a system that seems most effective to find spreadsheet formula errors based on label and unit-of-measurement information.
Sample
This example shows results of both UCheck (determines label errors) and Dimension Inference (finds unit errors).
Publication
2010, Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, Volume 21, Issue 5, December, pages 249-262
