Freelog 65/Freelog065.iso/BAS/Bureautique/Gnumeric/gnumeric-1.3.92-rc1.exe/files-textopen.xml

Text File | 2004-11-01 | 55.2 KB | 1,741 lines

<sect1 id="sect-file-textImport">
  <title>Importing Text Files</title>

<!-- TODO: ask- In text import druid, what does row selection do? Why the highlight? -->

  <para>
    &gnum; can import data which is organized as text fields
    structured in some systematic fashion either from a file or from
    the clipboard. Importing structured text may require extensive
    intervention on the part of the user so &gnum; provides a
    <interface>Text Import</interface> druid, which is a three paneled
    dialog with configuration options. For text imported from files,
    this druid appears after the file has been opened, using the file
    format named "Text Import (configurable)" in the <interface>File
    Open</interface> dialog, as is explained in <xref
    linkend="sect-file-open" />. For text imported from the clipboard,
    the druid appears when a user attempts to paste the text into a
    worksheet, as is explained in <xref
    linkend="sect-movecopy-xclipboard" />.
  </para>

  <para>
    The text import druid contains three panels but the middle panel
    differs depending on the structuring system used, either with data
    fields separated by a special character or with data fields
    occurring at equally spaced intervals in each line. The first
    panel allows the user to configure the character encoding, line
    break characters, structuring system, and line range. The second
    panel allows the user to define the columns by either, for
    separated data, setting the separating character and text
    delimiting character, or, for fixed space data, by setting the
    column spacing. The third panel allows the user to select which
    columns to import and define their data types.
  </para>

    <tip>
    <title>The steps involved in the text import druid.</title>

    <para></para>
<!-- TODO: render hack- remove this spacing hack  -->

    <orderedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Launch the  <interface>Text Import</interface> druid using,
      in the <guimenu>File</guimenu>, the
      <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem> and selecting the "Text import
      (configurable)" file format type.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Define the character encoding of the text block.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Define the characters indicating the breaks between the lines.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Select the line range from the text block to be imported.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Go to the second panel, which will be different for data
      structured by separating characters and data structured by
      fixed spacing.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      (For separated data) Define the separating character.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      (For separated data) Define the character grouping a text field.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      (For fixed width data) Define the field widths.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Go to the third panel.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Configure the inclusion of empty outside columns.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Select the locale that will influence the formating of the
      numerical elements in each column.
    </para>
      </listitem>
       <listitem>
        <para>
      Select the numerical formats for the data in each columns.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Select the columns to be included in the imported block.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Click on the <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> button.
    </para>
      </listitem>
    </orderedlist>

  </tip>

  <para>
    This explanation of the <interface>Text Import</interface> druid
    will first start with a discussion of text files including
    character encodings and line break delimiters. The explanation
    will then cover the various strategies used to structure numeric
    data in text files. Following these discussions, the components of
    the druid will be presented and, finally, a detailed explanation
    of each step in the use of the druid will be presented.
  </para>


  <sect2 id="sect-file-textImport-complex">
    <title>The complexities of text format files</title>

    <para>
      The use of text format files to store and transmit data for use
      in a spreadsheet involves three somewhat complex decisions which
      determine how the file expresses and separates each data
      value. These complexities must be understood for a user to be
      able to use the <interface>Text Import</interface> druid
      effectively. These complexities exist because of the limitations
      of early computers and because or the historical development of
      computer systems by different manufacturers and programmers, in
      different countries, targeting different types of users,
      speaking different languages.
    </para>

    <para>
      The first complexity involves the different systems which relate
      the contents of a computer file to the characters in a written
      language. All text files on a computer consist of a long
      sequence of binary digits. Text files are files in which these
      digits are used to indicate different textual
      characters. Character 'encodings' are standardized systems which
      relate the binary digits in a computer file to a formal system
      of characters which includes both text glyphs (shapes) and
      formatting indicators. Each encoding defines a way to interpret
      the binary digits and uses the characters from a particular
      character set. The alternative character encoding strategies are
      explained in greater detail in <xref
      linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-encoding"/>, below.
    </para>

    <para>
      The second complexity involves the decision of how to separate
      the characters in a file into different lines. Text files
      explicitly determine the end of each line of a file with a
      specific character or sequence of characters. The complexity
      involves the particular character sequence used to determine the
      end of each line. Different conventions have been used in
      different computer systems. The alternative line breaking
      strategies are explained in greater detail in <xref
      linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-lineBreak"/>, below.
    </para>

    <para>
      The third complexity involves the decision of how to separate
      the characters in each line into separate value fields. Again,
      different strategies exist. These can be separated into two
      broad categories: strategies which use a character or sequence
      of characters to separate the values, so called 'delimited' or
      'separated' strategies, and strategies which use the position of
      the character in the line to separate the values, so called
      'fixed-width' strategies. The alternative data structuring
      strategies are explained in greater detail in <xref
      linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-dataStruct"/>, below.
    </para>


    <para>
      Fortunately, the &gnum; <interface>Text Import</interface> druid
      provides users with a way to preview the information in a text
      file. This enables users to change the settings which determine
      each of these three conventions until the text in the preview
      correctly shows the contents of the data file. Therefore, while
      the details of these three steps are complex, the practical
      impact on users is minimal. Users can simply experiment until
      the file appears correct without having to understand each of
      these complexities in detail.
    </para>


  <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-complex-encoding">
    <title>Character Encodings</title>


    <para>
      The use of text files to store data in a structured fashion for
      use by spreadsheet programs, and more generally all text files,
      require some scheme to relate the binary number in the computer
      file itself to the characters of a written language. Such
      schemes are called <wordasword>'encodings'</wordasword>.

    </para>

    <para>
      The origin of computers led to the invention of a number of
      different encoding schemes. Due to the limitation of early
      computer hardware, these encoding schemes all restricted
      themselves to character sets which contained only the most
      essential characters of the English language. The desire to
      support characters which were not in this basic set of
      characters led to the creation of new encoding schemes,
      many of which restricted themselves to the characters in
      specific languages. One encoding scheme, called UTF-8, has now
      emerged as the best encoding scheme for the future for a
      multitude of reasons including its ability to co-exist with
      current operating systems and its ability to encode all of the
      characters in the largest set of characters which has been
      consistently defined, the Universal Character Set. However, the
      existence of the diversity of encoding schemes means that for
      the foreseeable future, files will be created and distributed
      using several different schemes. This is especially true for
      files containing text in languages other than English.
    </para>

    <para>
      This complex situation generally does not impact users.  &gnum;
      has been designed to deal with most of the complexity. Many
      kinds of flies, such as the &gnum; file format itself, describe
      their encoding scheme internally in such a way that it can be
      easily recognized. &gnum; also provides an easy approach to
      changing the encoding scheme in case this proves necessary.
    </para>

    <para>
      Encoding schemes merely prove a hindrance to users when opening
      files. There is no danger that data be lost or that any other
      serious problem arise by selecting the wrong scheme. If the
      wrong scheme is selected, either the file will contain
      characters which are non-sensical and &gnum; will open an error
      dialog asking the user to select a different encoding scheme, or
      the preview area will display non-sensical characters. These
      non-sensical characters may simply be characters grouped
      together which do not occur in any language, such as
      "åÕÛÛÞ", or may be characters for which
      a graphical representation (a glyph) does not exist in the font
      being used and is therefore displayed using a small box with
      four numbers inside, such as € and ‚. Each of
      these errors indicates that the encoding scheme used to read the
      file was not the same encoding scheme as was used to create the
      file. The difficulty is then to determine what encoding scheme
      to use. A simple process of trial and error should lead to
      picking the right scheme.
   </para>

    <para>
      A basic strategy to find the right encoding for a file being
      imported into &gnum; is, first, to use the scheme proposed by
      &gnum; and, then, to hunt for the correct encoding. The default
      encoding scheme is the one defined by the locale setting of the
      user and this is also the default scheme &gnum; uses to create
      text files.
<!-- TODO: encoding- add xref to locale. -->

      If the default encoding is incorrect, the correct encoding must
      be found by trial and error. One strategy to use is to examine
      the major wester encodings and then the major regional
      encodings. The major western encoding schemes are ASCII,
      ISO-8859-1, and UTF-8, but ASCII is a subset of the other two so
      it does not need to be tried on its own. The major regional
      encodings are the IS0-8859-x schemes since these have become
      quite popular in GNU operating systems. Alternatively, the
      various character sets used by the Microsoft operating systems
      can be attempted. The encoding schemes are listed under
      "Western", "Unicode", and the alphabet names.
    </para>

<!-- TODO: encoding- expand discussion of each type to be useful. -->
<!--
    <para>
      The ASCII character set and encoding
           * single byte, only seven bits used.


      The ISO-8859-x family of encoding schemes
           * single byte, all eight bits used

        [From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859-1]
      Albanian, Basque, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English,
      Faroese, French (missing only œ), Finnish, German
      (missing „ and “), Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian,
      Portuguese, Rhaeto-Romanic, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish. Other
      languages covered include Afrikaans and Swahili. Thus, this
      character encoding is used throughout the American continent,
      Western Europe, Australia, and much of Africa.

       UTF-8

    </para>

-->

    <para>
      The World Wide Web has many resources dedicated to explaining
      encoding systems and other related information. One of the best
      sites discussing UTF-8 and Unicode is the <ulink type="http"
      url="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html" >UTF-8 and
      Unicode FAQ for UNIX/Linux</ulink> page maintained by Markus
      Kuhn.

      The Unicode project has a <ulink type="http"
      url="http://www.unicode.org">web site</ulink> which includes an
      online copy of their standard character set.

      A discussion of the ISO-8859 family of encodings can be found at
      a page titled: "<ulink type="http"
      url="http://czyborra.com/charsets/iso8859.html" >The ISO-8859
      Alphabet Soup</ulink>", which may alternatively be found <ulink
      type="http"
      url="http://www.unicodecharacter.com/charsets/iso8859.html"
      >here</ulink>. A similar discussion on Wikipedia, focusing on
      the western alphabets, can be found <ulink type="http"
      url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859-1" >here</ulink>.

    </para>


<!-- TODO: encoding- make a table of the available encodings. Here or below -->
<!-- TODO: ask- encodings available are determined by gnum/pango? -->

  </sect3>









  <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-complex-lineBreak">
    <title>Line break delimiters</title>

     <para>
        The use of text files to store data in a structured fashion
        for use by spreadsheet programs requires a scheme to separate
        each line of the file. Structured text files rely on the files
        having explicitly defined rows within the file as one
        component in the structuring system. Each of these rows is
        defined by a character sequence indicating the end of a row.
     </para>

     <para>
       Two characters that are part of the ASCII code, an early
       encoding that became a widely followed standard, were included
       to help define the end of the line. These are the 'linefeed'
       character and the 'carriage return' character, named after the
       two processes which occur when a typewriter starts a new line:
       first the typewriter barrel rolls - the linefeed - then the
       whole carriage with the sheet of paper moves back to the
       starting point -the carriage return. In the same way that
       different computing systems have used different encoding
       schemes,  three different approaches became common for defining
       the end of the line.
     </para>

     <para>
       In GNU operating systems and other systems that inherit from
       the UNIX legacy, the end of a line was defined simply using the
       'linefeed' character. The Macintosh operating system chose
       instead to use only the 'carriage return' character. The
       Windows operating system uses both characters in the sequence
       'carriage return' then 'linefeed'.
     </para>

     <para>
       A user opening a file into &gnum; will see, in the preview area
       of the <interface>Text Import</interface> druid, whether or not
       the line breaks have been recognized correctly and will be able
       to alter the recognition settings. An incompatible setup will
       either yield a single unbroken line of text, lines of text with
       extra, empty rows between them, or lines of text with extra
       symbols at the start or end of each line.
     </para>

<!-- TODO: ask- line break delimters Does having all 3 set ever not work? -->
     <para>
       The correct line break delimiters can be established by
       checking or unchecking the alternatives. The preview area will
       then show the result of the file interpreted with these
       settings.
     </para>

 </sect3>










<!-- TODO: write- section on data structuring strategies. -->

  <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-complex-dataStruct">
    <title>Data Structuring Strategies</title>

     <para>
       The use of text files to store data in a structured fashion for
       use by spreadsheet programs also requires some scheme to
       separate each value within every line. Two different approaches
       are used to separate these values. The first strategy, uses a
       particular character or character sequence to denote the start
       and end of each value. Such strategies are called 'Separated
       Value' or 'Delimited Value' systems. The second strategy places
       each value stating at a specified position in the line. Such
       strategies are called 'Fixed Width' strategies because they
       inherently require that each value have a pre-determined size.
     </para>

     <para>
       Separated Value structuring systems distinguish the contents of
       each value using pre-determined characters to separate the
       values. Certain characters have become common in such schemes,
       for-example 'Comma Separated Value' files use a comma character
       to separate values while 'Tab Separated Value' files use a tab
       character. &gnum; allows the user to define the value separator
       to be any one of several common characters or a specific
       sequence of characters, either on their own or in
       combination. For example, a file could use both space
       characters and tab characters to separate values. Similarly, a
       file could be read which used the entire word 'STOP' to separate
       values like the common scheme to separate sentences in a
       telegram.
     </para>

     <para>
       Separate Value structuring systems often also include a method
       to surround a single text value which may itself contain the
       character used to separate values. The quote character is often
       used in this role but &gnum; allows users to configure any
       character in this role. For example, a file which used the
       comma to separate values could nonetheless contain a value like
       "Zoe, Sally, Dodji" if this value had appropriate text
       indicating characters at either end.
    </para>

    <para>
      Fixed Width structuring systems are common formats for the
      output of database tables since the contents of these tables
      have often been defined as variables of a particular size.
<!-- TODO: dataStruct- get example for dB variable CHAR14 -->
      To import these files, users must specify exactly the start of
      each column so that the importer can separate the values on each
      row.

    </para>

    </sect3>

  </sect2>










  <sect2 id="note-file-textImport-druid">
    <title>
      The Components of the <interface>Text Import</interface> Druid
    </title>

    <para>
      The <interface>Text Import</interface> druid consists of three
      panels with the middle panel differing according to the type of
      data structuring used.
    </para>

    <para>
      The first panel allows users to configure the character encoding
      used by the file, to determine the character sequences used to
      separate lines, configure the type of structuring being used and
      select the lines of the file to import.  The second column allows
      the user to define the separation strategy used for each
      value. For separated value files this involves defining the
      separating character sequences and the text indicating
      character. For fixed width files, this involves defining the
      width of each column.  The third panel allows the user to select
      the columns to be included during the import and to select the
      format of the values in each column.
    </para>

    <para>
      Users navigate the <interface>Text Import</interface> druid by
      clicking on the <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> button on each
      panel after they have configured the settings properly. The
      third panel contains a <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> which
      causes the file to be imported to a workbook using all the
      settings as they are configured.
    </para>


    <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-druid-panel1">
      <title>
        The first panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface> Druid.
      </title>

      <para>
        The first panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
        Druid allows users to set the file encoding, to determine the
        character sequences used to separate lines, configure the type
        of structuring being used and select the lines of the file to
        import.
      </para>

      <figure id="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel1">
        <title>
      The first panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
      druid with the component areas labeled with callouts.
    </title>
    <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/textguru-import-panel1-withTags.png"
                     format="PNG" />
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <para>
            This screenshot depicts the first panel 'Text Import'
            druid with callouts labeling the different areas.
          </para>
        </textobject>
        <caption>
              <para>
            The different components of the first panel of the
            <interface>Text Import</interface> druid with each component
            labeled with a callout.
              </para>
        </caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
      </figure>

      <para>
        The purpose of each labeled component in <xref
        linkend="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel1" /> is
        explained below:




    <variablelist>
      <title>The components of the first panel</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">1</emphasis> - The file encoding
          selection menu.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This drop down menu provides a list of encoding
            schemes for the characters in the text file.  By
            default, &gnum; selects the encoding scheme used by
            the locale of the user.  See <xref
            linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-encoding" /> for more
            details.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">2</emphasis> - The line break
          character selector.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These three check boxes can be selected individually
            or together to define the sequences which will be
            interpreted as line break indicators. Generally,
            selecting all three boxes will produce the correct
            results.
<!-- TODO: Is having all three line separators checked ever wrong? -->
          </para>
          <para>
            The errors produced if the wrong combination of boxes
            is selected will include the entire file being placed
            on a single line, empty lines appearing between the
            lines of the file, or undefined symbols appearing at
            the beginning or end of almost every line. See <xref
            linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-lineBreak" /> for more
            details.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">3</emphasis> - The data
          structuring system selector.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These two push buttons allow the choice between the
            two different structuring schemes, data structured by
            placing a separating character between the data values
            and data organized in fixed width columns. Note that
            this choice will determine which panel will be shown
            as the second panel of the druid. See <xref
            linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-dataStruct" /> for more
            details.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">4</emphasis> - The line range spinboxes.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These two spin buttons allow the user to select the
            start and end rows for the data import. The spin boxes
            can be used either by typing a new value in the text
            entry area where the numbers are displayed, or by
            using the mouse button to click on the up arrow to
            increase the number and the down arrow to decrease the
            number.
          </para>
          <para>
            For instance, if the text file contained a large
            header area with meta information, this header could
            be excluded from the data imported to the &gnum;
            worksheet by increasing the number of the starting,
            "From", line.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">5</emphasis> - The preview area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area displays a preview of the file as it will be
            interpreted when the the settings that are currently
            selected in this first panel are applied.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">6</emphasis> - The button area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These four buttons allow the user to navigate the
            druid. The <guibutton>Help</guibutton> button should
            open the &gnum; manual to this section. The
            <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> button will dismiss the
            dialog and return the user to the worksheet. The
            <guibutton>Back</guibutton> button is disabled since
            this is the first panel of the druid and the
            <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> button will bring up
            the next panel in the druid.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


        </variablelist>

      </para>

    </sect3>

    <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-druid-panel2separated">
      <title>
        The second panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
        Druid used for separated data
      </title>

      <para>
        The second panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
        Druid used for separated data allows the user to configure the
        character sequences used to separate the values in each row
        and to configure the text delimiting characters. &gnum;, by
        default, guesses which characters are being used to separate
        values and pre-sets those characters. The user can, however,
        reconfigure these characters.  </para>

      <figure id="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel2a">
        <title>
      The second panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
      druid for separated data with
      the component areas labeled with callouts.
    </title>
    <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/textguru-import-panel2a-withTags.png"
                     format="PNG" />
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <para>
            This screenshot depicts the second panel 'Text Import'
            druid for separated data with callouts labeling the
            different areas.
          </para>
        </textobject>
        <caption>
              <para>
            The different components of the second panel of the
            <interface>Text Import</interface> druid for separated data
            with each component labeled with a callout.
              </para>
        </caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
      </figure>

      <para>
        The purpose of each labeled component in <xref
        linkend="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel2a" /> is
        explained below:

    <variablelist>
      <title>The components of the second panel for structured data</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">1</emphasis> - The separator
        definition area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>

            This are allows the user to define the characters used
            to separate data value fields within each
            row. The checkboxes can be pressed to add or remove
            characters from those treated as
            separators. Additionally, the 'custom' type allows the
            user to define either other single characters, or a
            particular character sequence used to separate
            values. The preview area in the panel will show the
            file processed with the rules which have already been
            applied.
          </para>

          <para>
            Generally, this type of file structuring uses a single
            character to separate fields but it is possible to use
            either several different characters or to use a
            sequence of characters. For example, it would be
            possible to use the old telegraphic convention of
            separating phrases with the word 'STOP' by selecting
            the 'custom' separator type and entering the character
            sequence 'STOP' in the text field.
          </para>

          <para>
            This area also includes a checkbox enabling two
            separator sequences that immediately follow one
            another, to be treated as a single separator. This
            option will only be useful where data is imported with
            one or more completely empty columns and no partially
            filled columns. If this option is checked and the data
            file has partially filled columns of data, the columns
            will be jumbled during the text import operation.
          </para>

          <para>
            See <xref linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-dataStruct" />
            for more details.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">2</emphasis> - The text indicating
          character area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Separated value files often additionally define a
            character used to indicate the start and end of a data
            element which should be considered a single text
            entry. This strategy allows the inclusion of text
            entries which include the value separator.
          </para>

          <para>
            For example, a file which is structured as a comma
            separated value file, could use the double quotation
            mark to delimit text values and would then be able to
            include text values such as: 'Zoe, Mark, Sally'.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

       <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">3</emphasis> - The preview area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area displays a preview of the file as it will be
            interpreted when the the settings that are currently
            selected in the first and second panels are applied.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

       <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">4</emphasis> - The button area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These four buttons allow the user to navigate the
            druid. The <guibutton>Help</guibutton> button should
            open the &gnum; manual to this section. The
            <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> button will dismiss the
            dialog and return the user to the worksheet. The
            <guibutton>Back</guibutton> button will take the user
            back to the first panel, without, however, changing
            the settings in this second panel. The
            <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> button will bring up
            the next panel in the druid.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      </variablelist>

      </para>

    </sect3>


    <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-druid-panel2fixed">
      <title>
        The second panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
        Druid used for fixed width data
      </title>

      <para>
        The second panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
        Druid used for fixed width data allows the user to define the
        widths of each column to be imported. &gnum; provides a
        mechanism to automatically guess the widths of the columns and
        allows the user, using the mouse, to define the widths of the
        columns.
      </para>

      <figure id="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel2b">
        <title>
      The second panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
      druid for fixed width data with the component areas labeled
      with callouts.
    </title>
    <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/textguru-import-panel2b-withTags.png"
                     format="PNG" />
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <para>
            This screenshot depicts the second panel 'Text Import'
            druid for fixed width data with callouts labeling the
            different areas.
          </para>
        </textobject>
        <caption>
              <para>
            The different components of the second panel of the
            <interface>Text Import</interface> druid for fixed width
            data with each component labeled with a callout.
              </para>
        </caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
      </figure>

      <para>
        The purpose of each labeled component in <xref
        linkend="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel2b" /> is
        explained below:

    <variablelist>
      <title>
        The components of the second panel for fixed width data
      </title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">1</emphasis> - The automatic
          column discovery button.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This left most button, named <guibutton>Auto Column
            Discovery</guibutton>, will cause &gnum; to scan the
            file an attempt to assign the columns
            automatically. The example presented in <xref
            linkend="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel2b" /> shows
            one result after this button has been pressed: many of
            the columns were discovered automatically, but the
            second and third columns were
            misidentified. Nonetheless, the automatic mechanism
            provides a useful starting point. The definition of
            the columns can be refined using the methods described
            below.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">2</emphasis> - The column
          definition clearing button.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>

            This right most button, named
            <guibutton>Clear</guibutton>, will clear all the
            column definitions and reset the file to a single
            column. This button should be used cautiously since
            there is no way to reverse its action and any
            carefully prepared column definition layout will be
            irretrievably lost.

          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">3</emphasis> - The preview and
        column width definition area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area acts as both a preview area and an area
            where users can define the columns widths.
          </para>
          <para>
        As a preview area, this area
            displays a preview of the file as it will be
            interpreted when the the settings that are currently
            selected in this first panel are applied.
          </para>
          <para>
            This area can also be used to define column
            widths. When the panel first appears, a single column
            will be defined. The automatic column discovery
            mechanism may split this single column into many more
            columns. The mouse can then be used to further divide
            columns or to join previously separate columns.
          </para>
          <para>
            A new column can be defined by placing the mouse
            pointer where the column should start and
            double-clicking with the primary mouse button. This
            will split the column which used to contain this
            position and add a new column starting at this
            location.
          </para>
          <para>
            To remove the definition of a column which already
            exists or to alter the ending position of a column,
            the context menu must be used. The context menu
            appears by clicking with one of the secondary mouse
            buttons. A column which has already been defined can
            be merged with the column on the left or right using
            the <guimenuitem>Delete and Merge Left</guimenuitem>
            or <guimenuitem>Delete and Merge right</guimenuitem>
            menu items. The size of a column can be increased by
            placing the mouse pointer inside the column area or
            header and using the <guimenuitem>Widen</guimenuitem>
            or <guimenuitem>Narrow</guimenuitem> menu items,
            respectively. Either of these will change the width of
            the column by changing the right hand end of the
            column.
          </para>
          <para>
            The context menu can also be used to define new
            columns using the <guimenuitem>Split</guimenuitem> menu
            item but the double-click approach described above
            should be easier.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">4</emphasis> - The button area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These four buttons allow the user to navigate the
            druid. The <guibutton>Help</guibutton> button should
            open the &gnum; manual to this section. The
            <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> button will dismiss the
            dialog and return the user to the worksheet. The
            <guibutton>Back</guibutton> button will take the user
            back to the first panel, without, however, changing
            the settings in this second panel. The
            <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> button will bring up
            the next panel in the druid.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

        </variablelist>

      </para>

    </sect3>


    <sect3 id="sect-file-textImport-druid-panel3">
      <title>
        The third panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
      Druid
      </title>

      <para>
        This panel allows users to select and format the columns to be
        imported to the &gnum; workbook. The first button allows the
        exclusion of empty columns on either of the outer sides of the
        columns with data. The second button allows the user to define
        the locale used to interpret the values in the file. The
        remaining area allows the user to predefine the data format to
        be used for all the values in each column. This area also
        allows the users to select which columns in the file will be
        imported to the &gnum; worksheet. Finally, this panel provides
        the <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> which is used to dismiss the
        dialog and import the file.
      </para>

      <figure id="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel3">
        <title>
      The third panel of the <interface>Text Import</interface>
      druid with the component areas labeled with callouts.
    </title>
    <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/textguru-import-panel3-withTags.png"
                     format="PNG" />
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <para>
            This screenshot depicts the third panel 'Text Import'
            druid with callouts labeling the different areas.
          </para>
        </textobject>
        <caption>
              <para>
            The different components of the third panel of the
            <interface>Text Import</interface> druid with each component
            labeled with a callout.
              </para>
        </caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
      </figure>

      <para>
        The purpose of each labeled component in <xref
        linkend="fig-file-textImport-druid-panel3" /> is
        explained below:

    <variablelist>
      <title>The components of the third panel</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">1</emphasis> - The trim of empty
        outer columns drop down list button.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This button provides a list allowing the user to
            select whether to trim any outer columns which are
            completely empty. The choices are to delete the
            columns on both sides, on neither side, or on one side
            only. This will only affect columns which have been
            previously defined but which contain no data values at
            all.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">2</emphasis> - Locale definition
          for import drop down menu button.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This button provides a list of locales which can be
            set. The chosen locale will affect how numeric values
            are interpreted when then are imported. For instance,
            the locale will define the character expected as the
            decimal separator which is the period character (.) in
            some locales, and the comma character (,) in
            others. These locales generally then use the other
            character as the spacer grouping the digits in
            thousands.
<!-- TODO: add xref to localization discuss and to number formats. -->
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">3</emphasis> - The column data
          format selection list.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This list allows predetermining the format which
          &gnum; will assign to each of the values in the columns
          selected below. Cell data formats are explained in <xref
          linkend="sect-data-format"/>.
          </para>
          <para>
            To use this list, first, one or more columns must be
            selected in the preview area below, then, a data
            format in this list can be selected, and finally any
            details of the format can be configured. Number
            formats for instance allow the user to force numbers
            to contain fixed number of digits after the decimal
            point.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">4</emphasis> - The column
          selection, inclusion, and file preview area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area allows users to select columns which will be
            preformatted, to select which columns to include in
            the import and to preview the file. Each single column
            can be selected by clicking with the mouse pointer on
            the column header. Any single column can be excluded
            from the data imported to the &gnum; worksheet by
            clicking in the checkbox in the column header to
            remove the check mark. The area also provides a
            preview of the data in the text file showing the
            effect of the with the current configuration.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">5</emphasis> - The button area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These four buttons allow the user to navigate the
            druid. The <guibutton>Help</guibutton> button should
            open the &gnum; manual to this section. The
            <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> button will dismiss the
            dialog and return the user to the worksheet. The
            <guibutton>Back</guibutton> button will take the user
            back to the second panel, without, however, changing
            the settings in this third panel. The
            <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> button will dismiss the
            druid and cause the file to be imported into a new
            worksheet using the selected configuration parameters.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

        </variablelist>

      </para>

    </sect3>



  </sect2>

<!-- TODO: docbookv4.3 change middle <step>s into <stepalternative>s -->

<!-- TODO: write- section 'Procedure to use the text importer'. -->
<!--
  <sect2 id="sect-file-textImport-druid-process">
    <title>
      The procedure to use the <interface>Text Import</interface>
      Druid.
    </title>

    <para>

    </para>

    <para>
      Explain the optional-ness of the options.
    </para>

    <procedure>
      <title>
    The procedure to use the <interface>Text Import</interface>
        Druid.
      </title>

      <step>
    <title>
      Open the File using the "Text import (configurable)" format.
    </title>
    <para>
      Step description
    </para>
    <substeps>
          <step>
        <title>
          Launch the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Select the folder and file to be opened.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Select the "Text import (configurable)" format type.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          (Optional) Select the character encoding scheme.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Open the file.
        </title>
        <para>
          Click on the <guibutton>Open</guibutton> button to open
          the file using the <interface>Text Importer</interface>.
        </para>
          </step>
    </substeps>
      </step>


       <step>
    <title>
      Configure the 1<superscript>st</superscript> panel.
    </title>
    <para>
      Step description: encoding, line break, data structuring
      scheme, line selection.
    </para>
    <substeps>
          <step>
        <title>
          Re-define the character encoding.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Define the line break separator character sequences.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Select the data field structuring scheme.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Select the line region to import.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Move to the next panel
        </title>
        <para>
          Click on the <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> to move to
          the next panel. The panel which will appear will be
          different for the two types of data structuring
          strategies. There are two sections below describing the
          second panel, section 3 and section 4, one for each of
          the two data structuring schemes.
        </para>
          </step>
    </substeps>
      </step>
      <step>
    <title>
      (Separated value structured file)
        Configure the 2<superscript>nd</superscript> panel.
    </title>
    <para>
      Step description
    </para>
    <substeps>
          <step>
        <title>
          Define the character sequences acting as separators.
        </title>
        <para>
          pick any combo of individual chars
        </para>
        <para>
          define a char sequence.
        </para>
        <para>
          Combine 2?
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Define the characters used to braket text fields.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Move to the next panel
        </title>
        <para>
          Click on the <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> to move to
          the third panel.
        </para>
          </step>
    </substeps>
      </step>

      <step>
    <title>
      (Fixed width structured file)
        Configure the 2<superscript>nd</superscript> panel.
    </title>
    <para>
      Step description
    </para>
    <substeps>
          <step>
        <title>
          Define the fixed-width columns.
        </title>
        <para>
          In this process, can restart at any time using the reset
        button but CAUTION can't undo a reset.
        </para>
        <para>
          Use the automatic column detection button.
        </para>
        <para>
          Define the columns manually. Dbl click.
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Move to the next panel
        </title>
        <para>
          Click on the <guibutton>Forward</guibutton> to move to
          the third panel.
        </para>
          </step>
    </substeps>
      </step>

      <step>
    <title>
      Configure the 3<superscript>rd</superscript> panel.
    </title>
    <para>
      Step description
    </para>
    <substeps>
          <step>
        <title>
          Select which empty outer columns to trim during import.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Configure the locale settings used to interpret data values.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Select the columns to be imported.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Preselect the data formats for the elements in each column.
        </title>
        <para>
          Substep description
        </para>
          </step>
          <step>
        <title>
          Import the file.
        </title>
        <para>
          Click on the <guibutton>Finish</guibutton> button to
          import the file using all the settings as currently
          configured.
        </para>
          </step>
    </substeps>
      </step>

   </procedure>

    <para>
     The file will be opened
    </para>


  </sect2>
 section end comment to block out section -->





<!-- TODO: Remove the old text that follows. Kept now for inspiration.
********************************************************************


<sect2>
  <title> OLD TEXT FOLLOWS: </title>




  <sect4>
  <title>The Number Formats</title>


<para>After selecting a column on the left select the appropriate
    format on the right. In the preview section at the bottom of the
    dialog, you can immediately see the effect of selecting that
    format. The following types of formats are available:</para>




  <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      General
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>This format will guess for each field value whether it is text,
      a number, a date, etc.</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>




    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Numbers
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>You can choose between various number formats. The following list presents
      just a short selection of those formats:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-numberformats">
    <title>Some Number Formats</title>
    <screen>
0
0.00
#,##0
#,##0_);(#,##0)
#,##0.00_);[Red](#,##0.00)
    </screen>
  </figure>
  <para>There are also formats facilitating the use of scientific notation,
  see <xref linkend="file-format-scientificformats" />.</para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>





    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Currency Amounts
      </term>
      <listitem>
     <para> You can choose between various currency formats. The following list presents
     just a short selection of those formats:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-currenyformats">
    <title>Some Currency Formats</title>
    <screen>
"$"#,##0
"$"#,##0_);(#,##0)
"$"#,##0.00_);[Red](#,##0.00)
    </screen>
  </figure>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>






    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Dates and Times
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>You can choose between various date and time formats. Some of these formats will
      recognize combined date/time entries. The following list presents just a short
      selection of those formats:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-dateformats">
    <title>Some Date and Time Formats</title>
    <screen>
m/d/yy
d-mmm-yyyy
d-mm
mmm/d
mmm/ddd/yyyy
mmmm-yyyy
m/d/yyyy h:mm
yyyy
h:mm:ss AM/PM
[h]:mm:ss
    </screen>
  </figure>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Percentages
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>You can choose between various formats that recognize percentages.
      The following list presents just a short
      selection of those formats:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-percentageformats">
    <title>Some Percentage Formats</title>
    <screen>
0%
0.00%
    </screen>
  </figure>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>




    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Fractions
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>You can choose between a few formats that recognize fractions.
      The following list presents just a short
      selection of those formats:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-fractionformats">
    <title>Some Fraction Formats</title>
    <screen>
# ?/?
# ??/??
    </screen>
  </figure>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Scientific Notation
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>You can choose between a few formats that recognize numbers in scientific notation..
      The following list presents just a short
      selection of those formats:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-scientificformats">
    <title>Some Scientific Formats</title>
    <screen>
0.00E+00
##0.0E+0
    </screen>
  </figure>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>





    <varlistentry>
      <term>
      Text
      </term>
      <listitem>
      <para>If you want the importer to simply read the field value as text without
      attempting to interpret it in any way, use the following text format:</para>
  <figure id="file-format-textformat">
    <title>The Text Format</title>
    <screen>
@
    </screen>
  </figure>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>



  </variablelist>



  <para>More details on the various formats can be found in
    <xref linkend="file-format" />.</para>

    <xref linkend="sect-data-format" />.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem><para>
  Click the <quote><guibutton>Finish</guibutton></quote> button
  to complete importing the file.</para>
  </listitem>
  </orderedlist>
  </sect5>
  <sect5>
  <title>The Text Import Druid for Fixed Width Fields</title>
  <orderedlist>
  <listitem>
  <para>If you selected fixed width fields you are asked to specify the widths for
  each field. Click the <quote><guibutton>Auto Column Discovery</guibutton></quote> button
  to have <application>Gnumeric</application> try to determine the fields widths automatically.</para>
  <figure id="file-format-csv-import-ex5">
    <title></title>
    <screenshot>
    <mediaobject>
            <imageobject>
              <imagedata fileref="figures/files-csv-import-ex5.png" format="PNG" />
            </imageobject>
            <textobject>
              <phrase>An image of the third page of the text import
              druid with fixed width customization.</phrase>
            </textobject>
           </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
  </figure>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
  <para>Finally select the appropriate format for each input column as in
  <xref linkend="file-format-csv-import-ex4" />.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem><para>
  Click the <quote><guibutton>Finish</guibutton></quote> button
  to complete importing the file.</para>
  </listitem>
  </orderedlist>
  </sect5>
  </sect4>

</sect2>

Old text. -->


</sect1>