Visualizing Spreadsheet Formula Graphs Compactly

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Abstract

Spreadsheets are a ubiquitous data analysis tool, empowering nonprogrammers and programmers alike to easily express their computations by writing formulae alongside data. The dependencies created by formulae are tracked as formula graphs, which play a central role in many spreadsheet applications and are critical to the interactivity and usability of spreadsheet systems. Unfortunately, as formula graphs become large and complex, it becomes harder for end-users to make sense of formula graphs and trace the dependents or precedents of cells to check the accuracy of individual formulae and identify sources of errors. In this paper, we demonstrate a spreadsheet formula graph visualization tool, TACO-Lens, developed as a plugin for Microsoft Excel. Our plugin leverages TACO, our framework for compactly and efficiently representing formula graphs. TACO compresses formula graphs using a key spreadsheet property: tabular locality, which means that cells close to each other are likely to have similar formula structures. This compact representation enables end-users to more easily consume complex dependencies and reduces the response time for tracing dependents and precedents. TACO-Lens, our visualization plugin, depicts the compact representation of TACO and supports users in visually tracing dependents and precedents. In this demonstration, attendees can compare the visualizations of different formula graphs using TACO, Excel’s built-in dependency tracing tool, and an approach that does not compress formula graphs, and quantitatively compare the different response time of different approaches.