Abstract:
We introduce a visual specification language for spreadsheets that allows the definition of spreadsheet templates. These templates are used by a spreadsheet generator to create Excel spreadsheets that are probably free from a large class of errors, such as reference, omission, and type errors. We demonstrate how spreadsheets can be categorized into classes of spreadsheets that are related through well defined update operations. For each class we can identify a template that can be expressed in our visual language. We present a formal definition of the visual language for templates and describe the process of generating spreadsheets from templates. In addition, we present an editor for these templates and analyze the editor using the Cognitive Dimensions framework.
