## Cell.GetPrecedents method

Gets all references appearing in this cell's formula.

```csharp
public ReferredAreaCollection GetPrecedents()
```

### Return Value

Collection of all references appearing in this cell's formula.

### Remarks

Returns null if this is not a formula cell.All references appearing in this cell's formula will be returned no matter they are referenced or not while calculating. For example, although cell A2 in formula "=IF(TRUE,A1,A2)" is not used while calculating, it is still taken as the formula's precedents.To get those references which influence the calculation only, please use [`GetPrecedentsInCalculation`](../getprecedentsincalculation/).

### Examples

```csharp
using System;
using System.Text;
using Aspose.Cells;

namespace AsposeCellsExamples
{
    public class CellMethodGetPrecedentsDemo
    {
        public static void Run()
        {
            Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
            Cells cells = workbook.Worksheets[0].Cells;
            
            // Set formula with precedents
            cells["A1"].Formula = "=B1+SUM(B1:B10)+[Book1.xls]Sheet1!A1";
            
            // Get all precedent references
            ReferredAreaCollection areas = cells["A1"].GetPrecedents();
            
            // Display each precedent reference
            foreach (ReferredArea area in areas)
            {
                StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                if (area.IsExternalLink)
                {
                    sb.Append($"[{area.ExternalFileName}]");
                }
                sb.Append($"{area.SheetName}!");
                sb.Append(CellsHelper.CellIndexToName(area.StartRow, area.StartColumn));
                if (area.IsArea)
                {
                    sb.Append($":{CellsHelper.CellIndexToName(area.EndRow, area.EndColumn)}");
                }
                Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}
```

### See Also

* class [ReferredAreaCollection](../../referredareacollection/)
* class [Cell](../)
* namespace [Aspose.Cells](../../../aspose.cells/)
* assembly [Aspose.Cells](../../../)