Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/WP/DINFO6.ZIP/1184

Text File | 1993-10-28 | 6KB | 170 lines

                            WordPerfect Corporation
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Title:   Tables: Sorting Tables
Product: WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS
Number:  1184-10/93

WordPerfect 5.1 allows you to sort information in a table.

What's in this document?

      ∙     Starting a Table Sort
      ∙     Common Problems with Table Sort
      ∙     Common Error Messages with Table Sort


Starting a Table Sort
There are two ways to sort a table.

Method 1
1     Place your cursor anywhere in the table.

2     Press Merge/Sort (Ctrl+F9), then choose Sort (2).

You are automatically placed in Table Sort, and you do not have
to specify the input file or the output file.  At this point, you
can perform your sort.

Method 2
1     Block the text in the table that you would like to sort.

2     Press Merge/Sort (Ctrl+F9).

You are taken immediately into the Table Sort feature.  You do
need to select Sort or specify the input and output files.  You
can perform your sort at this point.


Common Problems with Table Sort
The most common problems you may encounter are listed here.

Sorting More Than One Column
The table sort feature is not designed to sort more than one
column in a table.

For example:  You have a table with 5 columns.  You sort the
first column and it sorts properly.  Then you sort the third
column; it also sorts properly, but you notice that the first
column is out of order.  Because the Table Sort feature can only
sort one column in a table, the last column you choose to sort
will take precedence over the previous one, and your data may be
mixed up.

Sorting Dates Formatted with Forward Slashes (such as 01/01/94)
When you sort dates that contain forward slashes, each number
will be considered its own word: the month will be read as the
first word, the day as the second word, and the year as the third
word.  Your sort keys will need to be set according to the word
or number you would like sorted first.

The following keys will allow you to sort by year, month, and
day. This setup will work inside or outside of tables.  However,
note that if you use these key sequences outside a table, the
Cell key will not apply.

      Key   Typ   Cell  Line  Word
      1     a     1     1     3

      Key   Typ   Cell  Line  Word
      2     a     1     1     1

      Key   Typ   Cell  Line  Word
      3     a     1     1     2

Sorting Table Cells - Must Be Aligned the Same
When running a Table Sort, all cells to be sorted must be within
the same column.  If one cell is aligned differently, the table
won't sort correctly.

Sorting Text Entered in a Table Header
If none of the text moves when you perform a sort on a table of
text, then each row in the table was defined as a header row.
Text in table header rows cannot be sorted.  To sort this text,
you can disable the header rows, sort the text, and define the
header rows again.

1     Place the cursor inside the table.

2     Press Columns/Table (Alt+F7), then choose Header (4).

3     Press Enter to specify 0 for the number of header rows.

4     Press Exit (F7) to exit the Table Edit mode.

5     Press Merge/Sort (Ctrl+F9), and choose Sort (2).

6     When the sort is finished, place your cursor within the
      table and press Columns/Table (Alt+F7).

7     Choose Header (4), type the desired number of header rows,
      and press Enter.

8     Press Exit (F7) to return to the document editing screen.


Common Error Messages with Table Sort

Error: Cannot Sort Table With Spanned Columns
WordPerfect sorts a table by rows.  A cell that spans multiple
rows is ambiguous to WordPerfect and will cause an error.  When a
table contains cells that have only been joined across columns,
it will sort correctly.  If the table contains cells joined
across rows (vertically), it will not sort, and the error Can't
Sort Table With Spanned Columns will appear.

You may need to split both the joined rows and the columns to
avoid the error.  After the sort, you can join the cells again.

You will encounter this error message even if the blocked area
doesn't contain any spanned columns but spanned columns do exist
in the table, or if the spanned column is in the header row.

Error: Select Table Overflow
This error may appear if too many operators exist in a select
string.  You will need to reduce the number of operators in your
select string to correct the error.

Error: Record Too Large to Sort
Records to be sorted can't be any larger than 9216 bytes (roughly
five to six pages of regular typed text, based on 1500 bytes per
page).  If the records are larger than these limits, this error
message appears.

You may also receive this error when sorting a document in which
parallel columns have been converted into a table.

To solve this error problem,

1     Check the available disk space and make sure you have 2½
      times the amount of the file size free.

2     Save the original file, then try deleting the table
      definition code.  You may be able to sort the information
      successfully in tabular columns, and then convert the
      tabular columns to a table.

3     Check to see if any of the cells contain more information
      than can fit in one cell or row.  Since a row cannot span a
      page, WordPerfect will hide information that exceeds the
      page margins so that the text won't show in Reveal Codes.
      However, that information still exists.

Error: Not a Prefixed File
This message may appear when you are sorting a table.  If it does
appear, save your document, retrieve it, then run the sort again.

This simple procedure will very often eliminate this error.




WordPerfect Corporation 1993

WordPerfect Corporation
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Orem, UT 84057-2399

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within the United States and other countries.