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ACBA-Mapping - Development, Version Control and Publication Dates

The Mapping software arose out of a need to review some of my own rather complicated spreadsheets. The worksheets contained a variety of functional parts and I wanted a way of viewing how they worked together.

The table below shows how these concepts have been developed over time.

Date Primary Development Version Publication Date
March 2020 The essential map and primary colour coding. It was always intended that the mapping function would be combined with lists of the main generic formulae used in the spreadsheet. 
 None  
June 2020 The first version of the Mapping software was published and included within it some of the List functions from previous ACBA software developments. None 23 June 2020 
March 2021 Introduced the shortcut tool bar. 0.000 Not published
April 2021 The layout of the map, its legends, the generic formula listings and named regions were all reorganised, to make it easier to view and understand the map. Hyperlinks to the original worksheets were included. The 'Commentary' worksheet was more fully developed to show how any desirable amendments had been implemented. 0.000 25 April 2021
August 2021 The Map books now stored together in a separate directory away from the parent workbooks. We have introduced a method of naming mapbooks with their creation date so as to prevent the over writing of identically named parent workbooks located in different directories on the user's computer. The Mapbook software itself is also version controlled and new code introduced to load and up date the Add-In to the user's Add-In folder automatically. 1.012 10 August 2021
August 2021 Remove Add-In menu items and tool bar icons on closing 'ACBA-Mapping'. 1.013 11 August 2021
August 2021 First trial of bona fide Ribbon commands. Icons yet to be sorted. 1.014 14 August 2021
August 2021 Ribbon icons now revised. Version created for testing. 1.015 18 August 2021
August 2021 Safety version. Considering major change to generic formula development. 1.016 20 August 2021
September 2021 Ribbon controls fully developed, with special reference to environmental sensitivity. Export function developed and tested. 1.017 27 September 2021 
November 2021 Latest version made available for download. 1.019 5 November 2021 
May 2022 Small upgrade - covering cell based errors (not formulae errors). The software also recognises 'Chart Sheets', but there is no associated analysis. 1.023 20 May 2022 
May 2022 Reorganisation of the key in preparation for multiple formula search criteria - not published. 1.024 30 May 2022 
June 2022 Introducing multiple formula search criteria. This is a major development that allows the user to consider the spatial relationships between different formula categories. It is especially useful for identifying those ranges where the constructor has adapted the formulae so that the results appear superfically consistent. 2.001 1 June 2022 
June 2022 Recognising that worksheet names may derive from a sheet other than the mapping parent. Allowing for this within programming. A minor amendment that allows worksheet names to have a space character. 2.002 8 June 2022 
August 2023 Potential issues resolved when operating 'Mapping' at the same time as 'Electronic Working Papers'. This necessitates a change of code file name to 'acbaMapping'. 2.005 20 August 2023 
Septembet 2023 New functions added that permit the comparative analysis of maps and other data sheets. This is especially useful for analysing the development of mapped worksheets over time. 2.006 04 September 2023 

I will update date this blog from time to time, as new functionality is added to the ACBA-Mapping software.

Stephen Allen, 04 September 2023

Spreadsheet Risks

Spreadsheet errors and inconsistencies is a subject that is of concern by professional developers as well as amateurs. The European Spreadsheet Risk Interest Group (EuSpRIG) considers the problems from an academic and professional perspective. The following links provide access to the EuSpRIG website and discussion forum.


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