I entered an "IF" formula that produced the error. Statement of fact.
Not finding an easy answer in Help (opened under OpenOffice Calc, used
"Find" to search the term "#name error" with result "no topics found") -
I turned to the message board (can only see messages related to my
question / comment)
Note: my question was a statement of fact
Note: another time the error happened was with a negative number -
again, logically that negative number should have been calculated in the
IF formula
Note: Contents did not contain info re: Calc error
Note: I did not have an error 525 displayed so continued searching for
the error I received
. . . "error 525 #name" may not be the same as "#name"
Note: definition is "An identifier could not be evaluated, for
example, no valid reference, no valid domain name, no column/row
label, no macro, incorrect decimal divider, add-in not found."
Note: The IF Formula I was trying to use worked in Excel, Quatto, and
Lotus - just had a bit of adjustment changing to Calc - is this the
point you assumed I overlooked?
Now for the definition in Calc help: Identifier - refers to what?; had
a valid reference, did not require a domain name, had valid column / row
labels, no macro with except of IF function were involved, no division
was requested, no add-in other than the sum in referenced cells.
When I use Help, I expect an intuitive document designed for the casual
/ new user. Does that help clarify why I didn't find the error number
(which I did not receive) and you so kindly pointed out?
No worries . . . I figured it out.
Jack
Brian Barker wrote:
At 10:25 07/04/2014 -0700, you wrote:
One of the cells included in the formula = 0; Logically, if a cell
is 0, the formula would over look it.
That's certainly untrue! Zero is a perfectly valid value, of course,
and different formulae will handle zero values in appropriate ways -
which may include throwing an error. And it's worth knowing that an
empty cell, a cell with a zero value in it, and a cell with one or
more blank characters in it (which will *look* empty) may all be
handled differently.
But no, in any case, you are missing the point: you will not get the
#NAME? error simply from something such as a zero value addressed in a
formula. This error occurs only if there is a name that cannot be
resolved. You must either have typed nonsense or - as I said before-
probably mistyped something. You could have misspelled the name of a
sheet or range or function, or you could perhaps have confused the
syntax of an expression and left what looks to Calc like an unknown
name. You wouldn't get this error merely from a zero argument.
I did not find a reference in Help.
If I open the Help from within Calc, the second main entry in the
Index list is "#NAME error message"! If you look up "error", you will
quickly get to "error codes;list of", and you will see that error 525
is represented not as "Err:525" but as "#NAME?". You will see there
that it's all about identifiers, not zero values.
Brian Barker
