Header and Unit Inference for Spreadsheets Through Spatial Analyses
- 5 April 2005
- conference paper
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- p. 165-172
- https://doi.org/10.1109/vlhcc.2004.29
Abstract
This paper describes the design and implementation of a unit and header inference system for spreadsheets. The system is based on a formal model of units that we have described in previous work. Since the unit inference depends on information about headers in a spreadsheet, a realistic unit inference system requires a method for automatically determining headers. The present paper describes (1) several spatial-analysis algorithms for header inference, (2) a framework that facilitates the integration of different algorithms, and (3) the implementation of the system. The combined header and unit inference system is fully integrated into Microsoft Excel and can be used to automatically identify various kinds of errors in spreadsheets. Test results show that the system works accurately and reliablyKeywords
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