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PsionSS>PD
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1994-08-07
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%OP%VS4.13 (28-Apr-92), Ian Williamson, R4001 0043 5191 9854
%OP%IRY
%OP%PL64
%OP%BM2
%OP%LM6
%OP%PT1
%OP%PDCourier
%OP%WC2,1236,44,980,0,4,0,0
%CO:A,10,68%
%C%Transferring Psion/Pocket Book Spreadsheet files to PipeDream
%C%Ian Williamson
Keywords:
Transfer Psion Series 3 PocketBook spreadsheet PipeDream
%H1%Introduction
As mentioned in the ReadMe file, these notes are written in
response to a call for help from Steve Hutchinson in the February
PipeLine, 4PL9402.$.Help.ReadMe. Apparently Steve is having
problems transferring PipeDream files to and from his Acorn
Pocketbook. He uses the Lotus-123 PipeDream converter. He says
"Transfer in either direction causes problems. Going from
PipeDream to Pocketbook leads to continual recalculation in the
pocketbook. Going the other way doesn't transfer the formulae
correctly. . . ."
I had the same problem when transferring a spreadsheet file from
Psion to PipeDream via the conversion window of PocketFS, although
as you may have noted from the ReadMe file I should have realised
that conversion to the CSV file format transfers the 'value' not
the 'contents' of a cell. Unfortunately the conversion to WK1 does
not work. Having carefully re-read the Psion Spreadsheet User
Guide, I realised that the information it gives is accurate, but is
confusingly given in the section 'Worksheets from other programs',
and you may miss it; I did!
The key to successful transfer is %H1%not%H1% to use the PocketFS conversion
window, but to rely on the Psion spreadsheet to Save as Lotus 123
format, and then drag the Lotus 123 file from the internal disc on
the Psion to a suitable directory on the ARM. Thus there are three
basic steps in the process:
1). Save as file Lotus 123 format
2). Transfer Lotus file from Psion internal disc to ARM
3). Convert from Lotus 123 to PipeDream
These notes were written to explain in greater detail what is going
on, and what to do. Once you are confident you may prefer to use
the associated brief notes, PsSS>PD.
%H1%Save file in WK1 format
On the Psion:
Run the spreadsheet file you wish to transfer to the ARM. From the
spreadsheet screen, press <Menu> and select File, Save as, or press
<Psion-A>. The Save as window will open:
File:
File type
Use new file
Note that the file name is blank when the window opens. Insert a
suitable filename, then highlight File type and use either left or
right arrows to select WK1 (or WKS). Initially, the filename has
no file extension, but as you cycle through the file types, the
corresponding file extension (in lower case letters) will be added
to your filename. (You may also notice that the word 'No' will
disappear against 'Use new file' for all file types other than
SPR.)
Press <Enter>. You will briefly see a 'File saved' message in the
bottom right hand corner of the spreadsheet. Go to the System
screen and you will see your original file highlighted at the top
of the list of spreadsheet files. Press <Tab>. The Disk Internal
window will open with your original file highlighted, followed
immediately by the WK1 or WKS file you have just saved. Press
<Escape>.
%H1%Transfer file from Psion to ARM
On the Psion:
Plug in A-Link into the expansion socket on the left-hand side of
the Psion. It would also be advisable to use the external power
supply during the following file transfer. From the System screen
press <Menu> and select Special Remote link, or press <Psion-L>.
The Remote link window will open. Set:
Remote link
Baud rate
Press <Enter>.
On the ARM:
Double click on the !PocketFS icon to load the program. The
PocketFS icon will appear on the icon bar and should not be
partially filled with red; if it is check again that Remote link is
On, and that all serial port connections are good.
Click <Menu> over the PocketFS icon, and click on Open '$'. A
filing window will open with the name PocketFS::Remote.$. in the
title bar, and at least two directories, C & M, if you have
PocketBook or Psion Series 3a. If like me you have Psion Series 3
with the Spreadsheet plugged into one of the SCD drives, you will
see at least three directories A, C & M (I use drive A rather than
B in order not to cover the backup battery).
Open directory M and then SPR. SPR is the directory in which all
your spread sheets are stored, they are all represented by the
abacus icon, as on the System screen, with a file name ending in
/spr and file type PBAbacus (fbc). Your original .spr file
filetype is immediately followed by the new WK1 file shown as a DOS
file, filetype (fe4). (If your filename had more than 6
characters, you will see that the first and last characters are
partially obscured.) Drag the file onto a suitable directory; this
takes a little time, but when the file is transferred it will
appear as a Lotus file filetype WK1 (db0) with the red 123 icon.
You should now delete the WK1 file as it is no longer required in
the Disk Internal directory \SPR\ and will be taking up valuable
disc space and memory. You may do this either via the
PocketFS::Remote.$.M.SPR directory viewer, in the usual way, or on
the Psion Disk Internal window by highlighting the file and
pressing <Psion-D>. Alternatively you could have moved the file
from PocketFS::Remote.$.M.SPR by holding down <Shift> whilst
dragging the file icon to the destination directory.
Click <Menu> over the PocketFS icon and click on Dismount. It is
not necessary to do this to complete the file transfer process
described in these notes, but it is important to remember to do so
at the end of your session using A-Link to ensure that all files
are closed properly.
Likewise, on the Psion set Remote Link to Off and press <Enter>.
This is fairly important, as the Remote Link facility seems to take
up a lot of disc/memory space on the Psion and you may have
difficulty saving files otherwise.
%H1%Conversion from Lotus format to PipeDream
On the ARM:
Double click on !PD123 to load Coltonsoft's PipeDream to Lotus
convertor. Drag the Lotus file you wish to convert onto the PD123
icon. A small Save as: window will open with the PipeDream icon
and the leafname 'PDFile' in the dialogue box. Change the name to
something more informative (with a maximum of 10 characters) then
drag the PD icon onto a suitable directory on an ADFS format disc:
you could of course rename the file after saving it.
You can load the file into PipeDream and the transfer of a Psion
spreadsheet file to a PipeDream file is now complete.
It has occurred to me that you might sometimes see:
Error from PipeDream:
Expression not completely converted.
This is because there are some expressions for which there is no
simple direct equivalence between the Lotus and PipeDream format.
PipeDream is so much more comprehensive than the Lotus clone that I
have been using (AsEasyAs), that I must admit I have not yet come
across a problem converting from Lotus to PipeDream, whereas I
have encountered that in the other direction. If that does happen
you will have to rewrite those parts of the spreadsheet when you
have loaded it into PipeDream. Click on OK and the conversion will
be saved.
%CO:B,10,67%
Name:
Disk
%CO:C,10,19%
Internal
SPR
No
On
9600
%CO:D,10,72%%CO:E,10,30%%CO:F,10,49%%CO:G,10,13%