Re: strange behaviour with $PROP_r1 value in a table

[Rens Oliemans <hallo@rensoliemans.nl>]

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Confirmed, this is indeed strange behaviour, I think a bug.

It happens because Org supports both letter/number references to cells (like A7, or in
your case r1) and also Org's default representation, something like @7$1 (equivalent to
A7) or @1$18 (equivalent to r1). Wherever appropriate, it converts A7-like references to
@7$1-like references. See more in

    (info "(org) References")

, and specifically the "Named references" section. You can evaluate that info sexp, or
find it in section 3.5.1 otherwise :).

It seems like a mistake to convert such a cell reference in the '$PROP_x' case. The
conversion is done by 'org-table-convert-refs-to-rc', which is done before
'org-table-formula-substitute-names' is called. Simply changing the order will not work,
since the property value might also be a letter/number-like reference.

My added patch fixes this by not replacing such a representation when it is preceded by
'$PROP_'.

I have two questions about it:

- The function '$PROP_<remote' still gives '#ERROR', is this related to this bug, or is
  the property name '<remote' invalid in any way and is this intended?

- Should I add tests for this behaviour?

Best,
Rens


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From b1b57f263853d28777f4067e782d5cf401e73691 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Rens Oliemans <hallo@rensoliemans.nl>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2024 11:36:57 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] lisp/org-table.el: Don't convert table references for
 properties

* lisp/org-table.el (org-table-convert-refs-to-rc): don't convert refs
to rc for properties

Reported-by: Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk>
Link: https://list.orgmode.org/87jzfqjsyr.fsf@ucl.ac.uk
---
 lisp/org-table.el | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/lisp/org-table.el b/lisp/org-table.el
index a0708e3ec..b1c5f8fbc 100644
--- a/lisp/org-table.el
+++ b/lisp/org-table.el
@@ -3451,7 +3451,7 @@ See menu for more commands.")))))
 Works for single references, but also for entire formulas and even the
 full TBLFM line."
   (let ((start 0))
-    (while (string-match "\\<\\([a-zA-Z]+\\)\\([0-9]+\\>\\|&\\)\\|\\(;[^\r\n:]+\\|\\<remote([^,)]*)\\)" s start)
+    (while (string-match "\\(\\$PROP_\\)\\{0\\}\\<\\([a-zA-Z]+\\)\\([0-9]+\\>\\|&\\)\\|\\(;[^\r\n:]+\\|\\<remote([^,)]*)\\)" s start)
       (cond
        ((match-end 3)
 	;; format match, just advance
-- 
2.46.0