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ReadMe
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1994-09-18
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%OP%VS4.13 (28-Apr-92), Gerald L Fitton, R4000 5966 9904 9938
%OP%DP0
%OP%IRY
%OP%PL0
%OP%HM0
%OP%FM0
%OP%BM0
%OP%LM4
%OP%PT1
%OP%PDPipeLine
%OP%WC1026,2262,44,1604,0,0,0,0
%CO:A,72,72%
%C%Transferring PipeDream files to Psion/Pocket Book Spreadsheet
%C%by Ian Williamson
Keywords:
Transfer PipeDream Psion Series 3 PocketBook spreadsheet ReadMe
[Since receiving this contribution from Ian I have had a letter from
Steve Hutchinson in which he recommends Ian's "excellent, clear
instructions .á.á. I thoroughly recommend them .á.á. it may be worth
adding for PocketáFS users that pocketáFS appears much more robust -
and allows psioná3A users to go at 19200 baud!" - GLF]"
The notes in this directory are written in response to a call for help
from Steve Hutchinson in the February 1994 PipeLine file
[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. . . ."
Initially I had the same problems; the first time I suffered from
continual recalculation I had a minor panic, I thought I was going to
have to reset my Psion and lose all my data. Fortunately I avoided
that, and having carefully re-read the Psion Spreadsheet User Guide I
realised that the information in the User Guide is accurate, if too
brief and difficult to follow, whereas the Pocket Book A-Link guide is
wrong.
The notes in the file [PD>PsionSS] were written to explain in greater
detail what is going on, and what to do when transferring a spreadsheet
file from PipeDream to Psion.
Once you are confident you may prefer to use the associated brief
notes, [PD>PsSS].
I also had problems transferring from Psion Spreadsheet to PipeDream at
first. This is because I na∩vely believed it would be sufficient to
drag the Psion Spreadsheet file from the PocketFS conversion window to
a suitable directory before loading into PipeDream. When you do that
PocketFS produces a CSV file by default which will happily load into
PipeDream, but as Steve notes it does not transfer the formulae
correctly. In fact it does not transfer the formulae at all; it
transfers the 'value' of a cell, not the 'contents'. I should have
realised that; that is what happens when you export a CSV file from any
spreadsheet - try saving a CSV file from a PipeDream spreadsheet and
then reload it.
The Pocket Book A-Link guide suggests that PocketFS converts between
Abacus (Psion Spreadsheet) file format and CSV, TSV or WK1 file
formats. It rightly points out that CSV files do not support
equations, and that WK1 files (Lotus 123 version 2 onwards) have an
advantage over CSV/TSV in that equations are supported. However, it
wrongly states that Lotus WK1 files with a DOS file type may be dragged
directly from a DOS floppy disc or partition into the conversion
window: if you try that you will suffer the continual recalculation
Steve Hutchinson complained about.
Whilst the A-Link guide does not make a similar direct instruction
about conversion in the other direction, it describes how to set the
conversion format, one of which is WK1, which implies that it should
work. Unfortunately, whilst the conversion to WK1 format seems to go
well, with a red Lotus WK1 (db0) file icon appearing in the destination
directory, you will find that the file is empty!
Thus I have concluded that it is not possible to use the A-Link
conversion window to convert files in either direction between
PipeDream and the Psion spreadsheet.
However, I have successfully transferred files many times in both
directions between a DOS floppy disc and the Psion M directory,
sub-directory SPR, and used the Psion spreadsheet to convert between
the WK1 (or WKS) Lotus file format to the Abacus spr file format.
The information in the Psion Spreadsheet User Guide on file transfer to
other programs is brief, and you may miss the significance of the
comment that it is "best to save files as SPR until the moment you want
to export them, and only then save them as WKS or WK1." To export
files you have to use 'Save as' and set the file type to WKS or WK1
which you can then copy to a suitable directory before using PD123 to
complete the conversion.
The notes in the file [PsionSS>PD] were written to explain in greater
detail what is going on, and what to do when transferring a spreadsheet
file from Psion to PipeDream.
Once you are confident you may prefer to use the associated brief
notes, [PsSS>PD].
I have a Psion Series 3 with the Spreadsheet SSD plugged into one
of the SSD drives, but I believe the notes I give here are equally
applicable to the Acorn PocketBook: I refer to both machines as
Psion. Since Acorn have dropped the name Archimedes, and with the
advent of the RiscPC, I have used the name ARM, Acorn RISC Machine
to cover all members of the family.
The files in this directory are:-
ReadMe This file
PD>PsionSS Detailed notes concerning the transfer of
PipeDream files to Psion Spreadsheet.
PD>PsSS Brief notes: 7 steps to transfer PipeDream
files to Psion Spreadsheet (for the experienced
user).
PsionSS>PD Detailed notes concerning the transfer of
Psion Spreadsheet files to PipeDream.
PsSS>PD Brief notes: 6 or 7 steps to transfer Psion
Spreadsheet files to PipeDream (for the
experienced user).
Example files:-
Attenuator PipeDream spread sheet to design symmetrical and
unbalanced Pi and T attenuators.
Filetype PDream (dde).
Atten/wk1 Lotus 123 file of attenuator produced from
PipeDream file by means of Coltonsoft's
convertor !PD123.
Filetype WK1 (db0). This file is dragged into
directory M.SPR of Psion via A-Link.
Atten/spr Abacus file of attenuator converted by the
Psion spreadsheet. Filetype PBAbacus (fbc).
Ian M H Williamson
15 Roundwood Lane
Harpenden
Herts
AL5 3BW