The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2 / The 640 Meg Shareware Studio CD-ROM Volume II (Data Express)(1993).ISO / ss / qubecalc.zip / MANUAL < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1989-03-18 | 152KB | 4,665 lines

QubeCalc User's Manual (C) Copyright FormalSoft 1986-87 All Rights Reserved This manual is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any manner or form without the express written permission of: FormalSoft P.O. Box 1913 Sandy, Utah 84091-1913 (801) 565-0971 DISCLAIMER This software will perform as described when used properly. By using this software you acknowledge that this software may not suit your particular needs or be completely trouble free. If this software does not perform as described, our liability to you is limited to replacing the software or refunding the purchase price (if registered). In no event will FormalSoft be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use these programs, even if FormalSoft has been advised of the possibility of such damages. ATTENTION VERSION 1 AND 2 USERS In order to provide all of the additional features in this new release, QubeCalc version 3 uses a different file structure than versions 1 and 2. If you try to directly read version 1 or 2 files into version 3 you will receive an "Invalid File" error. Your old version 1 and 2 files must be converted over to the new format using the program CONVERT.COM. You run the convert program in the following manner: A> CONVERT oldfile newfile where oldfile is the name of the version 1 or 2 file (without the .QUB extension) and newfile is the name you want to give the version 3 file (without the .QUB extension). For example, if you have a version 1 or 2 file named TAXES.QUB which you want to convert to version 3 format, then typing: CONVERT taxes taxes3 will create a version 3 file called taxes3. If you give the same file name for both oldfile and newfile, then the version 3 file will overwrite the version 1 or 2 file. 2 RESTRICTED PERMISSION TO COPY QubeCalc is NOT a public domain program. QubeCalc is copyrighted by FormalSoft, and FormalSoft retains all rights pertaining to QubeCalc. FormalSoft grants a restricted permission to users to make and distribute copies of QubeCalc. If you continue to regularly use QubeCalc, you are expected to register with FormalSoft using the form provided below. If QubeCalc is used for business purposes, or for gain, then a copy of QubeCalc must be purchased for each computer it is to be used on. Private individuals and computer clubs are granted permission to copy and distribute QubeCalc for evaluation by others on the following conditions: - You may NOT sell, rent or lease the disks for profit. Doing so is a violation of FormalSoft's copyright. - You may NOT charge anything for QubeCalc (except for authorized user groups, which may charge a cost based fee (not to exceed $10) to cover disks and handling. - You may NOT copy the printed documentation in any manner or form. - You may NOT bundle QubeCalc with any other product. - You may NOT distribute versions of QubeCalc which have been modified in any way. - You must include ALL of the files which are distributed with QubeCalc. These files must be ARCHIVED together if you place them on an electronic bulletin board. 3 QubeCalc Registration Form -------------------------- QubeCalc is distributed as ShareWare and is completely supported by user registrations. You may register your copy of QubeCalc by filling out the form below and mailing it along with $74.95 ($69.95 + $5 s/h) to: FormalSoft Product Registration P.O. Box 1913 Sandy, Ut. 84091-1913 We can also accept VISA/MC at (801) 565-0971. You will receive the latest version of QubeCalc, the complete printed manual, and will be placed on our update list to receive automatic notification of QubeCalc updates and new software releases from FormalSoft. Name:___________________________________________ Address:________________________________________ City, State, Zip:_______________________________ Number of copies:____ Amount enclosed * :______ * UT residents add 6 1/4% sales tax Where did you find out about QubeCalc or get your copy from? ________________________________________________ FormalSoft is currently working on new features to make QubeCalc even more powerful. If there are any features you would like to see added to QubeCalc, please let us know. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ 4 WHAT CAN I DO WITH QUBECALC? Welcome to the world of QubeCalc. QubeCalc is a TRUE three dimensional spreadsheet (as opposed to some two dimensional spreadsheets which let you link cells of multiple spreadsheets together). It gives you the ability to look at your data in more ways than you ever imagined possible. You can enter data into the QubeCalc WorkQube just as you would with any other spreadsheet. You could treat the WorkQube as if it were 64 separate spreadsheets which are linked together, but it is much more flexible than just that. Regular spreadsheets allow you to enter data in a row and column format. For example, you might have a spreadsheet which displays the number of sales listed by month and salesman as shown below: 1983 Jan 83 Feb 83 Mar 83 Apr 83 Bill 12 13 14 13 Sam 11 15 12 11 Joe 10 10 13 11 Harry 12 15 13 12 With regular spreadsheets you would need to create a separate sheet for each year's data... and consolidating these spreadsheets into a total overview spreadsheet would require major rehashing or re-entering of the spreadsheet data. With QubeCalc you can enter each year's data into its own page in the WorkQube (1983 in one page, 1984 in the next page, and so on)... and one of the WorkQube's pages can be easily used to link each year's data together as a total overview spreadsheet. But the real power of QubeCalc is its ability to rotate the WorkQube to allow you to look at your data from many different perspectives. The perspective can be changed so that what were once pages are now columns, and your data is now displayed as the number of sales during a given 5 month each year as shown below: Feb 82 Feb 83 Feb 84 Feb 85 Bill 10 13 12 11 Sam 11 15 10 12 Joe 12 10 14 10 Harry 12 15 13 12 And successive pages now list sales in March, then April, then May, and so on. Try doing that with a regular spreadsheet!!!! QubeCalc is extremely powerful, yet it is easy to learn and use. It provides many functions and features found only in very expensive spreadsheet programs, as well as features which can't be found elsewhere at any price!! - You can turn rows into columns, columns into pages, and so on, allowing you to look at your data in any perspective you desire. - You can import and export Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE II, dBASE III, and DIF files. - Interactive context sensitive help screens make learning and using QubeCalc a snap. - A full assortment of predefined functions is provided for you to use in your computations (Math, Trig, Statistics, Finance, Date, Time, Logical, Special, and Text catagories). - You can link to a block of cells in another spreadsheet. - You can sort your data by rows or columns. - You can create graphs from your data. - You can lock title rows and columns on the screen. - A powerful Macro capability allows you to create your own little "programs" within a spreadsheet. 6 - You can confine the automatic recalculation to any block of cells. This can really speed things up in a large spreadsheet. - And much, much more!!! 7 GETTING STARTED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS QubeCalc is designed to run on an IBM PC, PC/XT, or a true IBM compatible running MS-DOS or PC-DOS (version 2.0 or higher). QubeCalc requires at least 256K of RAM to run, and the full 640K can be accessed if it is available (the more memory, the bigger the spreadsheets you can have). If you want to take advantage of QubeCalc's graphics capabilities, you must have an IBM color graphics adapter or equivalent. QubeCalc uses an overlay structure. This means that the QubeCalc program actually consists of 3 different files; QUBECALC.COM, QUBECALC.000, and QUBECALC.001. QUBECALC.COM is the main part of the program. QUBECALC.000 and QUBECALC.001 are overlay files which contain various features and functions of QubeCalc. When QubeCalc needs to access one of these features or functions, it reads the code for that feature in from QUBECALC.000 or QUBECALC.001. The advantage of using an overlay structure is that the program uses up less memory, thereby freeing up more RAM to put your spreadsheets in. If you place the overlay files (QUBECALC.000 and QUBECALC.001) on a hard disk or in a RAM disk in extended memory, you should not notice any significant delay when these features are accessed. If the overlay files are on a floppy disk, you may notice a small delay when accessing these features. If you have a floppy based system and cannot tolerate the short delays, you may place the overlay files in a RAM disk. 8 QubeCalc needs to know where you place the overlay files. By default, QubeCalc assumes that the overlay files are in the directory where you start up QubeCalc. If you place the overlay files in a RAM disk or in a directory other than where you start the program, then you must run the setup program to create a configuration file which tells QubeCalc where you put the overlays. The setup program can also be used to tell QubeCalc where you placed the help file and which directory you want to use as the startup data directory. It will also let you customize the screen colors which QubeCalc uses. MAKING A BACKUP The first thing you should do is make a backup copy of all the files on the QubeCalc disk. Put this backup away in a safe place in case you waste your working copy. The files which you should find on your disk are: QUBECALC.COM - The QubeCalc program. QUBECALC.000 - An overlay (part of the program). QUBECALC.001 - An overlay (part of the program). REGISTER.DOC - License and registration form. QUBECALC.HLP - The HELP file. CONVERT.COM - Converts version 1 and 2 files. GET123.COM - A program to import 1-2-3 files. IMPORT.COM - Imports DIF and dBASE files. EXPORT.COM - Exports DIF, dBASE, and Lotus files. QUBECALC.DOC - The on disk documentation. PRINTDOC.BAT - Prints the on disk documentation. HARDDISK.BAT - Installs QubeCalc on a hard disk. SETUP.COM - The setup program. EXAMPLE.QUB - An example data file. README - New features, etc. 9 FLOPPY DISK BASED SYSTEM Place the QubeCalc disk into the current drive and type QUBECALC at the DOS prompt. If you do not put the overlay files (QUBECALC.000 and QUBECALC.001) into a RAM disk, or if you wish to make use of the Help facility (and don't put the help file into a RAM disk), you must leave the QubeCalc disk in the drive (because that is where the help and overlay files will be located). HARD DISK BASED SYSTEM Change to the A: drive. Then place the QubeCalc disk into the A: drive and type HARDDISK. This program will create a directory named \QUBECALC on the C: drive and will copy all of the files from the QubeCalc disk into the new directory. QubeCalc can then be run by first changing to the \QUBECALC directory and typing QUBECALC at the DOS prompt. The best setup is to leave all of the files in the \QUBECALC directory, and always start up from within that directory. That way, QubeCalc will always know where all of it's system files are (overlays, help, etc.). 10 HOW TO RUN QUBECALC QubeCalc may be run by simply changing to the \QUBECALC directory and typing: QUBECALC followed by a carriage return. QubeCalc also provides a shortcut for the first file you want to load. If you want to start up with a particular file, you may supply the file name on the command line and that file will be loaded when the program comes up. For example, if you want to use a file named TAXES.QUB, then type the following when you first run QubeCalc: QUBECALC TAXES You may provide a full pathname for the file, otherwise QubeCalc will look for the file in either the current directory, or in the startup data directory you specified using the SETUP.COM program. 11 THE SETUP PROGRAM A setup program is included to let you customize QubeCalc. This setup program (named SETUP.COM) allows you to set several parameters and then creates a file named QUBECALC.CFG. When you run QubeCalc it looks for the QUBECALC.CFG file in the same directory as the QubeCalc program. If this file is not found or doesn't exist (because you haven't run SETUP.COM) then QubeCalc will use its own preset values. This program is run by changing to the QUBECALC directory and typing SETUP at the DOS prompt. You may choose your own favorite colors for the QubeCalc screen (if you have a color monitor). The F1 through F6 function keys allow you to select the foreground and background colors for the various parts of the QubeCalc display. The F7 function key allows you to select the color you wish to use when creating a graph. Pressing any of these keys simply changes the appropriate part of the display to the next available color. You can also set a startup data drive and directory which QubeCalc will use as the location for data files when it is first run. Pressing the F8 function key will place you into edit mode so that you may enter a drive and directory name. Once your changes have been made, just hit return to exit from edit mode. If you want QubeCalc to use your default directory as the startup data directory, then simply leave the startup directory name blank. The F9 and F10 function keys allow you to specify which directories QubeCalc should look in to find its overlay and help files. For example, if you placed the overlay files into a RAM disk named D:, then you would need to press the F9 key and enter D: as the overlay directory. If you don't specify an overlay or help directory, then QubeCalc will use the directory you started QubeCalc from as the overlay and help directory. 12 Once you are happy with the colors you have selected and the startup directory, just hit Alt-S (hold down the Alt key and press S) to create the QUBECALC.CFG file. If you decide you would rather not create a new QUBECALC.CFG file, then the ESC key will exit without creating the file. If you don't like your new colors or startup data directory after all, you can either run SETUP.COM again, or just delete QUBECALC.CFG and let QubeCalc use its defaults. NOTE An increasing number of users are using systems which have a color card but a monochrome monitor. QubeCalc will work with such a system, but the setup program must be run first. QubeCalc detects whether a color card is present. If a color card is detected, QubeCalc will use its color mode. The colors used for the cell pointer and axes, however, do not map to inverse video on a monochrome monitor. Here is the procedure to take care of this situation: 1. Run SETUP as described above. 2. Set the colors to be: - WorkQube White on Black - Cell and Axes Black on Light Gray - Block Black on Light Gray 13 WHERE TO GO FOR HELP If you find yourself in need of help while using QubeCalc it is only a keystroke away. QubeCalc provides what is known as interactive context-sensitive HELP screens. Interactive means that you can easily switch from one HELP screen to another. Context sensitive means that QubeCalc is keeping track of what you are doing so that it can provide the proper HELP screen when you ask for it. In order to call up a HELP screen all you need to do is hit the [F1] HELP key. QubeCalc will pop up a HELP screen to assist with whatever you are currently doing. If the HELP screen provides the information you need, then you simply hit the ESC key to return to what you were doing. The HELP screen will also list several other HELP screens which are related to what you are doing. You may select one of these HELP screens by simply using the arrow keys on the cursor pad to move the highlight bar to the name of the HELP screen desired, and then hit the Return key. The HELP screen named <HELP INDEX> is a special HELP screen which provides an index of the major HELP screens available. 14 THE DISPLAY The QubeCalc screen looks much like the screen of any other spreadsheet. It consists of cells laid out in rows and columns. At the top of each column in the WorkQube is a letter (or 2 letters) of the alphabet. This letter (or letters) provides a means of telling columns apart. The first 26 columns are labeled with the letters A through Z. Since there are 64 columns but only 26 letters, the remaining columns must use 2 letters to identify them. To the left of each row in the WorkQube is a number to let you know which rows you are looking at. The top row in the WorkQube is row 1 and the bottom is row 64. The area where a row and a column cross is known as a "cell". Each cell in the WorkQube is identified by the letter (or letters) of the column it is in, the number of the row it is in, and the number of the page it is in. For example, the cell that is in column BX and row 29 on page 4 is named BX29;4 (the column letters always come before the row number, and the page number is separated by a semicolon). Each one of the cells may contain some text, a number, or a formula. The QubeCalc screen also provides information such as the number of bytes available for data, the current directory for data files, the name of the current file (if any), the current block for recalculation, and a cell status line. The cell status line is located in the top lefthand corner of the screen and looks something like this: [C]B4;5: NUMBER (9) Each component of the above line tells you certain information about the current perspective and cell. The [C] tells you that you are currently viewing perspective C (see the next section for more information on perspectives). The B4;5 tells you that the cell you are currently at is in column B, row 4, and page 5. 15 The next item "NUMBER" tells you what type of item is in the current cell (this item can be either BLANK, TEXT, NUMBER, FORMULA, or ERROR). And finally, the value in the parentheses (9) tells you what the width of the current cell is set to. The next to bottom line on the display is an index to the function keys (F1 through F10) so you don't have to memorize or look them up all the time. 16 THE WORKQUBE The QubeCalc spreadsheet (known as the WorkQube) may be most easily thought of as a large cube containing 262,144 cells. These cells are arranged into 64 rows, 64 columns, and 64 pages. Each one of the cells may contain some text, a number, or a formula. PAGE 64 FACE C PAGE 3 B PAGE 2 E A B C D E F .. C 1 A 2 F 3 PAGE 1 4 FACE A 5 6 : There are six (6) different faces on the WorkQube (just like on a toy block), which are named A, B, C, D, E, and F. Faces A, B, and C are shown above. Face D is on the opposite side of the block from Face A, Face E is opposite Face B, and Face F is opposite Face C. QubeCalc provides a familiar spreadsheet window into each of these 6 faces, which allows you to view, enter, or otherwise manipulate your data from any of the 6 faces of the WorkQube. This provides 6 different perspectives of the data stored within the WorkQube. 17 The easiest way to see the power of QubeCalc is by example. 1. Start up QubeCalc by typing: QUBECALC EXAMPLE This will run QubeCalc and automatically load the 3D spreadsheet named EXAMPLE.QUB. This file contains a small 3D spreadsheet. This small spreadsheet lists the amount of money spent in several budgets during January, April, July, and October. Each page of the 3D spreadsheet provides this data for a different year. Play with the PgUp and PgDn keys to change pages and see this data. 2. Now, move the cell pointer to cell D7;3 (this is cell D7 on page 3). This is the value spent on rent for April 1983. 3. We will now use the /WorkQube Perspective command to let us see how this value compares with April rents in other years. Since these values are now in different pages, and we want them to be in adjacent columns, we want to rotate the WorkQube so that we are looking at our data from Face B. Change to Perspective B by pressing the slash key /, then W (for WorkQube), then P (for Perspective), and then B (to change to Face B). You will instantly see the Rent paid in April of 83, 84, 85, 86, and the total April payments. 4. You may have noticed that a cell's name changes from face to face... for example: cell D7;3 in Face A is cell C7;4 in Face B. This is simply because you are looking at your data from a different perpective (or angle), and what are columns in one face might be pages in another face... and cell names change so that every face provides "lettered" columns and "numbered" rows and pages. Don't worry about cell references... they also change from face to face, so that references always point to the same data, regardless of which face they're in. 5. You may want to play around and look at this data from all 6 perspectives (some perspectives provide more information than others). 18 MOVING AROUND IN THE WORKQUBE QubeCalc allows you to move to any of the 262,144 cells in the WorkQube. You go to a new cell by moving the "cell pointer". The cell pointer is a highlighted bar on the screen which "points to" the cell in the WorkQube which is the current cell. QubeCalc provides several ways of moving the cell pointer around in the WorkQube. Any of these methods of moving can be used anytime you need to move the cell pointer to another location, including when you are defining a 3D block of cells. The Arrow keys on the cursor pad can be used to move the cell pointer up, down, left, or right one cell position. If you try to move the cell pointer beyond the edge of the screen, the screen will scroll to the next row or column (assuming there is a row or column to scroll to). The PgUp key moves the cell pointer up to the next higher page number. The cell pointer will be moved to the cell with the same row coordinate and column coordinate (but the next higher page coordinate) as the cell you moved from. The PgDn key moves the cell pointer down to the next lower page number. The cell pointer will be moved to the cell with the same row coordinate and column coordinate (but the next lower page coordinate) as the cell you moved from. The Home key moves the cell pointer to the top left corner of the current page (the first row and the first column). The End key moves the cell pointer to the lower right corner of the current page (the last row and the last column). 19 The Ctrl Right Arrow and Ctrl Left Arrow keys let you move one screen's worth of columns to the right or left. These key sequences are generated by holding down the control key (Ctrl) and pressing either the left or right arrow. The Ctrl PgUp and Ctrl PgDn keys let you move up or down one screen's worth of rows. These key sequences are generated by holding down the control key (Ctrl) and pressing either the PgUp or PgDn key. QubeCalc also provides two additional functions to help you move to another cell. These two functions are the GOTO and the FIND functions. When you press the [F5] GOTO function key, QubeCalc asks you which cell you want to go to. You just type in the cell name and hit return... and off you go! For example, if you want to go to cell AC53, then simply hit the [F5] GOTO key, type "AC53" (without the quotes) and hit the return key. If the address is a valid one then the cell pointer will be repositioned to the new cell location. The current face and all other settings will remain unchanged. The [F6] FIND function can be used to search the WorkQube for a match of a string which you enter. When you hit the [F6] FIND key QubeCalc will display this menu: Repeat Contents Display If you select Contents then QubeCalc will ask you to type in what you want to search for, and will compare your string with the contents of each cell (the formula, or the number in the cell, etc.). If you select Display then QubeCalc will ask you to type in what you want to search for, and will compare your string with each cell's display (the formatted display of the cell value). 20 If you select Repeat then the most recent string will be searched for again. Notice that this is the first item in the menu. This is so that you may perform repeated searches by simply typing [F6] and the return key. QubeCalc will find any cell which contains the string you ask for, even if it is buried within a longer string. For example, if you ask to find cells which contain "he", then QubeCalc will find cells containing "the", "hello", etc. The search is also case sensitive (in other words "He" does NOT match "he"). 21 ENTERING DATA INTO THE WORKQUBE Each cell in the WorkQube may hold either a number, some text, or a formula. You may enter any of these items into a cell by simply typing what you want on the command line. You may enter up to 70 characters worth of data into each cell. The data will be entered into the cell when you hit the return key or one of the movement keys on the cursor pad (arrows, PgUp and PgDn). If you finish entering the data using the return key, the cell pointer will remain positioned at the same cell. If you finish entering the data using one of the movement keys, the data will be entered into the current cell, and then the cell pointer will move to another cell in the direction you specified. NUMBERS A number can be entered into a QubeCalc cell by simply typing in the number. The number which you enter will be placed in the cell which is currently highlighted by the cell pointer. A number can be anything in the range from -1.0E+37 to +1.0E+37, and can have up to 11 significant places. A number may be entered in either standard notation (i.e. 12.345) or in scientific notation (i.e. 1234.5e-2). TEXT Text strings may be entered into a QubeCalc cell by simply typing in the string. The text which you enter will be placed in the cell which is currently highlighted by the cell pointer. If the text contains more characters than the column is wide, it will spill over into adjacent cells (if the adjacent cells are blank). If the adjacent cells contain data, then the extra characters in the text string will be hidden from view (but they will still be in the cell). 22 There are four (4) special characters which may begin a text string and which affect the way the text is displayed. These characters are: ' causes the text to be left justified in the cell " causes the text to be right justified in the cell ^ causes the text to be centered in the cell \ causes the next character to be repeated If text is entered without one of the above special characters as the first character, the global (WorkQube) justification character is placed on the text automatically. When QubeCalc first starts up the WorkQube justification is set as left ' justified. You can change this by selecting /WorkQube Justify and making a new choice. Once the text has been entered into a cell, you may change the justification using either the /Cell Justify or the /Block Justify commands (or use the [F2] EDIT function key to enter edit mode and just change the justification character to the one you want). FORMULAS A QubeCalc cell may contain a formula which is made up of numbers (or text in some cases), references to values in other cells, predefined functions, and mathematical, logical, and comparison operators. The formula which you enter will be placed in the cell which is currently highlighted by the cell pointer. A formula must begin with an equal sign '=' and may be as complex as desired. For example... =-2*@SIN(@IF(C2;3,@PI,@PI/2))/(@AVG($D14;2..F15;4)) The items beginning with an @ symbol in the example above (@SIN, @IF, etc.) are just a few of QubeCalc's predefined functions. These functions are described in the section titled PREDEFINED FUNCTIONS. 23 The following operators are available to be used in a formula (a and b can be any number, cell reference, function, or formula): MATHEMATICAL a+b Addition a-b Subtraction a*b Multiplication a/b Division a^b Exponentiation LOGICAL a&b And (is true only if a is true AND b is true) a|b Or (is true is a is true OR b is true) ~b Not (is false if b is true, and is true if b is false) COMPARISON a =b is true if a is equal to b a<>b is true if a is NOT equal to b a <b is true if a is less than b a >b is true if a is greater than b a<=b is true if a is less than or equal to b a>=b is true is a is greater than or equal to b In addition, the + operator can be used to concatenate 2 strings. For example: "This is" + " a test" returns "This is a test" 24 Operations using these operators will follow the normal order of precedence (order of precedence means the order that operations are performed). The order of precedence is: 1. Exponentiation [ ^ ] 2. Negation [ - ] 3. Multiplication and Division [ *, / ] 4. Addition and Subtraction [ +, - ] 5. Comparison [ =, <, >, <=, >=, <> ] 6. Not [ ~ ] 7. And/Or [ &, | ] where exponentiation is performed before negation and so on. If you wish to change the order in which operations are performed, then you may use parentheses in your formulas. Operations which you place in parentheses will be performed before those outside the parentheses. EXAMPLE: =2+3*4 evaluates as 14 (not 20) because the multiply has a higher precedence than the addition. If you want the addition to be performed first, then use parentheses to make the equation look like =(2+3)*4. If you enter a formula which QubeCalc considers invalid and cannot evaluate, the formula you entered will be displayed on the command line and the editing facility will be invoked. The cursor will be placed near the part of the formula which QubeCalc didn't like, and you may fix the formula using the editing commands described in the section titled EDITING THE CONTENTS OF A CELL. The [F3] BLOCK key allows you to define a cell or block reference to be placed in a formula (or any other type of line for that matter) when you are entering data. This can often simplify the chore of entering cell or block references. The [F4] ABS key, when used in conjunction with the [F3] BLOCK key, toggles the cell and block references between absolute and relative. For more information on these functions see the sections titled DEFINING A BLOCK OF CELLS and ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE REFERENCES. 25 SPECIAL NOTE: When entering cell references (i.e. B3;4), you may ignore typing in the page number (and the semicolon) if the reference is to a cell on the same page as the formula. If you leave the page number off, QubeCalc will automatically add the current page number to the reference when the formula is entered into the cell. 26 THE COMMAND MENUS QubeCalc provides many powerful commands which are available through the Command Menus. You may call up the Command Menus by pressing the slash "/" key. This will provide a list of Menu options across the top of the WorkQube. The first menu that pops up when you hit the slash key looks like this: Cell Block WorkQube Insert Delete Print Graph File Quit The word Cell will be in a highlighted bar. This bar is known as the Menu Bar. Items from the Menu may be selected in one of two ways. The first way is to simply type the first letter of the Menu option desired. The second way is to use the arrow keys to move the Menu Bar to the desired Menu item and then press the return key to select the item. For example, if you wanted to perform an operation on a file, you could start in one of 2 ways: 1. Hit the / key (which pops up the Main Menu), and then type the letter "f" (for "File"). or 2. Hit the / key, then hit the right arrow 7 times (or the left arrow 2 times) to move the Menu Bar on top of the word "File", and then hit the return key. Either of these methods will pop up a new menu (the "File" menu). Items from all future menus may be also be selected by typing the first letter or using the arrow keys. If you ever get into a Menu that you don't want to be in, just hit the escape key (ESC) to get out. The /Cell command provides options dealing with the contents of a single cell. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled CELL COMMANDS. 27 The /Block selection provides options dealing with the contents of a block of cells which you define. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled BLOCK COMMANDS. The /WorkQube selection provides options dealing with the contents of all the cells in the QubeCalc workspace. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled WORKQUBE COMMANDS. The /Insert command provides the capability to insert a blank row, column, or page of cells into the WorkQube. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled INSERTING A ROW, COLUMN, OR PAGE. The /Delete command provides the capability to delete a row, column, or page of cells from the WorkQube. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled DELETING A ROW, COLUMN, OR PAGE. The /Print command provides the capability and options to print defined blocks of cells on a printer. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled PRINTING YOUR DATA. The /Graph command provides the capability and options to create graphs from data within QubeCalc. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled GRAPHING YOUR DATA. The /File command provides the capability to save and load all or part of the cells to/from a file. For more information on this command and its options see the section titled SAVING AND LOADING DATA FILES. The /Quit command exits QubeCalc. The WorkQube is not automatically saved... remember to save first! For more information on this command and its options see the section titled EXITING FROM QUBECALC. 28 SPECIAL FUNCTION KEYS QubeCalc provides several special functions which have been assigned to the 10 function keys F1, F2, .. F10. These special functions are listed below, along with the name of the section in this manual which provides more detailed information about the function. [F1] HELP Calls up a context sensitive HELP screen. See: WHERE TO GO FOR HELP [F2] EDIT Allows you to edit the contents of a cell. See: EDITING THE CONTENTS OF A CELL [F3] BLOCK Allows you to point when editing. See: DEFINING A BLOCK OF CELLS [F4] ABS Toggles between absolute/relative. See: DEFINING A BLOCK OF CELLS [F5] GOTO Allows you to go to a designated cell. See: MOVING AROUND IN THE WORKQUBE [F6] FIND Searches for a string in the WorkQube. See: MOVING AROUND IN THE WORKQUBE [F7] STAT Displays the status of the WorkQube. [F8] MACRO Allows you to define/undefine user macros. See: DEFINING AND USING MACROS [F9] CALC Performs a recalculation of the WorkQube. See: WORKQUBE COMMANDS (AUTOCALC) [F10] GRAPHDisplays the current graph. See: GRAPHING YOUR DATA 29 PREDEFINED FUNCTIONS QubeCalc provides a large assortment of predefined functions which may be used in formulas. These functions generally fall into eight catagories; Mathematical, Trigonometry, Statistical, Logical, Financial, Date/Time, Special, and Text. Most of these functions require one or more arguments. An argument is a value which the function uses as an input to provide an output value. An argument may be a number, a text string, a reference to a value in another cell, or another formula (in the case of the statistical functions, an argument may also be a range or block of cells). The function will return either a numerical or text value and may be treated exactly like a number or text would be. Functions may be nested as deeply as desired (just remember that there is a 70 character per cell limit, though). The function names must begin with an @ and must be CAPITALIZED. If you provide an illegal argument to a function it will return ERROR as the value. MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS @ABS(X) returns the absolute value of X. @ABS(3.4) = 3.4 @ABS(-2.6) = 2.6 @EXP(X) returns e to the X power (e = 2.7). The value of the argument must be less than 85.2 or an overflow will occur and the @EXP function will return ERROR as the value. @EXP(3) = 20.0855 @EXP(-3) = 0.0498 @EXP(90) = ERROR 30 @LN(X) returns the natural log of X. The value of the argument must be greater than 0 or the @LN function will return ERROR as the value. @LN(1000) = 6.9078 @LN(0) = ERROR @LN(-1) = ERROR @LOG(X) returns the log base 10 of X. The value of the argument must be greater than 0 or the @LOG function will return ERROR as the value. @LOG(1000) = 3 @LOG(0) = ERROR @LOG(-1) = ERROR @INT(X) returns the integer part of X (the part of the argument which is in front of the decimal point). The sign of the value returned is the same as that of the argument. @INT(2.34) = 2 @INT(-2.34) = -2 @FRAC(X) returns the fractional part of X (the part of the argument which is after the decimal point). The sign of the value returned is the same as that of the argument. @FRAC(1.23) = .23 @FRAC(-1.23) = .23 @MOD(X,Y) returns X modulo Y (the remainder when X is divided by Y). Since dividing by 0 is illegal, Y can not be equal to 0. @MOD(5,2) = 1 @MOD(5.2,2.2) = 0.8 @MOD(5,0) = ERROR @RAND returns a random number which is greater than or equal to zero and is less than one. The value of @RAND will change to a new random value every time the WorkQube is recalculated. Notice that @RAND does not require an argument or parentheses. 31 @ROUND(X,Y) returns X rounded to Y decimal places. @ROUND(123.456,-2) = 100 @ROUND(123.456,-1) = 120 @ROUND(123.456,0) = 123 @ROUND(123.456,1) = 123.5 @ROUND(123.456,2) = 123.46 @SQRT(X) returns the square root of X. The argument X must be either zero or a positive number. If the argument is negative then @SQRT will return the ERROR value. @SQRT(16) = 4 @SQRT(-2) = ERROR @FACT(X) returns X factorial. The argument must be between 0 and 30 (including 0 and 30). If the argument is not an integer value then the @FACT function will use the value of the argument rounded to the nearest integer. @FACT(5) = 120 @FACT(4.3) = 24 @FACT(4.7) = 120 @FACT(45) = ERROR @SGN(X) returns the sign of X. If X is negative then @SGN returns -1. If X is positive then @SGN returns 1. If X is zero then @SGN returns 0. @SGN(23.4) = 1 @SGN(-13.9) = -1 @SGN(0) = 0 @CELL returns the value of the cell pointed to by the cell pointer. This function is provided mainly to be used with the /Macro If command as a way for a macro to obtain the value of the current cell. When the @CELL function is used in a formula in the WorkQube, its value is updated only when a recalculation takes place (just like any other function). It is NOT updated every time the cell pointer is moved. 32 TRIGONOMETRY FUNCTIONS @PI returns the value of Pi (3.14159...). Notice that the @PI function does not require an argument or parentheses. @COS(X) returns the Cosine of X. @COS(3) = -0.9900 @COS(@PI) = -1 @SIN(X) returns the Sine of X. @SIN(3) = 0.1411 @SIN(@PI) = 0 @TAN(X) returns the Tangent of X. @TAN(3) = -0.1425 @TAN(@PI/2) = ERROR @ACOS(X) returns the Arc Cosine of X (the angle whose cosine is X). The value of X must be in the range -1 to 1 or the @ACOS function will return ERROR as its value. @ACOS(-0.9900) = 3 @ACOS(2) = ERROR @ASIN(X) returns the Arc Sine of X (the angle whose sine is X). The value of X must be in the range -1 to 1 or the @ASIN function will return ERROR as its value. @ASIN(0.1411) = 3 @ASIN(2) = ERROR @ATAN(X) returns the Arc Tangent of X (the angle whose tangent is X). @ATAN(1) = .7854 33 STATISTICAL FUNCTIONS QubeCalc provides seven statistical functions which will calculate and return various statistics of a list of values. The list may consist of numbers, references to values in other cells, formulas, or a range or block of cells. Blocks of cells are defined by using the cell names of two opposite corners of the block separated by two periods (for example: C14;2..D16;3. Each individual item in the list must be separated by a comma. EXAMPLE: 1.23 + the value in the cell A1;1 + 2*3.14159... + the sum of the values in each cell in the block defined by the cells C14;2 and D16;3 =@SUM(1.23, A1;1, 2*@PI, C14;2..D16;3) If a cell reference which is used as an argument to a statistical function is blank it will be treated as having a value of zero. Any BLANK cells in a BLOCK, however, will be ignored by the statistical functions. Any cells which contain TEXT will not be ignored and will be treated as having a value of zero. @AVG(list) returns the average of all the items in the list. If the list contains only a block of all BLANK cells then @AVG will return ERROR as its value (because blank cells in a block are ignored and you can't take an average of no values). @AVG(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 4.5 @COUNT(list) returns the number of items in the list. A number or formula is counted as 1 item, a cell reference is counted as one item (even if it is BLANK), and a block is counted as the number of non-BLANK cells in the block. @COUNT(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 10 34 @MAXI(list) returns the maximum value in the list. If the list contains only a block of all BLANK cells then @MAXI will return ERROR as its value (because blank cells in a block are ignored and you can't find a maximum of no values). @MAXI(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 9 @MINI(list) returns the minimum value in the list. If the list contains only a block of all BLANK cells then @MINI will return ERROR as its value (because blank cells in a block are ignored and you can't find a minimum of no values). @MINI(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 0 @STD(list) returns the standard deviation of all the items in the list. If the list contains only a block of all BLANK cells then @STD will return ERROR as its value (because blank cells in a block are ignored and you can't calculate a standard deviation of no values). @STD(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 2.87 @SUM(list) returns the sum of all the items in the list. @SUM(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 45 @VAR(list) returns the variance of all the items in the list. If the list contains only a block of all BLANK cells then @VAR will return ERROR as its value (because blank cells in a block are ignored and you can't calculate a variance of no values). @VAR(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 8.25 35 FINANCIAL FUNCTIONS QubeCalc provides 4 financial functions. In these functions the number of periods must be greater than zero and the interest rate must be greater than or equal to -1 (if the interest rate is 10%, the value of the Interest argument should be 0.1 ). In the functions where an Interest argument is required, the Interest rate is per Period. For example, if your periods are in months, then your interest rate should be the interest rate per month (not per year). @FV(Payment, Interest, Periods) returns the future value of an annuity where Payment dollars are invested per period for the number of Periods at the given percentage of Interest. @FV(100,0.01,36) = 4307.69 @PV(Payment, Interest, Periods) returns the present value of an annuity where Payment dollars are received per period for the number of Periods at the given percentage of Interest. @PV(100,0.01,36) = 3010.75 @PMT(Principal, Interest, Periods) returns the payment per Period due for borrowing Principal dollars for the number of Periods at the given percentage of Interest. @PMT(5000,0.01,36) = 166.07 @CGR(Present Value, Future Value, Periods) returns the compound growth rate per period for an annuity growing from the present value to the future value over the given number of periods. @CGR(1000,1500,36) = 0.0194 (1.94%) 36 DATE AND TIME FUNCTIONS QubeCalc represents dates as serial numbers where Jan 1, 1900 = 1, Jan 2, 1900 = 2, and so on. This number represents the number of days from Dec 31, 1899. Time is represented as a fraction of a day where midnight = 0.0, noon = 0.5, 6:00PM = 0.75, and so on. This allows dates and times to be manipulated with ordinary math operations. For example, you could find out what day, month, and year 90 days from today is by simply adding 90 to the serial number which represents today's date. @NOW returns a number whose integer part is the serial number for the current date and fraction part represents the current time. To take advantage of this function you need to set the time and date when you boot up, or you must have a built in clock. If the current time and date were 8:05:17 AM on July 4, 1976, then the @NOW function would return the value 27945.337. @DATE(Year, Month, Day) returns the serial number for the given year, month, and day. @DATE(1976,7,4) = 27945 @TIME(Hour, Minute, Second) returns the fraction for the given hour, minute, and second. @TIME(8,5,17) = 0.337 @TIME(20,5,17) = 0.837 @YEAR(X) returns the year for the serial date X. @YEAR(27945) = 1976 @MONTH(X) returns the month for the serial date X. @MONTH(27945) = 7 @DAY(X) returns the day for the serial date X. @DAY(27945) = 4 @HOUR(X) returns the hour for the fraction time X. @HOUR(0.337) = 8 @HOUR(0.837) = 20 37 @MINUTE(X) returns the minute for the fraction time X. @MINUTE(0.337) = 5 @SECOND(X) returns the second for the fraction time X. @SECOND(0.337) = 17 LOGICAL FUNCTIONS @TRUE returns the value 1. @FALSE returns the value 0. @ISNUM(X) returns TRUE if X is a number. @ISNUM(23) returns TRUE @ISNUM("test") returns FALSE @ISTEXT(X) returns TRUE if X is text. @ISTEXT(23) returns FALSE @ISTEXT("test") returns TRUE @IF(CONDITION, ARG1, ARG2) If the value of CONDITION is true (not equal to 0) then ARG1 is returned, otherwise ARG2 is returned. The @IF function can return either text or numerical values (or both) as ARG1 and ARG2. @IF(2+3>4,11,@PI) = 11 @IF(2-3>4,11,@PI) = 3.14159 @IF(A1;1="Hello","Friendly","Hostile") @IF(TAXES<0.2,TAXES,"Revolt!") 38 SPECIAL FUNCTIONS @CHOOSE(SELECTOR, ARG1, ARG2,..., ARGN) If the value of SELECTOR is 1 then ARG1 is returned, if SELECTOR is 2 then ARG2 is returned, and so on. If SELECTOR is greater than the number of arguments provided, ERROR is returned. If the value of SELECTOR is not an integer value, then the @CHOOSE function will use the value of SELECTOR rounded to the nearest integer. The @IF function can return either text or numerical values (or both) as ARG1 and ARG2. @CHOOSE(3,2-1,@RAND,33,44) = 33 @CHOOSE(1,2-1,@RAND,33,44) = -1 @CHOOSE(0,2-1,@RAND,33,44) = ERROR @CHOOSE(5,2-1,@RAND,33,44) = ERROR @CHOOSE(DY,"Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat") NOTE: The @CHOOSE function in Lotus spreadsheets returns ARG1 if SELECTOR is 0 (not 1 like in QubeCalc). This difference is important to remember if you import a Lotus file which uses the @CHOOSE function. @INDEX("block name",ColOffset,RowOffset,PageOffset) returns the value of the cell in "block name" which is RowOffset rows, ColOffset columns, and PageOffset pages from the first cell in "block name". The top row of the block has a RowOffset of 0, the left column of the block has a ColOffset of 0, and the first page of the block has a PageOffset of 0. The "block name" does not actually have to be a complete range. It may be a single cell (like "A1;1"). 39 EXAMPLE: Using the spreadsheet page below (page 1 in Face A) A B C D E 1 abc def ghi jkl mno 2 11 22 33 44 55 3 pqr stu vwx yza bcd 4 66 77 88 99 123 @INDEX("A1;1",0,0,0) returns "abc" @INDEX("A1;1",2,1,0) returns 33 @INDEX("A1;1",2,1,1) returns the value of the cell C3;2 @INDEX("B3;1",3,1,0) returns 123 @INDEX("BILL",3,1,0) returns 123 if cell B3;1 has been named "BILL" Notice that the "block name" is a string argument rather than a simple block reference like A1;1..C5;3. This allows you to pull several nifty tricks. First, you should notice that @INDEX("A1;1",1,2,3) and @INDEX(A1;1,1,2,3) have VERY DIFFERENT MEANINGS!!! The first function (using "A1;1") says to use cell A1;1 as the first cell in the block. The second function (using A1;1 without quotes) says to look in cell A1;1, read what is in that cell, and use what you have read as the first cell in the block. If, for example, cell A1;1 contains the text Z29;6, then Z29;6 will be used as the first cell in the block. This is known as "indirect addressing". This means you can use a single @INDEX function to access any number of different blocks. 40 You may also use the text functions to create different "block names" in the same @INDEX function. @INDEX("A1;"+@STRING(Z29;3,0),0,1,2) reads the value in cell Z29;3, converts it to a string with the @STRING function, tacks it onto the string "A1;" and uses this new string as the "block name" to index into. **NOTE** RowOffset, ColOffset, and PageOffset refer to the row, column, and page offset in FACE A. If you are viewing your data from a face other than face A, the offset arguments will still be relative to face A. This is done to keep the @INDEX function working the same regardless of which face you happen to be viewing. TEXT FUNCTIONS QubeCalc provides the following functions which allow you to manipulate strings (text). A text string used in a formula must be enclosed with quotes "like this". A formula which accepts text arguments may reference cells which contain text. The referenced text may be either an ordinary text cell or the results of a text formula. EXAMPLES: ="Hi"+" there" will return and display "Hi there" (without the quotes) =A1;2+B3;4 will return and display "Hi there" (without the quotes) if A1;2 contains "Hi" and B3;4 contains " there" 41 @UPPER(S) converts S to all upper case. =@UPPER("Hello") returns "HELLO" =@UPPER("HeLLo") returns "HELLO" @LOWER(S) converts S to all lower case. =@LOWER("Hello") returns "hello" =@LOWER("HeLLo") returns "hello" @LEN(S) returns the number of characters in S. =@LEN("Hello there") returns 11 =@LEN("This is a test") returns 14 @VALUE(S) returns the number which S looks like. =@VALUE("1.23") returns the number 1.23 =@VALUE("-43") returns the number -43.0 @STRING(number,x) returns a string which looks like the number, with x digits after the decimal. =@STRING(1.234,2) returns the string "1.23" =@STRING(5.123,0) returns the string "5" @FIND(string1,string2,x) finds the first occurance of string1 in string2 starting at position x. The first character of a string is position 1, the next character is position 2, and so on. (Note that this differs from 1-2-3, which calls the first character position 0, the second character position 1, and so on). The comparison is case sensitive (Upper and lower case letters must match exactly). If you don't want case sensitivity, then simply use the @UPPER function on both of the string arguments. If a match is not found, then @FIND will return a value of zero. =@FIND("he","The cat is here",1) returns 2 =@FIND("he","The cat is here",3) returns 12 =@FIND("He","The cat is here",1) returns 0 @MID(S,start,n) returns n characters from S, starting with position start. =@MID("abcdefghij",2,3) returns the string "bcd" =@MID("abcdefghij",9,5) returns the string "ij" 42 @LEFT(S,n) returns the n left characters from S =@LEFT("This is a test",4) returns the string "This" @RIGHT(S,n) returns the n right characters from S =@RIGHT("This is a test",4) returns the string "test" @REPLAC(STRING,START,N,NEWSTRING) removes N characters from STRING starting at character START, and inserts NEWSTRING into STRING at this same position. @REPLAC can therefore be used as a replace, insert, or delete function. If you set N to zero, then @REPLAC will simply insert NEWSTRING into STRING at position START. If you set NEWSTRING to an empty string "", then @REPLAC will simply delete N characters starting at position START. =@REPLAC("This is a test",11,4,"game") returns "This is a game" =@REPLAC("This is a test",11,0,"BIG ") returns "This is a BIG test" =@REPLAC("This is a test",5,3,"") returns "This a test" 43 CELL DISPLAY FORMATS QubeCalc allows you to choose a number of different ways to display numeric data (cells which contain numbers or formulas). Changing the display format of a cell has no affect on the number or formula in the cell, it just changes how the result is displayed on the screen (or output to a printer). When a cell is first filled with data, the cell will take on the global (WorkQube) format. You can see what this format is by pressing the [F7] STAT key. The WorkQube format may be changed by using the /WorkQube Format command. The format of a cell which already contains data may be changed using either the /Cell Format command or the /Block Format command. If the formatted value contains more characters than the cell is able to display, then the cell display will be filled with asterisks (*******). You can fix this in one of two ways. First, you can select a display format which requires fewer characters to display (or reduce the number of digits after the decimal point to be displayed). The second method is to increase the cell width using the /Cell Width command. Cell widths are described in more detail in the next section. The available formats are described below. Numbers which are in cells with the GENERAL format are displayed in as general a format as possible. If the number is an integer value, then it will be displayed without a decimal point or trailing digits. If the number has a fractional part, then as many significant digits as possible will be displayed. If the column is not wide enough to display even the integer part of the number, then the number will be displayed in scientific notation. 44 Numbers which are in cells with the CURRENCY format are displayed with a leading dollar sign, and negative values are enclosed within parentheses. You must specify how many digits you want to be displayed after the decimal point. You will also be asked whether you want commas to be used to make large numbers more readable. Numbers which are in cells with the FIXED format are displayed with a specified number of places after the decimal point displayed. You will also be asked whether you want commas to be used to make large numbers more readable. Numbers which are in cells with the PERCENT format are converted to a percentage value (multiplied by 100) and are displayed with a trailing percentage sign. You must specify how many digits you want to be displayed after the decimal point. You will also be asked whether you want commas to be used to make large numbers more readable. Numbers which are in cells with the SCIENTIFIC format are displayed in scientific notation. This format displays numbers in the form M.MMME(+or-)XX where M.MMM is the mantissa and XX is the exponent. Values which are displayed with the scientific format will contain as many significant digits as can be fit into the cell width (up to a maximum of 11 significant digits). VALUE GENERAL CURRENCY PERCENT SCIENTIF FIXED 1 1 $1.00 100.00% 1.000E+00 1.00 10 10 $10.00 1000.00% 1.000E+01 10.00 1.234 1.234 $1.23 123.40% 1.234E+00 1.23 -1 -1 ($1.00) -100.00% -1.00E+00 -1.00 -10 -10 ($10.00) -1000.00% -1.00E+01 -10.00 -1.234 -1.234 ($1.23) -123.40% -1.23E+00 -1.23 45 Numbers which are in cells with the DATE format are displayed as a date. QubeCalc represents dates as serial numbers where Jan 1, 1900 = 1, Jan 2, 1900 = 2, and so on. This serial number represents the number of days from Dec 31, 1899. This format uses the value in the cell rounded to the nearest integer as the serial number, and generates a display for the date corresponding to that number. There are 4 available date formats which are shown below (along with some examples). VALUE dd-mmm-yy dd-mmm mmm-yy mm/dd/yy 1 01-Jan-00 01-Jan Jan-00 01/01/00 15000 24-Jan-41 24-Jan Jan-41 01/24/41 27945 04-Jul-76 04-Jul Jul-76 07/04/76 Numbers which are in cells with the TIME format are displayed as a time. QubeCalc represents time as a fraction of a day where midnight is the start of the day (0.0), noon is half a day (0.5), 6PM is 0.75 of a day and so on. This format uses the fractional part of the value in the cell, and generates a display for the time corresponding to that number. There are 2 available time formats which are shown below (along with some examples). VALUE AM/PM Military (24 Hour) 0.337 08:05:17AM 08:05:17 12.337 08:05:17AM 08:05:17 0.68 04:19:12PM 16:19:12 Numbers which are in cells with the HIDDEN format are NOT displayed. The data is still in the cell and the number (or formula) contents are still shown on the command line. 46 CELL WIDTHS QubeCalc assigns a width to each cell in the WorkQube. The width of a cell is a number which tells how many characters can be displayed in the cell. This width is used to help determine how wide the columns should be. A width is assigned to each individual cell (instead of to columns like in 2D spreadsheets) because each cell is a member of 3 different columns (depending on which Perspective you are looking at). Columns are automatically adjusted to be the same width as the widest non-BLANK cell in the column. If all the cells in a column are blank, the column width is set to the global (WorkQube) width. This allows column widths to remain flexible regardless of which perspective you are viewing. The width of a cell may be any number in the range 1 to 75. If a cell is not wide enough to display a formatted value or formula, the cell display will be filled with asterisks (*****). You may change cell widths either individually (using the /Cell Width command) or as a block (using the /Block Width command). When the WorkQube width setting is changed (using the /WorkQube Width command) it will affect only those cells which will be filled in the future and will not affect those cells which already contain data. The width of the current cell is always displayed at the end of the cell status line in the upper left hand corner. It is the number which is enclosed in parenthesis... i.e. (9). Special care needs to be taken when copying cells to other locations. Because a width is assigned to each individual cell (rather than to a column), if you copy a cell which has a cell width larger than the column you copy it to, it will increase the width of the new column. 47 ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE CELL REFERENCES Cell references in a formula can be either absolute or relative. Absolute cell references begin with the character "$" (for example $A1;1), but relative cell references do not use any special character (for example A1;1). The value of a formula is the same regardless of whether cell references in the formula are relative or absolute. For example, the formula =@SIN(A1;1) will have the same value as =@SIN($A1;1). The purpose of relative and absolute references is to let QubeCalc know what to do when moving formulas around from cell to cell (for example: when copying, inserting, deleting). You can have both absolute and relative references in the same equation if you want. An ABSOLUTE cell reference in a formula will ALWAYS point to the exact same cell no matter where the formula is moved to. A RELATIVE cell reference in a formula ALWAYS points to the cell which is a certain number of rows and columns away. If the formula is moved, the new relative cell reference will be adjusted to point to the cell the same number of rows and columns away from the new cell. EXAMPLE: The cell at location C3;1 contains the formula =$A1;1+A1;1. A B C D E 1 Absolute reference 2 3 =$A1;1+A1;1 4 5 Relative reference 6 (2 columns left & 2 rows up) 48 The first cell reference "$A1;1" is an absolute reference. The value in cell A1;1 should ALWAYS be used as the value of this reference (even if the formula is copied or moved). The second reference "A1;1" is a relative reference (because it has no "$"). Since cell A1;1 is 2 columns to the left of and 2 rows above cell C3;1, the value of this reference is taken from the cell which is 2 columns to the left of and 2 rows above the formula (even if the formula is copied or moved). If the contents of cell C3;1 is now copied to cell D5;1, the contents of D5;1 will be =$A1;1+B3;1. A B C D E 1 Absolute reference 2 3 4 5 =$A1+B3 6 Relative reference (2 columns left & 2 rows up) Notice that the absolute reference did NOT change (it still points "ABSOLUTELY" to cell A1;1), but the relative reference was adjusted so that it points to cell B3;1 (cell B3;1 is the cell which is 2 columns to the left of and 2 rows above the new cell D5;1). Relative references to other pages are also adjusted when a page is inserted or deleted, or data is copied from one page to another. 49 DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS QubeCalc provides many functions and commands which operate on a 2 dimensional range of cells or a 3 dimensional block of cells (for example, the [F3] BLOCK function and all of the /Block commands). These commands require you to define a block of cells to perform the operation on. There are two different ways to define a block of cells. 1. You may simply type in the block. This block consists of two cell references separated by two periods (for example A1;1..Z20;5). The two cell references (in this case A1;1 and Z20;5) should be the cells at opposite corners of the block to be defined. 2. You may also define a range or block of cells by highlighting the desired block and then pressing the return key. When a block is being defined all the cells in the block (which are visible) will be highlighted on the screen. On the command line you will see either a single cell address or a block address (2 cell addresses separated by 2 periods). A single cell address means that an "anchor" cell has not been selected. In this case, moving around with the arrow keys or the PgUp or PgDn key simply moves the cell pointer to a new cell, but does not highlight (or define) any other cells. If an anchor cell has been selected then ALL cells between the anchor cell and the current cell are defined (and highlighted if visible). The following keys are useful (or necessary) when defining a block: The arrow keys, PgUp, PgDn, Ctrl Left Arrow, Ctrl Right Arrow, Ctrl PgUp, and Ctrl PgDn allow you to move the cell pointer around. The Return key causes all the cells in the block on the command line to be defined. If only a single cell reference is displayed when you press the return key, then that cell will be defined. 50 Typing a period (.) when defining a block sets the anchor to the current cell. If an anchor was set before you pressed the period then it is released before the new one is set. The ESC key releases the anchor if it is set. If the anchor is not set and you type the ESC key then you are returned to whatever you were doing before you started defining the block. The [F4] ABS key toggles the block cell references between absolute and relative types. If no anchor is set then the first coordinate is toggled. If the anchor has been set then the [F4] key will toggle the non-anchor reference. The two types of cell references are described in more detail in the section titled ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE CELL REFERENCES. The [F5] GOTO & [F6] FIND keys allow you to GOTO a given cell or FIND a given string during a block definition. These functions allow you to move around the WorkQube during a block definition without having to use the cursor movement keys. These commands are described in the section titled MOVING AROUND IN THE WORKQUBE. 51 EDITING THE CONTENTS OF A CELL QubeCalc provides the ability to edit the data in a cell. You can call this editing function by hitting the [F2] EDIT key (if there is anything in the cell to edit). Also, if you make an error when entering a formula this editing capability will be called automatically. The Left arrow and Right arrow keys move the cursor one character to the left or right. The Home and End keys move the cursor to the first and last characters in the line. The Backspace key deletes the character to the left of the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. The Ctrl-Backspace sequence deletes the entire line. The Delete key deletes the character underneath the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. The Insert key toggles between insert and overwrite modes. When you are in insert mode, typing a character will insert the new character into the line at the point where the cursor is. The character under the cursor and those to the right of the cursor are shifted to the right to make room for the new character. When you are in overwrite mode, typing a character will replace the character under the cursor with the new character. When you select insert mode, it will remain in effect until you change it (it doesn't go back to overwrite mode as soon as you finish editing). If you are in insert mode, the letter "I" will be visible on the bottom line of the screen between the memory indicator and the AutoCalc status. 52 If you attempt to edit a cell which contains a link to another spreadsheet, you will be allowed to edit both the name of the file to link to, and the name of the block to link to. There is a shortcut available when you are entering a cell reference or a block reference in a formula. This shortcut involves using the [F3] BLOCK function key. Rather than typing in cell or block references (for example, B14;2..C15;3), the [F3] BLOCK key allows you to use the movement keys to move the cell pointer to "point" to the cell (or cells) you want to be in the formula. The cell reference (or the block reference if you are defining a block) are inserted into the formula you are entering. This reference will be adjusted in the formula as you move the cell pointer around the WorkQube. When the reference is the one you want, you simply hit the return key to continue entering the rest of the formula. As an example, lets say you want to enter a formula in the current cell which takes the absolute value of the cell just below the current cell. You would first type: =@ABS( Then, instead of typing in the name of the cell below the current cell, you could simply hit the [F3] BLOCK key. This would put the name of the current cell into the formula like this: =@ABS(C14;2 You could then type the Down Arrow to move the cell pointer down one cell. This would change the C14;2 in the formula above to the name of this new cell: =@ABS(C15;2 53 Since this is what you wanted, you just hit the return key to allow you to finish your formula. Then just type the right parentheses ) and hit the return key to enter the formula into the cell. More information on defining blocks can be found in the section titled DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. Whenever you are in the [F3] BLOCK mode you may use the [F4] ABS function key to toggle the cell or block references between ABSOLUTE and RELATIVE (this toggles the "$" on and off). More information on the two types of cell references can be found in the section titled ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE CELL REFERENCES. 54 CELL COMMANDS The /Cell option of the main menu provides several commands to manipulate the contents and status of a single cell. The cell which is affected is the one which is currently highlighted on the screen by the cell pointer and is known as the current cell. The /Cell commands which are available are: Format Width Erase Justify Copy CELL FORMAT The /Cell Format command allows you to set or change the way numerical data in the current cell is displayed. Numerical data means either a number or a formula (which yields a number). If the cell is BLANK then the format will NOT be changed and the cell will continue to have the WorkQube Format (which can be changed using the /WorkQube Format command). The available formats are Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Date, Time, General, and Hidden. For more information on formats see the section titled CELL DISPLAY FORMATS. CELL WIDTH The /Cell Width command allows you to change the number of characters which can be displayed in the current cell. If the cell is BLANK then the width will NOT be changed and the cell will continue to have the WorkQube Width (which can be changed using the /WorkQube Width command). The width of a cell can be any value in the range 1 to 75. For more information on cell widths see the section titled CELL WIDTHS. 55 CELL ERASE The /Cell Erase command allows you to erase the contents of the current cell. All the characteristics of the current cell will return to the global (WorkQube) settings. This includes the display format, the number of digits after the decimal point, and the cell width. The cell type will be reset to BLANK and the memory used by the cell will be deallocated for use by future data. CELL JUSTIFY The /Cell Justify command allows you to change the way text strings are displayed (justified) in the current cell. Text may be left justified, right justified, or centered in the cell. If the cell is BLANK then the justification will NOT be changed and the cell will continue to have the WorkQube Justification (which can be changed using the /WorkQube Justify command). For more information on justification see the section titled ENTERING DATA INTO THE WORKQUBE (Text). CELL COPY (REPLICATE) The /Cell Copy command allows you to copy a single cell to a 3 dimensional block of cells. First, move the cell pointer to the cell to be copied, then select the /Cell Copy command. You will then be asked to define the block to copy the cell to. You may use any of the movement keys (including the [F5] GOTO and [F6] FIND keys) to define the block as described in the section titled DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. Once the block has been defined the contents of the original cell will be copied into each cell in the block. If the original cell contains a formula with relative cell references, those references will be adjusted when they are copied to the new cells (for more information on relative cell references see the section titled ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE CELL REFERENCES. 56 BLOCK COMMANDS The /Block option of the main menu provides several commands to manipulate the contents and status of a defined block of cells. The defined block may consist of a single cell, a 2 dimensional range of cells, or a 3 dimensional block of cells. The block is defined as described in the section above called DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. The /Block commands which are available are: Format Width Erase Justify Copy DataFill Name Link Sort BLOCK FORMAT The /Block Format command allows you to set or change the way numerical data in each cell in a block is displayed. Numerical data means either a number or a formula (which yields a number). All of the cells in the defined block which contain data will be set to the new format that you choose. Cells in the block which are BLANK, however, will NOT be changed and the cell will continue to have the WorkQube Format (which can be changed using the /WorkQube Format command). The available formats are Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Date, Time, General, and Hidden. For more information on formats see the section titled CELL DISPLAY FORMATS. BLOCK WIDTH The /Block Width command allows you to change the number of characters which can be displayed in each cell in a block. All of the cells in the defined block which contain data will be set to the new width that you choose. Cells in the block which are BLANK, however, will NOT be changed and the cell will continue to have the WorkQube Width (which can be changed using the /WorkQube Width command). The width of a cell can be any value in the range 1 to 75. For more information on cell widths see the section titled CELL WIDTHS. 57 BLOCK ERASE The /Block Erase command allows you to erase the contents of all the cells in a block. All the characteristics of every cell in the defined block will return to the global (WorkQube) settings. This includes the display format, the number of digits after the decimal point, and the cell width. The cell type of each cell will be reset to BLANK and the memory used by the cells will be deallocated for use by future data. BLOCK JUSTIFY The /Block Justify command allows you to change the way text strings are displayed in each cell in a block. Text may be left justified, right justified, or centered in each cell. All of the cells which contain TEXT will be set to the new justification that you choose. Cells in the block which are BLANK, however, will NOT be changed and the cell will continue to have the WorkQube Justification (which can be changed using the /WorkQube Justify command). For more information on justification see the section titled ENTERING DATA INTO THE WORKQUBE (Text). BLOCK COPY The /Block Copy command allows you to copy a 3D block of cells to the current cell location. First, move the cell pointer to the cell where you want the block of cells copied to. Then select the /Block Copy command. You will then be asked to define the block which is to be copied. You may use any of the movement keys (including the [F5] GOTO and [F6] FIND keys) to define the block as described in the section titled DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. Once the block has been defined the block of cells will be copied to the new location. The upper, left cell on the lowest page in the block will be the one which is copied into the current cell. If any cells in the block contain a formula with relative cell references, those references will 58 be adjusted during the copy to the new location (for more information on relative cell references see the section titled ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE CELL REFERENCES. If the block you define to copy with the /Block Copy command is a two dimensional range (not multiple pages), then QubeCalc will ask you how many pages you want to copy it to. This allows you to create a spreadsheet template on one page, and then copy that template to as many pages in the WorkQube as you want (or have memory for). As an example of how this works: 1. Goto the first page you want something copied to. 2. Select the /Block Copy command. 3. Go define the 2D range (or page) you want copied. 4. QubeCalc will now ask you how many pages you want to copy to. 5. Enter the number of pages to copy to. BLOCK DATAFILL The /Block DataFill command provides a way to fill a specified block of cells with a sequence of numbers. You are asked for an equation which is used to determine the values placed in each of the cells to be filled. This equation may be any legal formula containing numbers, operators, cell or block references, or functions. In addition, the DataFill command provides a variable named # which is initialized to 0 and is incremented by 1 for each cell in the block. This variable may be used anywhere within the equation to provide an endless number of sequences which may be generated. The cells in the block are filled in the default WorkQube order (which may be changed using the /WorkQube Order command). 59 A sample of some equations and the types of sequence they generate is: =# (or simply hitting return) generates a sequence from 0 to the of cells in the block. (0,1,2,3,4,5,6...) =#*3+5 generates a sequence starting with 5 and incrementing by 3. (5,8,11,14,17,20...) =@EXP(#) generates an exponential sequence (notice that sequences are not limited to fixed step sizes as in other spreadsheet fill commands!) =@RAND generates a sequence of random numbers between zero and one (with a uniform distribution). BLOCK NAME The /Block Name command allows you to give a name to a cell or block of cells. This name can then be used anywhere that a cell or block reference can be used. For example: If you assigned the name "COST" to cell C5;1 and "PRICE" to D7;3 then: 1. The formula =PRICE-COST is identical to =D7;3-C5;1 2. You can go to cell C5;1 by typing COST when using the [F5]GOTO key. 60 If you assigned the name "PRICES" to the block B3;1..C6;3 then: 1. The formula =@AVG(PRICES) is identical to =@AVG(B3;1..C6;3) 2. You can go to cell B3;1 by typing PRICES when using [F5]GOTO. When you use the [F5]GOTO key to go to a block, you will be placed at the near, upper left cell in the block. 3. You can erase block B3;1..C6;3 (or perform any other block command) by typing PRICES when you are asked for the block to use. You define a block name by selecting the /Block Name command. When you select this command you will be presented with the following menu: Define Undefine List DEFINE: This option lets you name the cell or block. When you select this option you are asked what name you would like to give to the cell or block. This name must begin with a letter of the alphabet and can be up to 8 characters long. You are then asked to define the block to name. Just mark off the block (or cell), hit return, and that's it. UNDEFINE: This option releases the block name which is associated with a block. When you select this option, just enter the name of the block to release and it will be done. LIST: This option lists the current block names (you can have up to 51 block names defined in a spreadsheet). 61 BLOCK LINK The /Block Link command allows you to link multiple spreadsheets together. You are not limited to linking to a single cell. You may link to an entire 3 dimensional block within the other spreadsheet. You create the link using the /Block Link command. The link which you create will be placed in the cell which the cell pointer is currently sitting on. When you select the /Block Link command, you will be asked for two items: 1. The name of the QubeCalc file you want to link to. Do not add the .QUB extension; QubeCalc will do this for you. The file you want to link to must already exist, or QubeCalc will ignore your entry. 2. The name of the block you want to link to. This block name can be: - a cell reference (example: C32;4) - a block reference (example: B10;2..C13;5) - a block name (example: INTEREST) It is usually best to use a block name rather than a cell or block reference in case the block reference you link to is modified in some way. The cell which you are sitting on when you create the link will contain the actual link, and is known as the "link cell". If you create a link to a single cell in another spreadsheet file, then the link cell will take on the same value as the cell in the other file. If you change the value of the cell in the other file, the value of the linked cell will change also. 62 If you create a link to a block of cells in another spreadsheet file, then the link cell will take on the same value as the cell in the upper left corner of the block in the other file. The cells to the right of and below the link cell will take on the values of the corresponding cells from the block in the other file. Links to cells or blocks in other spreadsheets always take on the NUMERICAL value of the cells which they are linked to. If you link to a cell which contains either TEXT or a formula which returns a string value, then the link will take on the value 0 for that cell. BLOCK SORT The /Block Sort command allows you to sort a range of cells by row or column. When you select this command you are presented with the following menu: Block Key Options Go Selecting Block lets you define the range of cells you want sorted. Selecting Key lets you select the row or column you want to sort on. Selecting Options lets you select whether you want to sort: - ROWS or COLUMNS - TEXT or NUMBERS - in ASCENDING or DESCENDING order Selecting Go performs the sort using the current range, key, and options. 63 The sort is performed "in place". In other words, when the data has been sorted, the rows (or columns) which are sorted are the only ones which can change. Blank and unsorted rows (or columns) are not "filtered up" to the top of the range. For example, supposed you wanted to sort the numbers in following data in ascending order. When the sort is finished, the numbers have been sorted, and the text headers, underlining, and blank lines remain where they were and are not filtered to the top or bottom. BEFORE SORT AFTER SORT HEADER 1 HEADER 1 6 1 3 2 4 3 2 4 HEADER 2 HEADER 2 7 5 1 6 5 7 Although QubeCalc only lists a single key to sort on, it is actually possible to sort a range on as many keys as you want. Simply sort the range on the last key first, the next to last key second, and so on (the primary key will be the last one you sort on). 64 For example, suppose you want to sort the following range on the keys shown (all in ascending order): KEY1 KEY2 KEY3 cat yellow 2 fish gold 1 dog brown 4 fish black 1 cat yellow 1 cat black 3 First sort on KEY3, using Rows, Numbers, Ascending. You will get: fish gold 1 fish black 1 cat yellow 1 cat yellow 2 cat black 3 dog brown 4 Next sort on KEY2, using Rows, Text, Ascending. You will get: fish black 1 cat black 3 dog brown 4 fish gold 1 cat yellow 1 cat yellow 2 And finally sort on KEY1, using Rows, Text, Ascending. You will get: cat black 3 cat yellow 1 cat yellow 2 dog brown 4 fish black 1 fish gold 1 65 WORKQUBE COMMANDS The /WorkQube option of the main menu provides several commands which affect the contents and status of the entire WorkQube. The /WorkQube commands which are available are: Format Width Erase Justify Perspective AutoCalc Order Color Title WORKQUBE FORMAT The /WorkQube Format command allows you to set the way numerical data (number or formula) entered into a cell will be displayed. Numerical data means either a number or a formula (which yields a number). This command does NOT affect any of the cells in the WorkQube which already contain data. It is used to determine what format should be used for BLANK cells which are filled with data in the future. The available formats are Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Date, Time, General, and Hidden. For more information on formats see the section titled CELL DISPLAY FORMATS. WORKQUBE WIDTH The /WorkQube Width command allows you to set the number of characters which will be displayed in future cells. This command does NOT affect any of the cells in the WorkQube which already contain data. It is used to determine what width should be used for BLANK cells which are filled with data in the future. The width of a cell may be any number in the range 1 to 75. For more information on cell widths see the section titled CELL WIDTHS. 66 WORKQUBE ERASE The /WorkQube Erase command allows you to erase the contents of every cell in the WorkQube (clears the WorkQube). This command will also reset all of the WorkQube settings to their defaults (print and graph blocks, macro definitions, etc). Because this command can have a drastic effect if you use it accidently, QubeCalc will prompt you first to make sure you really want to erase everything. WORKQUBE JUSTIFY The /WorkQube Justify command allows you to set the way text strings entered into a cell will be displayed. Text may be left justified, right justified, or centered in each cell. This command does NOT affect any of the cells in the WorkQube which already contain data. It is used to determine what justification should be used for BLANK cells which are filled with TEXT in the future. For more information on justification see the section titled ENTERING DATA INTO THE WORKQUBE (Text). WORKQUBE PERSPECTIVE QubeCalc allows you to look at (or enter) your data in any of the six possible perspectives (or faces) of the WorkQube. The six faces are named A thru F. Face A is the face of the WorkQube which faces you when you first boot up QubeCalc. Face A - FRONT of the WorkQube. Face B - RIGHT SIDE of the WorkQube. Face C - TOP of the WorkQube. Face D - BACK SIDE of the WorkQube. Face E - LEFT SIDE of the WorkQube. Face F - BOTTOM of the WorkQube. 67 The current face letter is provided in the upper left corner in front of the current cell name (surrounded by square brackets [] ). The current orientation of the WorkQube may be changed using the /WorkQube Perspective command. This will in effect rotate your data so that you may view it from another perspective. For example, suppose you have the following spreadsheets in pages 1 through 3 of face A: PAGE 1 (FACE A) PAGE 2 (FACE A) PAGE3 (FACE A) A B A B A B 1 11 21 1 31 41 1 51 61 2 12 22 2 32 42 2 52 62 3 13 23 3 33 43 3 53 63 4 14 24 4 34 44 4 54 64 Every cell in the WorkQube lies directly behind the corresponding cell on the previous page. For example, cell B3 on page 3 (named B3;3) lies directly behind cell B3 on page 2 (named B3;2), and cell B3;2 lies directly behind cell B3;1. Similarly, each column and row in the WorkQube lies directly behind the correponding column or row on the previous page. Now, suppose you wanted to compare the values in column A of page 1 to the values in column A of pages 2 and 3. One way would be to use the PgUp and PgDn keys to change back and forth between pages. The /WorkQube Perspective command provides a much better way to do this however. Since the column A's are right next to each other (in depth), it should be possible to display these columns next to each other on the screen. This is done by rotating the WorkQube (to face B in this case). When you rotate the WorkQube, what were the "A" columns in pages 1, 2, and 3 of face A, become columns A, B, and C in page 1 of face B. And the "B" columns from pages 1, 2, and 3 of face A become columns A, B, and C in page 2 of face B. 68 PAGE 1 (FACE B) PAGE 2 (FACE B) A B C A B C 1 11 31 51 1 21 41 61 2 12 32 52 2 22 42 62 3 13 33 53 3 23 43 63 4 14 34 54 4 24 44 64 For more information on rotating the WorkQube, see the section titled THE WORKQUBE. Sometimes you may find it desirable to transpose your data (swap rows for columns). Some other spreadsheets allow you to transpose rows and columns which contain numbers, but can't transpose equations correctly. QubeCalc provides the ability to transpose any set of rows and columns correctly. All you need to do to transpose a set of rows and columns is simply use the /WorkQube Perspective command and switch your perspective to the face opposite the one you are currently viewing!!! WORKQUBE AUTOCALC QubeCalc normally recalculates the WorkQube automatically after any cell value is changed. The /WorkQube AutoCalc command allows you to select how this automatic recalculation feature (AutoCalc) will operate. The three AutoCalc options are: WorkQube Off Block Iteration The WorkQube option causes the entire WorkQube to be recalculated each time a cell value is changed. The Off option causes the WorkQube to be recalculated only when the [F9] CALC key is pressed. 69 The Block option allows you to define a block of cells which will be recalculated each time a cell value is changed. The cells in the defined block are the only cells which are recalculated, so if formulas in the block you define to be recalculated depend upon results from formulas outside of the block, you may end up with some erroneous (wrong) answers. The Iteration option allows you to set a recalculation interation count so that QubeCalc will make more than one pass through the spreadsheet on each recalculation. The [F9] CALC key recalculates the current AutoCalc block shown at the bottom of the screen (even if AutoCalc is turned off). The recalculation status (On/Off) and the recalculation block are always displayed at the bottom of the QubeCalc screen. If the entire WorkQube is to be recalculated the block is displayed as A1;1..BL64;64. The cells are recalculated in the order set by the /WorkQube Order command. WORKQUBE ORDER Because QubeCalc is a TRUE 3-D spreadsheet there are six (6) possible orders in which recalculation, datafilling, etc. may be performed. The /WorkQube Order command allows you to select any one of these possible orders, which are: A) Columns change fastest, then Rows, then Pages B) Pages change fastest, then Rows, then Columns C) Rows change fastest, then Pages, then Columns D) Rows change fastest, then Columns, then Pages E) Pages change fastest, then Columns, then Rows F) Columns change fastest, then Pages, then Rows 70 The default order is D. This is the order that QubeCalc performs operations in when you first start up. You can find out what the current order is with the [F7] STAT function key. The WorkQube order will be followed as above according to the perspective you are currently looking at. The order is used when performing the following functions: recalculation, copying blocks of cells, graphing, and datafilling. WORKQUBE COLOR The /WorkQube Color command simply toggles the QubeCalc display between color and black/white (if you have a color card installed). Sometimes the contrast of black and white is preferable to the preset colors. WORKQUBE TITLE The /WorkQube Title command allows you to lock (or hold) title rows and columns on the screen. The /WorkQube Title command acts as a toggle to turn locking on and off. If you are in title lock mode, the letter "L" will be visible on the bottom line of the screen between the memory indication and the AutoCalc status. When you turn title locking on, the rows above the cell pointer and the columns to the left of the cell pointer will be locked onto the screen. You cannot move the cell pointer into rows and columns which have been locked on the screen. You also cannot move the cell pointer into any pages which lie below the page where you set title locking on. The locked rows and columns will remain displayed on the screen even when you move the cell pointer off the right side or bottom of the screen. Only the unlocked rows and columns will scroll. 71 If you don't want to lock rows, then make sure the cell pointer is in row 1 when you title lock. If you don't want to lock columns, then make sure the cell pointer is in column A when you title lock. If you don't want to lock pages, then make sure the cell pointer is in page 1 when you title lock. You can lock each of the 6 faces individually. 72 INSERTING ROWS, COLUMNS, OR PAGES The /Insert option of the main menu allows you to insert a blank row, column, or page into the WorkQube. When the /Insert Row command is selected a new row is inserted at the point where the cell pointer is located and the rows at and below the cell pointer are shifted down to make room for the new one. The bottom row in the WorkQube is pushed off the end and is lost. When the /Insert Column command is selected a new column is inserted at the point where the cell pointer is located and the columns at and to the right of the cell pointer are shifted right to make room for the new one. The rightmost column in the WorkQube is pushed off the end and is lost. When the /Insert Page command is selected a new page is inserted at the point where the cell pointer is located and the pages at and behind the cell pointer are shifted out to make room for the new one. The last page in the WorkQube is pushed off the end and is lost. All relative cell references in the WorkQube which point to a shifted cell will be adjusted except for one exception. Relative references which point to a cell which is lost due to being pushed off the end of the WorkQube are NOT adjusted to point somewhere off in HyperSpace. These references will continue to point to the same cell location as if they were absolute references. 73 DELETING ROWS, COLUMNS, OR PAGES The /Delete option of the main menu allows you to delete a row, column, or page from the WorkQube. When the /Delete Row command is selected the row that the cell pointer is on is removed and the rows below the cell pointer are shifted up to fill in the deleted one. The bottom row in the WorkQube is then filled with blank cells. When the /Delete Column command is selected the column that the cell pointer is on is removed and the columns to the right of the cell pointer are shifted left to fill in the deleted one. The rightmost row in the WorkQube is then filled with blank cells. When the /Delete Page command is selected the page that the cell pointer is on is removed and the pages behind the cell pointer are shifted in to fill in the deleted one. The last page in the WorkQube is then filled with blank cells. All relative cell references in the WorkQube which point to a shifted cell will be adjusted except for one exception. Relative references which point to a cell which is deleted are NOT adjusted to point off somewhere in HyperSpace. These references will continue to point to the same cell location as if they were absolute references. 74 SAVING AND LOADING DATA FILES The /File option of the main menu provides several ways of saving and loading data to and from a disk file. The file name must be a legal DOS name and must not contain an extension. QubeCalc automatically assigns a .QUB extension to all QubeCalc data files, so if you try to add your own extension you will get either a "File not found" or an "Illegal file name" error. QubeCalc provides full path support. This means that you can access files without having to change directories. Simply type the full path name when you are asked for a file name. If you do not provide a full path name, the file will be written to (or read from) the current active directory which is shown on the top line of the screen. The /File commands which are available are: Load Save Combine Extract Directory Files The /File Save command asks you for a file name to save the WorkQube to, and then writes the data to disk. In addition to saving the data in the cells, QubeCalc will also save all the WorkQube settings, any Macro definitions, all the Print and Graph settings, and the current Face and cell pointer position. If the file name you provide is already being used in the current directory, you will be asked whether you want to Backup the existing file or else Overwrite it. If you select Backup, the extension of the existing file's name will be changed from .QUB to .BAK and the new file will be saved with a .QUB extension. The /File Extract command is similar to the Save command except that it allows you to save a 3 dimensional block of cells rather than the entire WorkQube (it "EXTRACTS" a block of cells for saving). You will be asked to define a block of cells to save. The defined block may consist of a single cell, a 2 dimensional range of cells, or a 3 75 dimensional block of cells. The block is defined as described in the section titled DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. QubeCalc will also save all the WorkQube settings, any Macro definitions, all the Print and Graph settings, and the current Face and cell pointer position. The /File Load command asks you for a file to be read in, clears the WorkQube, and loads in the specified file. In addition to loading the data in the cells, QubeCalc will also load in the WorkQube settings, any Macro definitions, all the Print and Graph settings, and the current Face and cell pointer position. Since the /File Load command erases all the data in memory before it can load in a new file, make sure you do not have any unsaved data in the WorkQube when you use this command. QubeCalc provides a shortcut for the first file you want to load. If you want to start up with a particular file, you may supply the file name on the command line and that file will be loaded when the program comes up. For example, if you want to use a file named TAXES.QUB, then type the following when you first run QubeCalc: QUBECALC TAXES You may provide a full pathname for the file, otherwise QubeCalc will look for the file in either the current directory, or in the startup data directory you specified using the SETUP.COM program. The /File Combine command allows you to combine several QubeCalc files into a single file. QubeCalc asks you for a file to be read in, and loads the file without clearing the WorkQube. Any cells which were originally in the WorkQube will remain unchanged after the /File Combine command unless the new file contains data in those same cells. Cells which are combined in that contain NUMBERS, TEXT, or FORMULAS will overwrite existing cells, but cells which are combined in that are BLANK will not have any effect on existing cells. 76 All of the WorkQube settings, any Macro definitions, all the Print and Graph settings, and the current Face and cell pointer position will remain the same and will NOT be read in from the new file. The /File Directory command allows you to change to another directory or drive. You may enter either a full DOS pathname or simply a subdirectory name to be appended to the current directory. For example, if the current directory is B:\dir1 then entering: C: switches to the active directory on the C: drive C:\ switches to the root directory on the C: drive C:\dir2 switches to dir2 on the C: drive dir2 switches to B:\dir1\dir2 (if dir2 exists) \ switches to B:\ The /File Files command displays the files in the current directory. This command is similar to DOS's dir command. The file listing command prompts you for a file mask. A file mask is a string which is used to determine which files to list. If you enter a single filename as the mask, then only that file will be shown in the directory listing. You may also use the wildcard characters * and ? (see your DOS manual for more information on wildcard characters). The default file mask is *.*, which provides a listing of all the files in the current directory. If you only want to look at QubeCalc files then you can specify the mask as *.QUB. The /File Files command also lists any subdirectories which match the mask you provide. Directories will be highlighted on the display. Hitting any key after the files have been displayed will return you to the WorkQube. 77 PRINTING YOUR DATA The /Print option of the main menu allows you to generate a print out of your data. When you select the /Print option you will be presented with a menu offering the choice of printing to the Printer or to a File. If you select the File option, QubeCalc will ask you for a file name to use, and will send the same data to the file as it would normally send to the printer. Sending data to a print file instead of to the printer will allow you to read your printed spreadsheet into your word processor and modify it or merge it into a document. The /Print commands which are available are: Block Line Page Options ResetBlock Align Go The /Print Block command lets you define the block of cells to be printed. The defined block may consist of a single cell, a 2 dimensional range of cells, or a 3 dimensional block of cells. The block is defined as described in the section titled DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. QubeCalc can print up to 240 characters on one line. If you define the Print block to be wider than 240 characters, then only the first 240 characters of each line will be printed. QubeCalc will print as many characters per line as you define in the block (up to the 240 character maximum), so if your printer can only print 80 characters on a line and the Print block you define is 100 characters wide, the extra 20 characters per line will still be sent to your printer (and will either wrap around onto the next line or will just be ignored by the printer). The /Print ResetBlock command releases (undefines) the block to be printed. The /Print Align command tells QubeCalc that the printer paper is at the top of the page. You should use this command when you first get ready to print something. First, adjust the paper in the printer so that it is at the top of the page, then select this command. 78 The /Print Line command advances the printer a single line. You should use this command instead of just turning the knob on the printer. This command allows QubeCalc to keep track of which line it is on. If you manually adjust the printer (by turning the knob), then you will have to use the /Print Align command to tell QubeCalc where the top of the page is again. The /Print Page command advances the printer to the top of the next page. You should use this command instead of just turning the knob on the printer. This command allows QubeCalc to keep track of which line it is on. If you manually adjust the printer (by turning the knob), then you will have to use the /Print Align command to tell QubeCalc where the top of the page is again. The /Print Go command begins printing the defined block of cells. You may print out your data in one of two formats: Contents (which prints the cell name and contents of each cell, one per line) or Display (which prints the block of cells as they would be displayed on the screen). The Display format is the one you normally want to use. It displays your data in the formats and positions you have selected. The Contents format is useful for debugging a spreadsheet since it prints out the actual formulas instead of the values of the formulas. If no Print block has been defined (using the /Print Block command) then the /Print Go command will simply be ignored. Before any of your data is actually sent to the printer, the Setup string will be sent to allow you to initialize or change the settings on your printer (the Setup string is described below). 79 The /Print Options command allows you to change the print margins, page length, and Setup string. Setup Left Top Bottom PageLength The Setup string is a sequence of characters which is sent to the printer each time the /Print Go command is selected (before the actual data is sent). You may set this string to anything you wish. It is generally used to send control sequences to the printer to select printer options (italics or compressed print for example). To send a control character to the printer simply place a slash character / followed by the three digit ASCII code (in decimal) for the control character into the Setup string. EXAMPLE: Since the ASCII value (in decimal) for the escape character is 27, you would use a setup string of /027E to send an ESC E to the printer (this sequence selects emphasized print on an EPSON printer). Printer settings selected using the Setup string will remain in effect until the setting is reset using the Setup string or until the printer is turned off. The Left margin option lets you select how many characters from the left edge you wish to begin printing. If you set Left to 5 then QubeCalc will space over 5 characters from the left edge of the page before it begins printing your data. The Top and Bottom margin options let you select how many blank lines you want at the top and bottom of the page. If Top is set to 3 then QubeCalc will not print in the top 3 lines of any page (the printing will start on the fourth line of every page). If Bottom is set to 2 then QubeCalc will not print in the bottom 2 lines of any page (QubeCalc will automatically advance the paper to the next page before it resumes printing). The PageLength option lets you select how many physical lines are on a page (on 8 1/2" x 11" paper at 6 lines per inch there are 66 lines). QubeCalc needs this information so that it can keep track of where it is on the page. 80 GRAPHING YOUR DATA The /Graph option of the main menu provides you with the ability to create graphs representing blocks of your data. The order in which the cells are graphed follows the /WorkQube Order setting. If you have a GRAPHICS.COM driver which works with your particular printer, then loading it before you run QubeCalc will allow you to print your graphs to a printer by simply typing Shift-PrtSc. The /Graph commands which are available are: Type X A B C Options ResetBlock View The /Graph Type command lets you select the type of graph to be displayed. Your data may be graphed using either Bar graphs or Line graphs. Line graphs can be plotted using lines, symbols, or both. If you ask for symbols to be drawn then one symbol will be placed on the graph for every data value. QubeCalc can display up to 3 separate sets (or blocks) of data on the same graph. The /Graph A, B, and C commands let you define the blocks containing the data to be graphed. The defined block may consist of a single cell, a 2 dimensional range of cells, or a 3 dimensional block of cells. The block is defined as described in the section titled DEFINING A 3D BLOCK OF CELLS. The values in each block will be graphed in the WorkQube order. This means that you may change the order that the cells are graphed in by either using the /WorkQube Order command or by changing to another face to graph the data. Any cells in the block which are BLANK or which contain TEXT will be treated as having a value of zero. The /Graph X command lets you select the block which contains the items to be placed along the X axis. These "items" may be TEXT or numerical data (NUMBERS or FORMULAS). Since the X axis may become a little overcrowded with too many "items", QubeCalc provides the Spacing option (see /Graph Options) to help you avoid some of this clutter. 81 The /Graph ResetBlock command releases (undefines) any one or all of the blocks to be graphed (A, B, C, X). The /Graph View command displays the defined blocks graphically using the settings selected with the TYPE and OPTIONS commands. The graph will remain displayed on your screen until you press a key. Once a key is pressed QubeCalc will return to the WorkQube display. QubeCalc will still be in the /Graph menu so that you may make any adjustments or additions you want. The [F10] GRAPH function key can be used to display a graph using the current graph settings and blocks. This function works just like the /Graph View command except that it works only when you are in the regular data entry mode (instead of from the command menus). This function is useful because it allows you to change data in a previously defined Graph block and display a graph of that data by just hitting a single key. The /Graph Options command lets you change various display features of the graph to be drawn. You may change the title, the X and Y axis labels, the data legends, the Y axis format, and the spacing of the values along the X axis. A Title may be provided which describes the graph as a whole. This title is placed over the top of the graph if it is provided. Labels which describe the X and Y axes may be provided and will be placed along the X and Y axes if provided. A separate Legend may be provided for each of the 3 data blocks (A, B, and C). The Legend is a short text string which tells a little bit about the data block (like why it is different from the other data blocks). The Format option lets you format the values along the Y axis using any of QubeCalc's standard formats. These formats include Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Date, and Time. See the section titled CELL DISPLAY FORMATS for more information on these formats. 82 The Spacing option lets you decide how to space the values along the X axis. If SPACING=1 then every value from the X block will be placed along the X axis. If SPACING=3 then every third value from the X block will be used. SPACING can range anywhere between 1 and 240. 83 DEFINING AND USING MACROS QubeCalc allows you to assign multiple keystrokes (and commands) to a single key. This group of keystrokes (or commands) is known as a "Macro". Macros provide a way to create shortcuts for long sequences of keystrokes. They are also useful for automating repetitive commands. There are 3 steps involved in using a macro: - Creating the macro. - Defining the macro. - Running the macro. A macro is created by simply typing the desired keystroke sequence as text entries into consecutive cells down a column (you may have to start each cell with a ' character to make it a text entry). When the macro is run, QubeCalc will read the keystrokes out of these cells instead of waiting for you to type them in from the keyboard. If you have more keystrokes for a macro than will fit in a single cell, you can continue them in the next cell down in the column. When creating a macro you may generally just type the desired keystrokes into the cell. In the case of Function Keys, cursor movement keys, and a few other special keys it is necessary to type the name of the key CAPITALIZED and enclosed in square brackets []. Below is a list of the available special keys. 84 [UP] Up Arrow [INS] Insert Key [DOWN] Down Arrow [DEL] Delete Key [LEFT] Left Arrow [EDIT] Edit Key (F2) [RIGHT] Right Arrow [BLOCK] Block Key (F3) [HOME] Home Key [ABS] Abs/Rel Key (F4) [END] End Key [GOTO] Goto Key (F5) [PGUP] PgUp Key [FIND] Find Key (F6) [PGDN] PgDn Key [STAT] Status Key (F7) [RET] Return Key [CALC] Recalc Key (F9) [ESC] Escape Key [GRAPH] Graph Key (F10) [SLEFT] Screen Left [ERASE] Erase Line [SUP] Screen Up [BEEP] Creates a beep [SDOWN] Screen Down [BS] BackSpace [SRGHT] Screen Right Once the macro has been created in this manner it must be defined using the [F8] MACRO function key. Defining the macro tells QubeCalc two things. First, it lets you tell QubeCalc which key you want to assign your macro to, and second, it lets QubeCalc know which axis your macro will follow if it is more than one cell long. Therefore, NOTE that the macro MUST be defined ([F8] key) IN THE FACE where the macro APPEARS as a column!! Pressing the [F8] MACRO key will pop up the macro selection window to ask whether you want to define or undefine a macro. You will then be asked to select the letter to assign the macro to (or to undefine). Finally, you will be asked to define the beginning cell where your macro resides. The macro is then run simply by holding down the Alt key and pressing the macro's letter. You can halt a Macro while it is running by hitting the ESC key. 85 Suppose you wanted to write a simple macro which would let you change the format of a cell to CURRENCY (and 2 digits after the decimal point) with a single keystroke. Since the sequence of commands to perform this operation is /Cell Format Currency 2 <return key> NoCommas, the sequence of keystrokes needed to perform this operation is: /CFC2[RET]N where [RET] is the special sequence QubeCalc uses for the return key. You would create this macro by simply typing '/CFC2[RET]N into one of QubeCalc's cells. Make sure you type the quote ' first, or else QubeCalc will think the / that you type means you want the command menu to pop up. Once you have created the macro in this manner, you would press the [F8] MACRO key, and select Define. You would then type in the letter to assign the macro to (let's say m for money) and hit return. QubeCalc would then return to the data screen and ask you to position the cell pointer on the starting cell of the macro. So just position the cell pointer, hit return, and your macro is ready to fly. From now on, whenever you want to change the format of the current cell to Currency, just type Alt-m and it's as good as done. In addition to the regular menu commands, there are 4 menu commands available only during macro execution. These commands are selected in the same manner as regular menu commands (use the / key, choose the Macro [M] option, and one of the 4 suboptions [I,G,?,Q]). The I,G, and ? suboptions require an additional argument. /MGcellname[RET] The Macro will start reading keystrokes from the specified cell instead of continuing where it's at. This command is very useful for creating macros that loop and perform repetitive commands. 86 /MIequation[RET] If the equation evaluates true (if it is not equal to zero) the Macro will continue reading keystrokes from the same cell, otherwise the Macro will begin reading keystrokes from the next cell down the column. This command provides you with conditional control and is useful for controlling loops created with the /mg command. /M?prompt[RET] This command temporarily pauses and allows you to enter a line of data (a NUMBER, FORMULA, or TEXT). Any text that you enter between the ? and the [RET] will be displayed on the control line as a prompt. After you have entered this data (finishing with the return key) the data will be entered into the current cell and the macro will resume where it left off. For example, if the following line is encountered in a macro: /m?What is your name?[RET] then the macro will pause, and prompt you with: What is your name? and will wait for you to enter a response. Your response will then be placed in the current cell. /MQ The macro is halted and control is return to you. NOTE: Macros should be defined in the Face where they will be used. Some macros will work fine in any face, but macros which make use of cell addresses (in /MG commands, [GOTO] commands, etc.) will really screw up if you use them in a face other than the one they were defined in. (Remember, the cell named B10;4 in face A is not named B10;4 when it is viewed from other faces!) 87 EXAMPLE MACRO: This macro provides a short example using the four special macro menu commands. It is a simple version of a "guess the number" game, but its main purpose is simply to give you an idea of how you might use these commands. The top line of this macro would be placed in cell A1;1, and the other 8 lines would be placed in cells down the column (since these lines are TEXT they would really have a quote ' in front of them). This macro also illustrates the use of the @CELL function. A1;1: [END]=@INT(1000*@RAND)[RET] A2;1: /wao A3;1: [GOTO]Z26;1[RET] A4;1: /ce A5;1: /m?Guess a number between 0 and 1000:[RET] A6;1: /mi@CELL=BL64;1[RET]GOOD JOB![RET]/waw/mq A7;1: /mi@CELL>BL64;1[RET]TOO HIGH[RET]/mgA5;1[RET] A8;1: TOO LOW[RET]/mgA5;1[RET] [END]=@INT(1000*@RAND)[RET] The purpose of the first line of this macro is to place a random number between 0 and 1000 in the bottom right cell (BL64;1) in the WorkQube. The [END] key is used to move the cell pointer to cell BL64;1, and then the formula =@INT(1000*@RAND) is entered into that cell. This formula generates a random number between 0 and 1000. /wao The next line of this simply executes the /WorkSheet AutoCalc Off command to prevent the formula (and therefore the random number) in cell BL64;1 from changing during the macro (you would really have a hard time guessing a changing number). 88 [GOTO]Z26;1[RET] and /ce The third and fourth lines of the macro move the cell pointer to cell Z26;1 and uses the /Cell Erase command to erase the contents of that cell. Cell Z26;1 is where your guesses will be entered. /m?Guess a number between 0 and 1000:[RET] This next line is where the actual work of the macro begins. The /Macro ? command is used to ask you to enter a number between 0 and 1000. This command will cause the macro to pause until you enter your guess and hit the return key. The number you enter will be placed into the current cell (which happens to be Z26;1). /mi@CELL=BL64;1[RET]GOOD JOB![RET]/waw/mq This line uses the /Macro If command to check to see if the value of the current cell (Z26;1) is EQUAL to the random number in BL64;1. If it is, then the processing continues in the same cell, and the phrase "GOOD JOB!" in placed in cell Z26;1, the /WorkSheet AutoCalc WorkSheet command is used to turn AutoCalc back on, and the /Macro Quit command is used to end the macro. If the value is not EQUAL to the random number then the macro continues with the next cell instead of writing "GOOD JOB!". /mi@CELL>BL64;1[RET]TOO HIGH[RET]/mgA5;1[RET] This line checks to see if the value of the current cell is GREATER than the random number in BL64;1. If it is, then the phrase "TOO HIGH" is placed in cell Z26;1 and the /Macro Goto command is used to make the macro continue from cell A5;1 (where you are asked to guess again). If the value is NOT GREATER than the random number, then the macro continues with the next cell instead of writing "TOO HIGH". TOO LOW[RET]/mgA5;1[RET] If the value of the current cell is LESS than the random number in cell BL64;1 then this line will be reached and the phrase "TOO LOW" will be placed in cell Z26;1 and the /Macro Goto command will cause the macro to continue from cell A5;1 (where you are asked to guess again). 89 EXITING FROM QUBECALC The /Quit option of the main menu is used to exit the program. When you select this command you will be asked whether you really want to exit or not. This is because your data is not automatically saved when you exit. If you haven't saved your data yet you should select NO, save your data using the /File Save (or Extract) command, and then exit. 90 THE LOTUS IMPORT PROGRAM An import program is included to let you import 1-2-3 files into QubeCalc. This import program (named GET123.COM) can import multiple 1-2-3 files into a WorkQube. GET123 reads in one page of data at a time (64 columns by 64 rows) from the 1-2-3 file, and places the data into Face A of the WorkQube. An output file is created which is in the .QUB format and which may be loaded into QubeCalc. Simply type GET123 at the DOS prompt when you wish to import 1-2-3 data. GET123 will ask you for the name of the Lotus file you want to import. You may enter any valid Lotus filename (and path) including either the .WKS or .WK1 extension. Hitting the escape key at this time will allow you to exit GET123 without importing the file. After you have entered a file name, you must enter the page number in the WorkQube which you want the Lotus data read into. This page number must be in the range 1 to 64. GET123 will then begin to import the 64 column by 64 row range of cells which begin with cell A1. This range of cells will be placed into the QubeCalc page which you specified earlier. You will then be asked whether you want to import any more Lotus data. If you select YES, then GET123 will once again ask you for a file name and a page number. If you select NO, then GET123 will create a QubeCalc (.QUB) file containing the data you have imported so far. The QubeCalc file will have the same name as the last Lotus file you provided (except that the extension will be .QUB instead of .WKS or .WK1). If the output file name is already being used the existing file will be backed up before the new one is written. If you import two 1-2-3 files which each have a common range name defined into the same WorkQube, only the range name from the last 1-2-3 file loaded will be used. 91 IMPORTING DIF AND DBASE FILES QubeCalc also provides the ability to import DIF, dBASE II, and dBASE III files. This is done using the program named IMPORT.COM. IMPORT requires you to supply three command line arguments. To run IMPORT, type the follwing at the DOS prompt: IMPORT filetype filename pagenumber where filetype is one of the following: DIF - DIF file DB2 - dBase II file DB3 - dBase III file and filename is the name of the file you want to import (do not add the .DIF or .DBF extension). and pagenumber is the page in the WorkQube to import the file into. The page number must be in the range 1 to 64. For example, if you want to import TAXES.DIF into page 1 of a QubeCalc spreadsheet, then you would type: IMPORT DIF TAXES 1 If there are more than 64 records in the file which you are importing, they are placed in the pages following the one you are importing into. IMPORT will read the DIF or dBASE file, and will then generate a QubeCalc file which contains the data from that file. If you wish to import multiple DIF or dBASE files into a single WorkQube, then you must import each DIF or dBASE file into separate WorkQubes, and then use QubeCalc's /File Combine command to create the single WorkQube. 92 EXPORTING DIF, DBASE, AND LOTUS FILES QubeCalc provides the ability to export WorkQube pages to Lotus 1-2-3, DIF, dBASE II, and dBASE III files. This is done using the program named EXPORT.COM. EXPORT requires you to supply three command line arguments. To run EXPORT, type the follwing at the DOS prompt: EXPORT filetype filename pagenumber where filetype is one of the following: WKS - Lotus 1-2-3 R1 file WK1 - Lotus 1-2-3 R2 file DIF - DIF file DB2 - dBase II file DB3 - dBase III file and filename is the name of the Lotus, dBASE, or DIF file you want to export (do not include the .WKS, .WK1, .DBF, or .DIF extension). and pagenumber is the page in the WorkQube you want to export to the Lotus, dBASE, or DIF format. EXPORT will then read the selected page in the QubeCalc file, and will then generate a Lotus, dBASE, or DIF file which contains the data from that file. 93 Lotus specifics: When EXPORT encounters a formula which references a cell on another page, that cell will be exported as a numerical value (since Lotus has no concept of "pages". dBASE specifics: If you export to a dBASE II or dBASE III file, then EXPORT will use the top row containing data as the field names for the data to be exported. The widths of each column will be used as the field width in the dBASE file. For example, using the spreadsheet below: A B C D 1 2 NAME CITY ZIP 3 Bill Sandy 84091 4 Sam New York 10016 5 Joe San Jose 95121 6 NAME, CITY, and ZIP will be used as the field names for the data in their columns. EXPORT will step through each field name, and will ask you whether each field is a (C)HARACTER or (N)UMBER field. 94 ERROR MESSAGES There are several error messages which you may encounter when using QubeCalc. These error messages are listed below along with a description of what the error messages are trying to tell you. Invalid File This error message means that QubeCalc could not correctly read in the data file you asked for. The file is either NOT a QubeCalc file or it has been corrupted. Bad GOTO In Macro This error message means that you used a /Macro Goto command in a macro but provided an invalid cell name to continue reading keystrokes from. The cell name should NOT begin with a "$". This character should only be added to a cell name when it is being used as a reference in a formula. Bad IF Equation in Macro This error message means that you used a /Macro If command in a macro but provided an invalid equation to evaluate. Make sure that the equation does NOT have a leading equal sign. Remember that all function names have to be CAPITALIZED. Critical Error... Drive Ready? This error message means that DOS has encountered a critical error which prevents it from continuing. This error can occur for any of the following reasons: - Drive not ready (no disk, or the drive door is open). - Printer out of paper. - Write protect error. - Disk screwed up. 95 Defined Block Too Large This error message means that the one of the blocks of cells you have defined for graphing contains more than 1000 cells. (The graphics screen doesn't have enough resolution to show that many values, anyways). Error While Writing Print File This error message means that QubeCalc could not properly write your file out to disk for some reason. There are several problems which may have been encountered: - The disk is write protected. - There is not enough room on the disk for the file. - There is no disk in the drive. - The drive door is open. Error Writing File To Disk This error message means that QubeCalc could not properly write your file out to disk for some reason. There are several problems which may have been encountered: - The disk is write protected. - There is not enough room on the disk for the file. - There is no disk in the drive. - The drive door is open. File Not Found This error message means that QubeCalc could not find the data file which you asked for. The file either doesn't exist or it might be in another directory. You can use the /File Files command to see what files are in the current directory. The /File Directory command can be used to change to another directory to search for the file. 96 Help File Not Found This error message means that QubeCalc could not find the help file (QUBECALC.HLP). QubeCalc will look for its help file in the directory you were in when you started QubeCalc (unless you specify otherwise using the setup program). Illegal Equation This error message means that QubeCalc could not evaluate the equation you supplied for the /Block DataFill command. Try carefully re-entering the equation. Remember that the equation must start with an equal sign, that function names have to be CAPITALIZED. Illegal File Name This error message means that you used a filename which DOS did not like. QubeCalc automatically appends .QUB onto the file names which you provide, so if you tried to provide a filename extension yourself, you will get this message. No More Memory Available This error message means that QubeCalc ran out of memory to place your data in. If this message occurs during a command such as /Block DataFill then you may still have a few bytes (1000 or so) left after you get the message (the bottom left hand corner will tell you). 97 Unknown Key [..] In Macro This error message means that QubeCalc has encountered a special key in a macro which it does not recognize. Check your macro to make sure that all special keys (those which are spelled out between square brackets) are spelled right and are CAPITALIZED. 98 Lotus and 1-2-3 are trademarks of Lotus Development Corp IBM and PC-DOS are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. 99