Render using Cell Names

Renders the selected cell using, where possible, text labels or assigned Excel cell names, to define the referenced cells. If no name or label exists, then the cell will be represented with standard 'A1' Excel reference style.

example 3 — Example 2: Style: Excel Buttons:

Appearance

Names variables are shown in Blue by default (all color defaults can be changed in settings).
Function names, e.g. sin() or min(), are shown in Dark Red text by default.
Constant values, operators and other symbols are shown in Black by default.

Usage

fxRender will always try to associate a name to a cell that it wants to use in a formula, using a pattern matching algorithm, which selects the best possible label for a variable in this order:
- A cell amongst a matrix of numbers, or which has a header identified in some way (i.e. bold, italic etc.).
- The cell has been named using the inbuilt Excel naming system.
- Text to the left of the cell that could be used as a label.
- And any text above the cell that could be used as a label.
Where you have many numbers in a grid or matrix, it could be wrong for fxRender to infer a name purely based on what text exists to the left or above. For this reason the system can be configured (see settings) to only use text that is either bold, italic, or which contains an operator or specified symbol.
When creating labels for cells you can also use the LaTeX mark-up to describe the variable, e.g. '\alpha + \beta'. fxRender switches to LaTeX notation whenever is see a ('\') within your label. One significant consequence of this is that spaces between words are no longer recognised, so to overcome this, put '\:' (a LaTeX space command) where you would otherwise want to include a space, as in "hello\:world".
Otherwise the behaviour is identical to Render using Cell References.

Example 2

Select cell C5, which contains the formula "=(C2*C3)/SQRT(C2^2+C3^2)".
Click the Cell Name button.

The rendered equation will appear in the first empty space to the right of the selected formula.
Note: in order to show the symbols "σ" (sigma) and "τ" (tau) as an index of "s", use an underscore, '_', between the "s" and the symbol, e.g. 's_σ'. If you want multiple characters as part of the subscript, use '_{...}' as in "s_{word}". Equally, superscripts are produced using the caret, '^', as in 'x^2'.

Example 3 - Working with Matrices

Select cell D8, which contains the formula "=F5*D5".
Click the Cell Name button.

example 3.1 — Example 3.1 - Default behaviour.

As this formula refers to elements within a table, fxRender is unsure which column or row represents a heading. In the current case, since the 'First Non Numeric Value' is selected in fxRender-Settings-Options, the tool uses the left most cell with text that is considered to be part of the data block forming the matrix, i.e. there are no empty cells between the chosen title and the referenced variable.
Since there are no detected column headings, fxRender uses a numeric subscript to indicate the relative offset of the referenced cell from the heading.
To explore this further, try deleting the word 'Susan' and repeat the above steps.

In this example the headings in both Row 2 and Column B are Bold.
Again, Cell D8 is selected and the Cell Name button is selected.
A combined name is now used for each variable, using the column headings with the row heading as a subscript.
Note that the action of detecting heading based on bold font is enabled through fxRender-Settings-Options. By changing these settings, you may also indicate headings using italics, operators (e.g. =, <) or any other character you choose.

example 3.2 — Example 3.2 - Bold titles.

Here only the column headings have been bolded.
Although there are potentially row headings, fxRender recognises that the user has marked the top cells in each column as a heading (using bold in this case), so this takes preference over any other titles it may choose to use.

example 3.3 — Example 3.3 - Bold column titles.

You can of course also bold just the table rows you want to used as titles.
In this instance it has exactly the same effect as the automatic title selection shown previously.

example 3.4 — Example 3.4 - Bold row titles.

Example 11 - Repeated formulas in a table

A column of cells holding the same formula is one statement written out many times. Rendered a cell at a time it becomes a stack of equations saying the same thing in different numbers. fxRender recognises the repetition and draws it once, with an index — see Tables.

Select the whole of column c, rows 1 to 18.
Click the Cell Name button.

Column c of an 18-row table rendered as four equations: two singletons and two indexed runs, each run marked down its edge in a colour matched by its equation's border — Example 11: Style: Math Buttons:

Eighteen cells become four equations. The two long runs are drawn once each with an index; the two cells that do not fit a run are drawn on their own.
The run is unbroken. Row 9 holds =c8+2 rather than =c8*b9, so it ends the first run and starts a new one below it rather than widening one group across the whole column.
The first cell is not part of either. c₁ holds the constant 3, which is not the repeated formula at all.
The colours are Trace's: each run is marked down its right-hand edge, and the equation it produced is bordered to match. That is how you tell which equation covers which rows.
Grouping needs a range selected. Selecting a single cell of the table renders that cell on its own, as it always did.