SpLyCI: Integrating Spreadsheets by Recognising and Solving Layout Constraints

Valuable data are often spread out over different similar spreadsheets. Consolidating this data for further analysis can take considerable effort for a spreadsheet user without programming skills. We introduce Spreadsheet Layout Constraint Integration (SpLyCI), a system to semi-automatically merge multiple spreadsheets and lay the result out in a single output spreadsheet. SpLyCI takes advantage of the observation that spreadsheet users lay out their spreadsheets with certain implicit constraints in mind. For example, certain cells should be in the same rows or columns as other cells, or formulae should be repeated over all numbers. The system therefore identifies these implicit layout constraints, combines them, and then solves the resulting constraint satisfaction problem. The solution yields a new spreadsheet that contains the same information and the same relationships between cells as the inputs, but with formulae that are present only in some sheets extended to cover data from other sheets.