Method and system in an electronic spreadsheet for persistently copy-pasting a source range of cells onto one or more destination ranges of cells

• US 20020049784A1
• Filed: 05/23/2001
• Published: 04/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bauchot, Frederic
• Granted Patent: US 6,912,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/503
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for persistently copying and pasting a source range of cells of a multidimensional spreadsheet onto one or more destination ranges of cells. When the source cells are first copied and pasted, a persistent association is made between the source cells and the destination cells. Thereafter, whenever a cell in the source range is updated, the corresponding cells in the destination range are updated automatically.

Claims

1. A method for persistently copying and pasting a source range of cells onto one or multiple destination ranges of cells, in a multi dimensional spreadsheet comprising a plurality of cells identified by a cell address along each dimension, a range of cells comprising one or a plurality of cells, the method comprising the steps of:

performing a persistent copy operation, said operation comprising the steps of;

selecting a source range of cells;

copying the source reference range of cells onto a buffer;

performing a persistent paste operation, said operation comprising the steps of;

selecting one or a plurality destination range of cells;

for each selected destination range of cells;

copying the content of said buffer onto the selected destination range of cells;

associating the source range of cells with the destination range of cells;

automatically performing a copy operation each time the source range of cells is updated, said operation comprising the steps of;

determining whether the source range of cells is associated with one or a plurality of destination range of cells; and

If the source range of cells is associated with one or a plurality of destination range of cells;

copying the source range of cells onto the one or plurality of associated destination range of cells.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of copying the source range of cells onto a buffer further comprises the steps of:

associating a first variable with said source range of cells; and

setting said first variable to a first value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of associating a first variable with said source range of cells further comprises the steps of:

storing in a table means, preferably an address or a name, for identifying said source range of cells; and

associating in said table said first variable with said means for identifying said source range of cells;

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of associating the source range of cells with the destination range of cells, further comprises the steps of:

setting the first variable associated with the source range of cells to a second value;

associating a second variable with said destination reference range of cells;

setting the second variable associated with the destination range of cells to a third value; and

associating the first variable associated with the source range of cells with the second variable associated with the destination range of cells.

5. The method according to the claim 4, wherein the step of associating a second variable with said destination reference range of cells further comprises the steps of:

storing in the table means, preferably an address or a name, for identifying said destination reference range of cells; and

associating in said table said second variable with said means for identifying said source reference range of cells.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of determining whether the source range of cells is associated with one or a plurality of destination range of cells further comprises the step of:

determining in said table whether said means for identifying the source range of cells is associated with means for identifying one or a plurality of destination range of cells.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of setting a value to a variable associated with a range of cells further comprise the step of:

displaying the range of cells according to the value of said variable.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of performing a persistent copy operation comprises the step of:

invoking a persistent copy command,

and wherein the step of performing a persistent paste operation further comprises the step of;

invoking a persistent paste command.