Designing a spreadsheet

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Hi folks,

I'm trying to write a simple (console/text based) spreadsheet program. I'm a relative novice.

I have written programs before where the 2D 'box' was of one data type only (int, float, char etc). Now I need the spreadsheet to be able to store different data types in the cells.

I have a little knowledge of templates but I cannot figure out how to link my 2D vector to said input values of the cells (if that makes any sense).

I'd appreciate any help.

What I have tried:

I have tried using smart pointers but I don't really know much about them and failed miserably.

Posted 8-Apr-16 4:17am

SpicaX

Updated 8-Apr-16 5:10am

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Apr-16 14:40pm

"Failed" is not informative; sure, certainly learn smart pointers. But master them well before getting to such a big application, on some minimalistic prototypes, not even prototypes of such applications.

Generally, your question is almost about nothing. The problem is not reduced to pointers or some other narrow aspects. The application is quite feasible for an individual behavior, but it has a lot more aspects. From your words where you self-qualified yourself, I would strongly recommend to sharpen your skills on simpler projects.

—SA

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Richard MacCutchan · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-08T05:10:00

Solution 1

Your array should probaly be an array of pointers. Each pointer will then need to point to a class object or structure that implements the object referred to by the cell. Each object can then implement the methods necessary to store, manipulate and display its contents.

Posted 8-Apr-16 5:10am

Richard MacCutchan

Comments

SpicaX 8-Apr-16 11:43am

Richard MacCutchan: Thanks for the reply.

What kind of pointers should these be? I'm not positive I know how to do that.

---

While this post was up I was thinking I could alternatively make a linked list for this purpose. What do you think?

Richard MacCutchan 8-Apr-16 12:24pm

Er, the type I described in my answer. As to a linked list, I don't see how that would fit with a spreadsheet type of structure.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Apr-16 14:36pm

Forget about linked list. The structure is very different. For practical purpose, it could be the "linked graph", but then the word "linked" would be redundant :-) The graph needs linking between cells up and down, left and right. But the array of cell pointers would be better (time performance of the access of O(1)). For flexibility, it could rather be a vector of vectors of cell pointers.

The UI can be built on some kind of general-purpose grid view.

—SA

SpicaX 9-Apr-16 16:04pm

That is indeed what I meant by linked list. I'm a bit stuck on the vector of vectors of cell pointers currently!

Thanks for the reply.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Apr-16 22:10pm

Where did you stuck? What's the problem?
I mean, let's say, you have number of cell and pointers to them.
The vector of such pointer can represent a row.
Several rows then will be the vector of such vectors.

Likewise, you can represent column as a vector of pointers to cells.
And vector of such vector is the same sheet, from a different point of view.

What could be a problem here?

—SA

nv3 8-Apr-16 16:02pm

I don't know who voted Richard's solution down. Actually, this is the way to go in my opinion.

@SpicaX: Create a class that serves as base class for all your values. For example, you might call it CellBase. Then derive another class for every type you need, for example, CellInt, CellDouble, CellText ... The CellBase class should contain virtual functions as: ToText, FromText, GetType, ... and the derived classes should contain overrides for those virtual functions that implement the specific types behavior. Your array of pointer would of course contain CellBase* Pointers. Does that make it clear?

Richard MacCutchan 9-Apr-16 4:11am

Sounds good to me.

SpicaX 9-Apr-16 16:03pm

That makes perfect sense thank you. However, I'm still unsure how I would create a vector of pointers. For example, a 20 by 60 vector of vector of cell pointers.

Richard MacCutchan 10-Apr-16 2:49am

You don't need a vector for a simple spreadsheet, just use a 2D array. That way it is easy to refer to specific rows, columns and cells.