US 7,467,148 B2
Reporting status of external references in a spreadsheet without updating
Jesse Raymond Bedford, Renton, Wash. (US); Matthew C. Gauthier, Redmond, Wash. (US); Tuan E. Huynh, Seattle, Wash. (US); Ramakrishnan NataraJan, Bellevue, Wash. (US); Justin M. Maguire, III, Seattle, Wash. (US); and Marcella C. S. Rader, Bellevue, Wash. (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash. (US)
Filed on Dec. 08, 2004, as Appl. No. 11/6,980.
Application 11/006980 is a continuation of application No. 09/755414, filed on Jan. 05, 2001, granted, now 6,898,760.
Prior Publication US 2005/0108623 A1, May 19, 2005
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 17/30 (2006.01); G06F 7/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 707—101  [707/102; 707/10] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
14. A system having computer-executable code causing the system to perform a method in a spreadsheet application, the system comprising:
means for selecting a link to check within a spreadsheet using the spreadsheet application;
means for checking the link, the link associated with a source file and the spreadsheet application;
means for determining whether problems exist with the source file by determining whether or not the source file is valid,
wherein the source file is determined to be valid if source file details are present in pre-specified locations in the source file,
the details comprising a number of spreadsheets and
the name of the spreadsheets in the source file and
the pre-specified locations comprising a particular location from the beginning of the source file, and
wherein the source file is determined to be invalid if the details about the source file are not present in the pre-specified locations,
wherein an invalid source file cannot be read and comprises at least one of:
an incorrect format, a locked file, and a corrupt file;
means for determining a condition of the link by presenting the source file without updating the link; and
means for displaying the status of the link.