Apparatus and method for dynamically updating a computer-implemented table and associated objects

Abstract

An apparatus and method allow a user to define a dynamically extendible table in a software application, such as a spreadsheet. In one embodiment of the invention, when a new row or column is added next to a dynamically extendible table, the new row or column is automatically added to the definition of the dynamically extendible table. In a second embodiment of the invention, when a new row or column is added to a dynamically extendible table, the user is queried to determine whether the row or column should be added to the dynamically extendible table. In yet another embodiment, a user adds a row or column, then invokes a command to add the row or column to a dynamically extendible table. In one embodiment, once a dynamically extendible table has been updated to include a new row or column, any objects that use the dynamically extendible table as a data source are updated to include the new data. Because the name of the object doesn't change, all documents that reference the old object will automatically reference the new object without changing any of the references in the documents. In another embodiment, once a dynamically extendible table has been updated to include a new row or column, all of the documents that reference an object that uses the table as a data source are then updated as required so that they reference either the old object or the new object, whichever is appropriate. As a result, all documents that reference the object and that require updating will refer to the new object automatically without requiring that the user manually create a new object to include the new row or column and manually change references to the old object to now refer to the new object. The present invention thus allows a user to add a row or column to a table, and the new data is then represented in objects that require updating.