This could be a multi-level feature:
Option 1 – Flag whether the column/ Property Control is used in any other Column, Property Control, Viz, Data function
Answers the question: will something in the report break if I delete this object? Example: Yes
Option 2 – List what the dependent is
Answers the question: What will break if I delete this object? Example: (Tab2 >> Barchart3 >> Y.Axis)
Option 3 – Give Spotfire a ‘self-cleaning’ feature to identify and delete all unused objects (maybe something similar to Windows’ disk cleanup feature).
Notes:
Even if Option 3 is implemented, Option 1 & 2 would still be useful for developing on unfamiliar reports.
There would still be value in this even if it was limited to “Spotfire controlled” dependents, like Calculated columns and Visuals and not “user defined” things like IronPython scripts.
This is exactly what I have been looking for sometime and I did not realise that I was not alone.