Type-Safe Evolution of Spreadsheets

Abstract. Spreadsheets are notoriously error-prone. To help avoid the introduction of errors when changing spreadsheets, models that capture the structure and interdependencies of spreadsheets at a conceptual level have been proposed. Thus, spreadsheet evolution can be made safe within the confines of a model. As in any other model/instance setting, evolution may not only require changes at the instance level but also at the model level. When model changes are required, the safety of instance evolution can not be guarded by the model alone. We have designed an appropriate representation of spreadsheet models, including the fundamental notions of formulæand references. For these models and their instances, we have designed coupled transformation rules that cover specific spreadsheet evolution steps, such as the insertion of columns in all occurrences of a repeated block of cells. Each model-level transformation rule is coupled with instance level migration rules from the source to th...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: FASE
• Authors: Jácome Cunha, Joost Visser, Tiago L. Alves, João Saraiva
• Keywords: FASE 2011, Fundamental Notions, Software Engineering, Spreadsheet Models, Target Model