LOOKUP function

[Kohei Yoshida <kyoshida@novell.com>]

Hi list,

While working on implementing a revised version of LOOKUP function for
OOo Calc, I've noticed some behaviors of this function in Excel that are
not yet touched by the ODFF spec.

Let me just present snippets from my note below.  This only applies to
the 3-parameter case.

* 3-parameter case ([lookup value], [lookup matrix], [result
matrix(vector)])

  1) The lookup matrix does not need to be a vector.  If it's not a 
    vector only the first column or row gets searched (= search 
    vector).  [NOTE: the ODFF spec requires this to be a vector, but 
    Excel does not.]

  2) The directions of the lookup matrix and the result matrix can 
    differ.  [NOTE: the ODFF spec does not mention this.] 

  3) The lengths of the search vector and the result vector do not need 
    to be identical; however, when the match position falls outside 
    the length of the result vector, an error is raised if the result 
    vector is given as an array object.  If it's a cell range, it gets 
    automatically extended to the length of the searched vector.  If 
    the cell range cannot be extended due to size limit, then '0' is 
    displayed.  [NOTE: the ODFF spec requires the search vector and 
    the result vector to be of the same length.] 


-- 
Kohei Yoshida - OpenOffice.org Engineer - Novell, Inc.
<kyoshida@novell.com>