Cell and Range Syntax for Grid Frames

Excel-like absolute cell references are supported (i.e., A1, B3, C4), but only within the context of an expression within a report definition grid frame.

Absolute cell range references are supported (i.e., A1:A15, B3:D3). Likewise, these are only valid within expressions in report grid frames.

There are several other Excel cell and range reference syntaxes supported:

The cell in column A and row 10 of a report grid frame is A10

The range of cells in column A and rows 10 through 20 A10:A20

The range of cells in row 15 and columns B through EB15:E15

The following cell range syntax is NOT supported:

All cells in row 5 5:5

All cells in rows 5 through 105:10

All cells in column H H:H

All cells in columns H through JH:J

Also NOT supported are relative cell references (i.e., R1C1).

Excel-Like Functions

The framework allows for custom constants and functions to be registered with the parser. The following Excel-like functions have been implemented.

Table 3 - Exel-Like Functions

FUNCTION	COMMENTS
ABS(number)	Returns the absolute value of number
AND(logical1,logical2, …)	Returns true or false
AVERAGE(number1,number2, …)	Returns the average of all number arguments
CONCATENATE(string1,string2, …)	Returns concatenation of all string arguments
EQUALS (expression, expression)	evaluates two expression to see if they are equal and returns true or false
IF(logical_test,value_if_true, value_if_false)	Returns value of arg2 if arg1 evaluates to true, else returns value of arg3
ISERROR(expression)	Returns true if expression evaluates to either (null, NaN, or positive/negative infinity)
ISNULL (expression)	evaluates expression and if NULL returns true otherwise returns false
MOD (number,divisor)	where number is the number for which you want to find the remainder. divisor is the number by which you want to divide ‘number’. The number and divisor can be expressions
NOT(logical)	Returns true or false
OR(logical1,logical2, …)	Returns true or false
SUM(expression,expression, …)	Returns sum of expression list