July 14th, 2006
Google Spreadsheets getting Charts soon?
To quench my curiosity, I had to take a closer look at the source code for Google Spreadsheets after it was updated yesterday. To my surprise (or not), it shows clearly that Google has definitely been working on a "Chart Create" feature that many users have been waiting for.
The snippet that mentions chart functionality is not referenced anywhere else in the javascript — and from what I can tell, it would be a waste of time trying to create a greasemonkey script to hardwire the function in there. This code gives us a tiny glimpse into the future of the product, but leaves us on the edge of our seat while we wait patiently for the implementation:
…
colInsertAfter:69,
undo:71,
redo:72,
Pc:73,
ye:74,
newIM:75,
mode:81,
chartCreate:91,
sort:151
…t.prototype.lm = function(){
this.activeGrid.jb(q.chartCreate, 0, Q)
}
…
Why is this important? Google Spreadsheets has been under scrutiny since the product launched — mostly due to the lack of support for advanced features like charts, macros and pivot tables. Even though charts are definitely in the works, I was unable to find anything that suggests a future for macros and other "missing" features.
Garett Rogers 
is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to Googling Google via Email alerts or RSS.
