Skip to main content

​
Prerequisites

  • A Nextedy RISKSHEET document with at least one configured column
  • Access to the sheet configuration (admin privileges required — canAdmin must be true)
  • Familiarity with calculated columns basics
  • Risksheet v26.7.1 or later for the behavior described here (see Behavior on earlier versions)

​
How Formula Execution Relates to Visibility

Formula columns execute client-side JavaScript functions to compute derived values such as Risk Priority Numbers (RPN). Since v26.7.1, a formula column calculates whether or not it is shown in the active view. The columns that feed a formula may be hidden as well, and formulas that build on other hidden formulas resolve in order. Formula evaluation is driven by the document’s data, not by the grid’s rendering. Hiding a column, switching views, or scrolling past a column therefore has no effect on whether its formula runs.
Formula evaluation runs for every formula column regardless of visibility. The computed value is always displayed, and is written back to Polarion with the save that follows creating or editing a row or running Check stored formulas, but never by just opening a document.

Formula evaluation is independent of column visibility; write-back to Polarion is not.

This means you can hide intermediate calculations to keep a working view uncluttered without breaking anything that depends on them:
  • Chained formulas — a formula that reads another formula’s column produces the correct value even when both columns are hidden.
  • Cell decorators — conditional coloring and styling driven by a hidden calculation are applied correctly.
  • Generated titles and descriptions — a formula that composes the work item title from other fields produces its value even if the title column was never displayed.
  • Staged views — a view that shows a subset of a large sheet is safe to use as the default view.

​
When Values Are Displayed and When They Reach Polarion

This distinction is the one thing to understand about formula columns. Displaying a calculated value and storing it in Polarion are separate events with different triggers. As everywhere in Risksheet, the write itself happens when the document is saved — the events above decide which rows the save includes.
Opening a document never rewrites stored dataWhen a value that feeds a formula is changed outside Risksheet — through Polarion’s work item editor, an import, or the API — the recalculated result is displayed correctly the next time the document is opened, but it is not written back to Polarion at that point. This is deliberate: opening a document to read it does not modify work items and does not create unsaved changes. The stored value is refreshed when the row is next edited, or in bulk by Check stored formulas, described below.
Only columns configured with readOnly: false are written back to Polarion at all. A formula column is read-only by default, which means its value is calculated and displayed in the sheet but never stored in a work item field.
1

Define Formulas in Configuration

Add formula definitions to the formulas section of your sheet configuration. Each formula is a named JavaScript function that receives an info object containing the current row data. The function must return the computed value, or null if the computation cannot be performed (for example, when input fields are empty).

​
Basic RPN Formula

The most common formula pattern calculates Risk Priority Numbers by multiplying severity, occurrence, and detection ratings:

​
Title Concatenation Formula

Another common pattern concatenates multiple fields into a title or description:

​
The info Object Reference

The formula function receives a single info parameter with these properties:
Return null for Empty InputsAlways guard against empty or undefined input values. If any of the formula’s input fields are empty, returning null prevents displaying NaN or 0 in the cell. The pattern return value ? value : null; handles this for multiplication-based formulas.
2

Assign Formulas to Columns

Reference a named formula in the column definition using the formula property. When a column has a formula set, Risksheet automatically sets readOnly to true for that column, preventing users from manually overriding computed values.
Key properties for formula columns:
3

Choose Column Visibility for Readability Alone

Because visibility no longer affects calculation, choose which columns to show purely on what users need to read and edit. You can control visibility through the visible property on individual columns, through saved views, or through the grid’s column visibility controls — all three are equivalent as far as formulas are concerned.

​
Hide Intermediate Calculations

Set visible: false on columns that exist only to feed other columns:
The formula still runs for every row, dependent formulas and cell decorators still read riskScore, and because readOnly is false, the value is still stored in Polarion when the row is created or edited.

​
Use Saved Views for Context-Specific Layouts

Define a full editing view and a separate export view that omits helper columns:
Either view is safe as the default view. Switching between views does not change which formulas execute, so an export view that hides every formula column still produces correct stored values.
4

Reconcile Stored Values in Bulk

Check stored formulas (available since v24.5.1) recalculates every formula column for every row and marks each row whose stored value differs as changed; a single save then writes all the corrections to Polarion. It remains useful for reconciling documents whose stored values have drifted from what the formulas produce:
  • External edits. Rows changed through Polarion’s work item editor, an import, or the API display correct values on open but keep their stored values until each row is edited. This action stores them all at once.
  • Documents created before v26.7.1. Rows created while a formula column was hidden on an earlier version may have empty or stale stored fields. Run this once per document to bring them up to date.
  • Newly added formula columns. When you add a formula column with readOnly: false to a sheet that already contains data, this action populates the stored field for existing rows.
  • Data migration drift. Polarion upgrades or migrations may truncate or alter stored values (for example, title fields truncated to 80 characters), causing formula outputs to differ from stored values.

​
Running the Reconciliation

  1. Open the Risksheet document in your browser. The action refuses to run while the document has unsaved changes, so save or discard them first.
  2. Navigate to Menu > Rows > Check stored formulas.
  3. Risksheet reloads the data, recalculates every formula column for every row, and compares the computed values against the stored Polarion values.
  4. Any discrepancies are flagged, and the items are marked as edited.
  5. Save the document to persist the corrected values back to Polarion.
No view switching requiredEarlier versions required you to switch to a view showing all formula columns before running this action. That step is no longer needed — the reconciliation covers every configured formula column regardless of the active view.
Permission Conflicts with Formula ReconciliationWhen formula columns are explicitly set to readOnly: false, the Check stored formulas feature can update their values. However, if Polarion Permissions Management restricts editing of those fields in the current workflow state, the save will fail. Risksheet attempts to save the recalculated values, but the permission check blocks the write. To resolve this, either temporarily change the work item status to one that allows editing, or adjust the field permissions.
5

Handle Title Formula Columns

A common FMEA pattern uses a formula to compute the work item title by concatenating fields such as failure mode and effect. Title columns matter because Polarion uses the title for display throughout its interface — work item lists, search results, and traceability views.Set readOnly: false so the computed title reaches the Polarion title field. The column does not need to be visible:
New items created in any view receive the correct computed title, so the work item reads meaningfully in Polarion rather than showing only an identifier.
Title Truncation After MigrationPolarion may truncate title fields during platform migrations (for example, to 80 characters). After such a migration, the stored title is shorter than what the formula produces. On the next Risksheet load, the formula regenerates the full title and detects a difference from the stored value. If permissions block title editing in the current workflow state, saving that row fails. Run Check stored formulas in a draft or editable workflow state to resolve the discrepancy.
6

Combine Formulas with Conditional Formatting

Formula columns work particularly well with cellDecorators to provide color-coded visual feedback on computed values. For RPN columns, apply threshold-based styling to highlight risk levels:
This configuration produces a three-tier visual indicator:A decorator on a visible column may read a hidden formula column’s value, so the styling is applied correctly whether or not the calculation it depends on is on screen.

​
When a Formula or Decorator Is Not Defined

If a column references a formula or a cell decorator that the configuration does not define — a misspelled name, or a missing formulas or cellDecorators section — Risksheet shows a dismissible warning on the sheet under the heading Risksheet configuration, naming the column and the missing entry. The warning appears once per column, and the rest of the sheet keeps working: the column shows its stored value and every other column renders normally. A JavaScript error thrown inside a formula or decorator is a different case and is reported in the browser console rather than on the sheet. See Error Messages for how to tell the two apart.

​
Behavior on Earlier Versions

On Risksheet versions earlier than v26.7.1, formulas ran during cell rendering, so a formula column calculated only while it was visible in the active view. Hiding a formula column meant its value was not computed, dependent formulas and decorators read stale or empty values, and rows created in such a view stored empty fields in Polarion. If you are running an earlier version, the previous guidance still applies: keep formula columns and their input columns visible in any view used for data entry, avoid making a view that hides formula columns the default, and run Check stored formulas from a view showing all formula columns to reconcile affected rows. Upgrading to v26.7.1 removes the constraint; run Check stored formulas once per affected document afterwards to correct values stored under the old behavior.

​
Verification

After configuring formula columns and visibility settings, you should see:
  1. ✅ Formula columns display computed values automatically (for example, RPN = Severity × Occurrence × Detection)
  2. ✅ Hiding a formula column leaves its value, and every value derived from it, unchanged
  3. ✅ New items receive correct computed values in any view, including views where the formula column is hidden
  4. ✅ Fields with readOnly: false are populated in Polarion for rows created or edited in any view
  5. ✅ Reopening the document shows current values with no manual recalculation step
  6. ✅ The Check stored formulas option is available under Menu > Rows (requires v24.5.1 or later)
  7. ✅ Conditional formatting (cell decorators) reflects computed formula values, including values from hidden columns

​
See Also