System and method for automatically completing spreadsheet formulas

• US 20060129929A1
• Filed: 12/15/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Weber, Brandon G., Ellis, Charles David
• Granted Patent: US 7,451,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/267
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

A system and method for automatically completing a formula of a spreadsheet application, calculator application, accounting application, business application or banking application. One aspect of the present invention is a computer-implemented method for automatically completing formulaic cell data. The computer-implemented method includes a step for substantiating an autocomplete process in response to a user input of formulaic cell data and aggregating autocomplete options based on the user input. Another aspect of the present invention includes displaying a dynamic list of autocomplete options when the user input is a trigger.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically completing formulaic cell data, comprising:

substantiating an autocomplete process in response to a user input of formulaic cell data;

aggregating autocomplete options based on the user input; and

displaying a dynamic list of autocomplete options when the user input is a trigger.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising actuating the autocomplete process before substantiating the autocomplete process.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein actuating the autocomplete process further comprises actuating the autocomplete process by inputting a character into the formulaic cell.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the formulaic cell data includes spreadsheet data.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein aggregating autocomplete options further comprises aggregating components.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein components include at least one of:

spreadsheet function dependencies, defined name dependencies, list, pivot dependencies, user-defined function dependencies, enumerated argument dependencies, sheet data object dependencies, and date object dependencies.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying tips associated with an autocomplete option selected from the dynamic list.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a trigger does not include any one of:

a cell reference, a number, a space, an arithmetic operator and a character operator.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising hiding the dynamic list of autocomplete options when the user input is not a trigger.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising displaying the dynamic list of autocomplete options when a second user input is a trigger.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein displaying a dynamic list of autocomplete options further comprises displaying an unfiltered dynamic list of autocomplete options when the trigger does not implicate a component.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising filtering the unfiltered dynamic list of autocomplete options when a second user input implicates a component.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein displaying a dynamic list of autocomplete options further comprises displaying a filtered dynamic list of autocomplete options when the trigger implicates a component.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising filtering the filtered list of autocomplete options for a second time when a second user input implicates a component.

15. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first data field adapted for a user input;

a second data field that includes an aggregation of autocomplete options for automatically completing the first data field; and

a third data field that includes an unfiltered list of the second data field if the user input does not implicate a component and a filtered list of the second data field when a user input implicates a component.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first data field is a spreadsheet cell.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the second data field includes at least one of:

spreadsheet functions, defined names, lists, pivots, user-defined functions, enumerated arguments, sheet data objects and date objects.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising a fourth data field that includes information regarding a selected autocomplete option.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the information includes tips regarding the selected autocomplete option.

20. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a user interface selection device, a method of providing and selecting from a dynamic list on the display, comprising the steps of:

substantiating an autocomplete process in response to a user input into a formulaic cell;

aggregating autocomplete options based on the user input;

displaying a filtered dynamic list of autocomplete options when the user input is associated with the autocomplete options and the user input implicates a component;

displaying an unfiltered dynamic list of autocomplete options when the user input is associated with the autocomplete options and the user input does not implicate a component; and

hiding the autocomplete process so that a list is not displayed when the user input is not associated with the autocomplete options.