Reporting status of external references in a spreadsheet without updating
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for reporting the status of a link in a spreadsheet application program module, the link referring to a source, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving an indication to check the status of the link;
initiating a procedure to check the status of the link including a prompt to check the status of the link;
determining the status of the link by verifying that the source exists including analyzing the source to identify specific information associated with the source before updating the link; and
displaying the status of the link utilizing information identified in the determining step.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention, in one embodiment, is a method and system for reporting the status of external references, or links, of a spreadsheet workbook. In an Edit Links dialog box, the user may view a list of links and their status. The user may select a Check Status button in the Edit Links dialog box to check the status of the links without updating the links because updating the links may require considerable time. A textual status message is displayed for each link in the Edit Links dialog box. The textual status message indicates to the user whether there is s possible problem with the link. As part of checking the status of a link, an analysis is made to determine whether any problems with the source file exist. For instance, it is determined whether the source file is open and whether it is valid. The results of this analysis determine what is displayed in the status column of the Edit Links dialog box.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for reporting the status of a link in a spreadsheet application program module, the link referring to a source, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an indication to check the status of the link;
initiating a procedure to check the status of the link including a prompt to check the status of the link;
determining the status of the link by verifying that the source exists including analyzing the source to identify specific information associated with the source before updating the link; and
displaying the status of the link utilizing information identified in the determining step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for determining the status of a link in a client workbook of a spreadsheet application program module, wherein the link is associated with a source file, the method comprising the steps of:
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initiating a procedure to check the status of the link including prompting a user to check the status of a link;
determining the status of the link by examining whether the source file exists and is in a proper format including rarely encountered link problems before updating the link; and
,displaying a textual indication of the status of the link. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer-implemented method for reporting the status of a link in a spreadsheet application, the link referring to a source, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a prompt to check the status of the link;
initiating a procedure to check the status of the link;
determining the status of the link by checking whether the source exists and has a proper format before updating the link; and
displaying the status of the link.
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Specification