Night Owl 6

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

/ Night Owl 6 / Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso / 024a / tc903.zip / TC903.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1991-05-21 | 49KB | 896 lines

TurboCALC(tm) v9.03 Copyright (c) 1985, 1991: by P&M Software Co. TurboCALC is the trademark of P&M Software Co. TurboCALC is "User Supported" software. If you like the program, use it, and want to see it supported and improved in the future, a contribution of $30 would be appreciated. Please copy and share this program with your friends, even if you are unable to make a contribution. Send Contributions to: P&M Software Co. 3104 E. Camelback #503 Phoenix, AZ 85016 For further information concerning the TC registration plan, please refer the the file, REGISTER.DOC, which comes with this package. TurboCALC is intended to be powerful, yet easy to use. It supports spreadsheets dimensions of 8192 rows by 256 columns, with up to 16,000 totals cells in use simultaneously. And supports many math, statistical and financial functions. Hopefully the user can begin using the program without reading a lot of documentation, but some information is necessary before one can begin. The program requires a minimum of 256k and can use as much as 640k. For the advanced spreadsheet user, TurboCALC supports up to 500 range names and virtually unlimited macro capability. Version 6.00 and later of TurboCALC includes a text editor with the program. You begin by executing the .COM file, then after the copyright notice, there will appear a menu from which you can select either 1. the calc program, 2. the edit program, or 3. exit to DOS. The calc and edit programs are stored as .CHN, .000, .001 and .002 files. They must be present for the system to operate. INSTALLATION ──────────── TurboCALC is overlayed, the .000, .001 and .002 files that came with the program are the overlay files. They must be present in the default directory when the program is started, and they may not be removed from the system during execution of the program. You may change directories after starting TurboCALC, because TurboCALC will automatically find its way back to the original directory for the overlays. This is true for the the config file, .CNF, also. The config file holds the information about your printer & screen setup. Also, the .000, .001, .002 and .CHN files must be stored in the same directory. As an alternative to having to all the files in the default directory when the program starts, one can place the following code into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and then start TurboCALC from any location: PATH=c:\tc set TCPATH=c:\tc This assumes that drive C is the drive where TurboCALC is stored and TC is the directory. The proper drive and directory should be sub- stituted, as appropriate. DESCRIPTION ─────────── First, let us examine the layout of the worksheet. On screen, there will be displayed 7 columns by 21 rows. The user may scroll both vertically and horizontally. The vertical scroll is accomplished by depressing the PgUp or PgDn keys. This will scroll 20 rows up or down, a single line scroll is achieved by moving the cursor off the top or bottom of the screen, with the up or down arrow keys. The horizontal scroll is achieved by depressing the Ctrl key and the left or right arrow keys simultaneously. The "scroll lock" may be activated by pressing the "Scroll Lock" key, an indicator will show this at the bottom of the screen. When the "scroll lock" is NOT active, the user may scroll right or left by moving the cursor off the right or left of the screen. When "scroll lock" is active, the cursor will wrap-around when moved off the sides of the screen. On the top and bottom lines of the screen there appears some status information: the current cell, the amount of memory available, the auto-calc indicator, the current marked range, the current drive and directory, the CAPS, NUM and SCRL lock indicators. On the second line of the screen will appear messages and the numeric or formula content of the current cell. In general, the user may move the cursor to whatever cell he desires, and enter the text, number or formula that needs to be in that location. If entering text, it can overwrite cells to the right, but may not be longer than 80 characters. When you begin to enter something into a cell, the first keystroke is VERY important. It will determine the type of item stored in the cell: formulas begins with the '(' character, a number with 0 thru 9, '+', '-' or '.', and text with any other character. If you desire to enter a text string that begins with a number, 0 thru 9, you must prefix it with a single quote character, thusly: '109. The quote will show on the screen, but not in the printed report. When making the first keystroke of a cell, some keys have different meanings, than on succeeding keystrokes. For example, the left and right arrow keys will move the cursor around the worksheet, but during the entry of data into a cell, these keys will act to move the cursor within the cell, to edit the data. Other keys that behave differently, are the Home, End and "/" keys. The Home and End keys move the cursor to the beginning or the end of the worksheet, but during the entry of data, they move to the beginning or end of the current cell. Also during data entry, the Esc key will act to finish the entry and move to the cell below, so that a column of numbers may be entered with the Num Lock turned on. If you depress the "/" key, at the start of a cell, a list of commands will appear, any of the displayed commands may be executed by pressing the indicated letter. For experienced users, the commands may be entered directly, without using the "/" key, by pressing the Alt key and the command letter together. Following are two lists. The first is a list the the cursor control and editing keys. The second is a list of the command letters. Action Action Key Name During Data Entry Otherwise ────────────────╥──────────────────────╥───────────────────── / ║ Put a "/" in literal ║ Display the menu of ║ data in cell. ║ commands. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── \ ║ Put a "\" in literal ║ Display the macro keys ║ date in cell. ║ for entry or change. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── F1 ║ Produces the help ║ Produces the help ║ screens. ║ screens. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── F2 ║ No action. ║ Enter edit mode on ║ ║ current cell. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── F3 ║ Switch to the text ║ Switch to the text ║ edit module. ║ edit module. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── F4 ║ Enter/edit/list the ║ Enter/edit/list the ║ range names. ║ range names. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── F5 ║ Repeat the previous ║ Repeat the previous ║ locate command, see ║ locate command, see ║ the Alt-J command. ║ the Alt-J command. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Up Arrow ║ Finish entry and ║ Move to cell above. ║ move to cell above. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Down Arrow ║ Finish entry and ║ Move to cell below. ║ move to cell below. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Left Arrow ║ Move 1 character to ║ Move to cell on the ║ the left. ║ left ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Right Arrow ║ Move 1 character to ║ Move to cell on the ║ the right. ║ right. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── PgUp ║ Finish entry and ║ Move up 1 screen. ║ move up 1 screen. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── PgDn ║ Finish entry and ║ Move down 1 screen. ║ move down 1 screen. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Home ║ Move to the start of ║ Move to cell at the ║ the cell. ║ start of worksheet. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── End ║ Move to the end of ║ Move to cell at the ║ the cell. ║ end of worksheet. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Ctrl + End ║ Erase contents of ║ Erase current cell ║ cell from cursor to ║ entirely. ║ end of cell. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Ctrl + L. Arrow ║ Finish entry and ║ Scroll to the left. ║ scroll to the left. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Ctrl + R. Arrow ║ Finish entry and ║ Scroll to the right. ║ scroll to the right. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Ctrl + PgUp ║ Finish entry and go ║ Go to top of the ║ to top of worksheet. ║ worksheet. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Ctrl + PgDn ║ Finish entry and go ║ Go to end of the ║ to end of worksheet. ║ worksheet. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Tab ║ Finish entry and ║ Move to cell on the ║ move to cell right. ║ right. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Shift + Tab ║ Finish entry and ║ Move to cell on the ║ move to cell left. ║ left. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Ins ║ Toggle Insert Mode. ║ Toggle Insert Mode. ║ Fat cursor = Insert. ║ Fat cursor = Insert. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Del ║ Delete character at ║ Delete cursor at ║ cursor. ║ cursor. ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Backspace ║ Delete character to ║ No action. ║ left of cursor. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Enter ║ Finish entry. Stay ║ No action. ║ in current cell. ║ ────────────────╫──────────────────────╫───────────────────── Esc ║ Finish entry and ║ Move cursor to the ║ move to cell below. ║ cell below. ║ Nice for using NUM ║ ║ Lock mode with a ║ ║ column of numbers! ║ ────────────────╨──────────────────────╨───────────────────── Command Table: With Alt key, or preceded by the "/" key. The "/" key brings up the command list. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Q Exit to DOS. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Space Remove command list and return to worksheet. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── L Produce a directory list. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── N Change to new directory and/or disk drive. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── R Read worksheet from disk into memory. There are two options offered when ALT-R is selected: 1) to clear memory before reading or 2) to merge the file into memory. The first option, to clear memory, is the more usual, especially for people who have separate worksheets. The "merge" option is very handy for people who want to combine together smaller worksheets, the merge will bring in the file at the current cursor location. Any formulas in the merged file will be adjusted if they do not use absolute addressing. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── S Store worksheet from memory onto disk. Both the R and S commands assume the .SSF extension if the user doesn't specify one. If no extension is desired end the filename with a '.' and no ext- ension will be used. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── E Erase part or all of the current worksheet from memory. If you elect to erase only a part of the worksheet, you can set the range to be erased before the erasure begins. For example: press Alt-E to begin, then press R and set the desired range, after the range has been set press P to erase the selected range. Menus are provided by the program to lead you thru this procedure. If you select P prior to setting a range, only the current cell will be erased. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── G Perform the calculations specified by user formula. Note: the worksheet is not automatically recalculated after one inserts/deletes a row or column, one should use the G command to do this. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── P Print the worksheet to disk file or printer. If you encounter difficulty printing directly to the printer, one may print to a file and then COPY the file to the printer from the DOS prompt. For example, if the filename chosen to hold the printout was "foobar", then one would enter the following command from the DOS prompt: COPY foobar prn: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── V View a graph. This command will display a bar graph of the selected range, with the selected labels. The data range should not be more than 6 lines deep, this is the maximum. However, the program will display widths that range up to 70 or more columns, depending on how many lines are selected. Refer to the GRAPH.SSF file for an example. It is possible to ask for more than the maximum lines or columns, TC will simply truncate the request to fit. After the graph has been viewed the program will ask if you wish to save the graph to disk. This file is suitable for printing or further modification using a text editor. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── F Change cell format. Each cell may have a different format. The default is leading sign, no comma and no currency symbol. You may choose 1 of 6 different formats: financial, percent, scientific, hidden, date, and the default. If the date format is chosen, the cell is treated as if it contained a Julian date and then it is converted to one of three sub-formats: DD-MMM-YY, DD-MMM or MMM-YY. You will be given you choice of these 3 date formats, if you select the date type. If the financial format is chosen, you will be given the choice of 4 sub-formats: A. $1,000- .... Dollar sign and comma insertion. B. 1,000- .... Comma insertion. C. (1,000) .... Dollar sign and comma insertion, parens for negative. D. $(1,000) .... Comma insertion, parens for negative. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── W The width of each column defaults to 10, but it can be changed with this command to any value between 0 and 30. After setting the width, the user is asked if the column should be given the "blank zero" attribute. Note: If a column width of 0 is chosen, then this has the same effect as if the whole column had the "hidden" format. Anything in a 0 width column or with the "hidden" format, will appear on the status line at the top of the screen, but will not appear in the worksheet. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── B Mark the start of the range at the current cell. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── K Mark the end of the range at the current cell. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── H The user may specify that columns are to be held on the left of the screen and not horizontally scrolled. 4 columns maximum. The user may also specify that rows are to be held on the top of the screen and not vertically scrolled. 10 rows maximum. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I Insert Row or Column. Formula will be adjusted to reflect their new locations. Absolute addresses may be used, by placing a '0' before the row. For example 'C5' is a relative cell address and would be adjusted if needed, but 'C05' is an absolute cell address and would not be adjusted. Recalculation does not automatically take place after execution of this command. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── D Delete Row or Column. Formula will be adjusted as given above for 'I'. If the range option is selected, then the rows or columns that fall within the specified range will be deleted. Note: only rows or columns are deleted, not both at the same time. Recalculation does not automatically take place after execution of this command. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── J Jump directly to a cell. Avoid scrolling when you know where to go. You may also go to a cell based on its content, select the L option of this commands menu and enter the value you want to locate. The locate for the same value can be repeated automantically by pressing F5 when you wish to find the next item. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── M Move the indicated range to the current location. The user is given the opportunity to alter the range specification. Formula are adjusted as above for 'I'. This command senses overlaping ranges, and will adjust so that an ascending or descending move is done whenever needed. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── C Copy the indicated range to the current location. The user is given the opportunity to alter the range specification. Formula are adjusted as above for 'I'. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── O Sort the indicated range into ascending order. The sort key is the first column of the range and the rows within the range are arranged into ascending sequence based on the textual content of the key column (the first one in the indicated range). Note: only cells actually within the range are sorted, so the exact dimensions of the table that needs sorting should be given. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── A Toggle auto-calculate. If many formulas are in the worksheet, it may save time to turn auto-calculate off, and manually calculate with the 'G' command. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Y Import a file. You may import either a fixed column format, standard ASCII text file or a DIF file. DIF(tm) stands for Data Interchange Format and is commonly supported by many programs including 1-2-3(tm). The DIF(tm) supports only the storage of the data, so the format control information and the formulas are not found in the in the DIF(tm) file. If you select the text file import, the file will be read into the column where the cursor is located. Each line of the file will cause the import to go to the next row of the worksheet. If you select the fixed column format, you must set the column widths, via the Alt-W command, to be equal to the width of the columns in the file to be imported. For example, let's say that the import file has 3 columns, the first column contains a label 30 characters wide, the second and third columns contain numbers, each being 12 characters in width. Then you should set your column widths to these values: 30 for column A, 12 for columns B & C. After the widths are properly set the import may be done. Remeber to position the cursor to the first cell to be filled, as for text imports! ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Z Export a DIF(tm) format file. Please read the above paragraph about for the "Y" command. The output file will contain data only, no formulas or format control information. Also, the DIF(tm) format is not as efficient as the TurboCALC .SSF format, so the exported file will probably be about 10% to 300% larger than the original file. Note: if you wish to export an ASCII text file, use the printout feature, ALT-P, which can be redirected to a file instead of the printer. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── U The user may control the screen colors via this command. The colors are entered as numbers from the following list: 0 : Black 8 : Dark Gray 1 : Blue 9 : Light Blue 2 : Green 10 : Light Green 3 : Cyan 11 : Light Cyan 4 : Red 12 : Light Red 5 : Magenta 13 : Light Magenta 6 : Brown 14 : Yellow 7 : Light Gray 15 : White ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── T This command acts as a toggle switch, it controls whether or not the current cell is protected. If a cell is protected, when the cursor moves to the cell, it appears in the same colors as a window frame, otherwise cells have normal cursor highlighting. One may not enter information into a protected cell, unless the protection is released. This is a safeguard feature, to keep data from being accidentally destroyed. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Note: DIF is a trademark of Software Arts Products Corp. 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corp. Now some discussion about selected topics: 1. Formulas. Formulas are composed of operational symbols, cell addresses, constants, and functions. Each formula is enclosed within parenthesis, like this: (A1+C2+F4). This formula would take the content of the 3 cells and add them together, depositing the result in the cell where the formula is located. The following functions are available: Name Description Usage ──── ─────────── ──────── ABS Absolute value. ABS(p) SQRT Square root. SQRT(p) SQR Square. SQR(p) MOD The remainder of p1 divided by p2. MOD(p1,p2) INT Returns the integer portion of p. INT(p) ROUND Rounds p to the n'th precision. ROUND(p,n) Where n is the number of digits after the . of accuracy wanted. For example: ROUND(100.256,2) would produce 100.26 as the result. PI 3.1415926536 PI SIN Sine of angle in radians. SIN(p) ASIN Arc sine. ASIN(p) COS Cosine of angle in radians. COS(p) ACOS Arc cosine. ACOS(p) TAN Tangent of angle in radians. TAN(p) ATAN Arc Tangent. ATAN(p) LN Natural Log. LN(p) LOG Log base 10. LOG(p) E 2.7182818285 E EXP E raised to the p power. EXP(p) NPV Net present value of a series NPV(i,r) of future cash flows. PMT Mortgage payment per period. PMT(pa,i,n) PV Present value of ordinary annuity. PV(pp,i,n) FV Future value of ordinary annuity. FV(pp,i,n) RATE Periodic rate needed to produce RATE(fv,pv,n) a future value. TERM The number of payment periods required TERM(pp,i,fv) for an annuity to grow to a future value. CTERM The number of compounding periods CTERM(i,fv,pv) required for a present value to future value. IRR Internal Rate of Return. IRR(g,r) AVG The average. AVG(r) SUM The sum of all item in range. SUM(r) COUNT The number of items in range. COUNT(r) MIN The smallest number in range. MIN(r) MAX The biggest number in range. MAX(r) VAR The population variance. VAR(r) STD The population standard deviation. STD(r) SYD The depreciation for the specified SYD(cst,sal,lif,per) period, using the "Sum Of The Years Digits" method. SLN The "Straight line" depreciation for SLN(cst,sal,lif) 1 period. DDB The depreciation for the specified DDB(cst,sal,lif,per) period, using the "Double Declining Balance" method. IF Choose between two values. IF(t,p1,p2) p1 is returned if t is true, p2 is returned if t is false. NOT Reverse true and false values. NOT(t) TRUE Returns the value for true. TRUE FALSE Returns the value for false. FALSE ERR Returns the value for ERR. ERR ISERR Returns the value for true if the ISERR(p) parameter has the ERR value, otherwise returns the value for false. NA Returns the value for NA. NA ISNA Returns the value for true if the ISNA(p) parameter has the NA value, otherwise returns the value for false. DATE Returns the Julian date from the DATE(y,m,d) calendar date given as a parameter. The year maybe between 1800 and 2100 and the date is measured in days from December 31, 1899. TODAY Returns the Julian date for today. TODAY Taken from the DOS clock, so if you have set it wrong, then this will be wrong. DAY Returns the day of the month, DAY(p) given the Julian date. MONTH Returns the month of the year, MONTH(p) given the Julian date. YEAR Returns the year, given the YEAR(p) Julian date. HLOOKUP Table lookups find the largest table HLOOKUP(trgt,tbl,ofs) entry not greater than the target value. The "HLOOKUP" function defines a horizontal table. VLOOKUP The "VLOOKUP" function defines a VLOOKUP(trgt,tbl,ofs) vertical table. Note: There are many examples in the sample spreadsheet that accompanies the program. Where: p,p1,p2 ... Constants, cell addresses or algebraic expressions. i ......... Interest rate, may be any of the items listed for "p" above. Note: all interest rates are stated in their fractional format, i.e. "10% = 0.1". Note: this is an interest rate per period and not per annum, however if the period in use is a year, then it is per annum. If a month is the period in use, then conversion from the yearly rate must be done by division by 12. r ......... A range of cell addresses, i.e. "D4..H21". pa ........ Principle amount, may be any of the items listed for "p" above. n ......... Number of periods, may be any of the items listed for "p" above. pp ........ Payment per period, may be any of the items listed for "p" above. g ......... A guess at the interest rate, usually between 0.0 and 1.0. pv ........ A present value, may be any of the items listed for "p" above. fv ........ A future value, may be any of the items listed for "p" above. t ......... A logical expression whose result is 0.0 for false and non-zero for true. y,m,d ..... May be any value listed for "p" above. They are the symbols for year, month and day. trgt ...... May be any value listed for "p" above. It is the value which is the target of the lookup. tbl ....... A range of cell addresses that define the values to be searched to find the match for the target in a lookup. ofs ....... May be any value listed for "p" above. It is the value added to the matching entry's coordinates to find the answer in a lookup table. Usually is a 1. cst ....... The cost of an asset. sal ....... The salvage value of an asset. lif ....... The life expectancy of an asset. per ....... The period for which depreciation is to be calculated. Formulas may be quite complicated, an example is: (A1+SIN(PI/2*(B2-C1))) The only limitations imposed are those of available memory and the fact that no formula may be longer than 80 characters. The financial and trig function are not recusive, for example don't do this: (IRR(IRR(.2,D4..D20),E2..M2)), it won't work very well, if at all. If any of the formulas cannot calculate the answer, for example if you ask for the SQRT of a negative number, then the result will be ERROR and you will see the word "ERR" in the result cell. Finally, a formula may contain the following symbols: ^ Raise to the power. * Multiplication / Division + Addition - Subtraction : Range summation, same as SUM function, i.e. (SUM(A1..B5)) is the same as (A1:B5) | Logical OR & Logical AND > Greater than test < Less than test = Equal test >= Greater than or equal test <= Less than or equal test These are probably familiar, with the exception of the ":" for range summation. Let's say that you want to sum a column of numbers, beginning at D1 and ending at D20, then this expression would sum the column, (D1:D20). 2. Overwritten cells. TurboCALC will allow you to make text entries of any length up to a maximum of 80 characters, numeric entries may be up to 11 characters. Any text entry that exceeeds the cell width will automatically lock the adjacent cell on the right. The lock will be relased when the length of the entry shrinks. 3. The Range and the commands that use it. The range is shown on the bottom left of the worksheet screen. It is of the form: cell address..cell address. If you have not set the range, it defaults to the beginning and ending cell of the worksheet. There are two methods of setting the range: 1st, you can make the beginning and ending cells with the B and K commands, 2nd, whenever one of the commands that use the range is invoked, you have the opportunity of changing the range by entering the new range. For example the Copy command will give you a menu with 3 options: Range, Copy and eXit. If you select the Range option, you will be allowed to enter a new range, in the same format as displayed at the bottom of the screen. Here are the commands affected by the range: Copy, Move and Print. 4. Printer Setup. If you select the Print command, one of the options presented on the Print menu is "Setup". If you select the Setup option you will be able to control the margins and dimensions of the printed report. Also, you will be given the option called Control. The Control option allows you to specify printer setup control codes and printer exit control codes. These control codes default to Form Feed characters, but you may specify whatever necessary. The convention for specifying these codes is to use the decimal numbers representing the control codes separated by commas. You can also put plain text in the control strings, if you surround the text with " marks. For example: "This is a control string",12,12 If this was the setup control string, when the print began the program would send the following to the printer: 'This is a control string' FF FF. Of course, the quotes would not be sent, and the FF is just a symbolic way to represent the form feed character. With this method, you may program your printer in whatever way you wish. There are 2 dot commands for the printer. If you put .PAGE in column A of any row, it will cause a page break to occur at that place. The remainder of the row with the dot command will not print. After you have entered .PAUSE in column A of a row, page breaks will cause a pause for you to insert the next page and give you an option to reprint a page or exit the print function. 5. Internal Rate of Return. This function provides an iterative approximation for the interest rate which will produce a zero for the Net Present Value function. The range for this function should include present cash flows as well as future cash flows. The approach to finding the zero is as follows, 14 loops thru the "Bisection Method", followed by up to 6 loops thru the "Modified-False Position Method". Usually the IRR function will converge to within 0.000001. In some instances, where the cash flows turn negative in a later period, there are multiple solutions, however IRR finds the closest one only. Your guess input to this function should be between 0.0 and 1.0. In some cases, the function will not converge, either the solution is too small or too large, in these cases the function will return ERR. Try adjusting you guess and recalculate. 6. Range names. Range names may be up to 15 characters long. They may contain any alpha or numeric character. They should not contain any blank or punctuation characters. Up to 500 ranges may be named in each worksheet. When referenced, the range name must be preceded with a @ character. This signals TC that a range name is being used. Range names may be used anyplace a range or cell address is called for. The F4 key is used to bring up the range names for editing or examination. 7. The macro keys are the 10 function keys used in combination with Alt, Ctrl and Shift. These values in the macro keys are stored in the .CNF file and are thus independent of the worksheet. However, macros may be stored in the worksheet, at any cell location, and referred to via a JUMP command from the normal macro keys. Thus macros may be quite long and complex. NOTE: cell addresses are not automatically relocated when they are embedded in macros, so it is advisable to use the range name feature in conjunction with macros - range names are automatically relocated as required. Macros are simply a device to record keystrokes for playback at a later time. So if you have repetitive processes or processes that you are setting up for others to use, then macros are very handy indeed. Since some of the keys on the keyboard cannot be easily recorded in a macro, they have a special name assigned. When using these special names, enclose the name within {}. For example: {END} is the way to indicate the pressing of the End key. Here is the list of special names: Name Description ---- ----------- UP Up Arrow key. DOWN Down Arrow key. LEFT Left Arrow key. RIGHT Right Arrow key. HOME Home key. END End key. PGUP PgUp key. PGDN PgDn key. INS Ins key. DEL Del key. BS Back Space key. ESC Esc key. TAB Tab key. BTAB Backward Tab key. ^END Ctrl-End key combo. EDIT F2, means to edit current cell. RANGE F4, means to enter/edit/list range names. It is also possible to use a Carriage Return in a macro by using the ~, tilde, character wherever a Carriage Return is required. Also, it is IMPORTANT to note, that when writing a macro in normal cell locations it is often desirable to begin a line with either the / or \ characters. This is not possible, because TurboCALC will think that you mean to execute an immediate command. To allow you to do this, place the ~, tilde, before the / or \ character, this will cause TurboCALC to allow the entry to be made. For example: /JCA1~ Will not work if stored in a normal worksheet cell because TurboCALC will execute the command immediately. Instead enter: ~/JCA1~ The initial ~ is a throw-away, but it allows you to enter the command for later execution. There are some special / commands that appear only in macros: /Q Quit the worksheet module. /XGca~ Transfer execution of the macro to the cell address "ca". /XCca~ Call a subroutine macro at the cell address "ca". /XR Return from subroutine to the calling macro. Execution pickups at the next instruction following the /XC in the calling macro. /XQ Quit the macro and return to manual worksheet operation. /XNps~ca~ Input a numeric value and store at the cell address "ca". The string "ps" is used to prompt for input. /XLps~ca~ Input a literal value and store at the cell address "ca". The string "ps" is used to prompt for input. /XIcond~ Tests the condition and branch accordingly. The "cond" contains some expression that is tested to be true. If it is not found to be true, then execution of the macro continues with the next line of the macro, if it is true then the current line continues execution. For example: /XIb2>100~/XGg30~ If the contents of cell B2 is greater than 100 the macro will transfer execution to cell G30, otherwise it will continue execution with the next line following the /XI command. /XMca~ Execute a menu stored at the cell address "ca". Here is a sample of a menu stored at cell address B2. The command words are stored in the first line, B2..D2, the command descriptions are in the next line, B3..D3, the macro commands which are executed when the user selects an option are stored immediately below the related option. Each macro may be any number of lines long and is terminated with an empty cell. The same is true for the width of the menu, it terminates when an empty column is found. A B C D 1 2 Yes No Maybe 3 First Choice Second Choice Third Choice 4 No. 1~ No. 2~ No. 3~ 5 ~/Q The Editor ────────── Starting with version 6.00 of TurboCALC, an editor is included with the package. This editor is largely the result of the "Turbo EDITOR TOOLBOX"(tm). The editor has been customized and integrated with TurboCALC, and it is planned that more customization and intergration will occur in the future. At this time, the editor has quite a list of features, including the ability to print in background while editing a 2nd file, and windows can open so that 2 files may be edited/viewed side-by-side. If you would like to be able to customize your own editor, I suggest you purchase the toolbox from Borland International Inc. It is quite excellent and there are no royalties! Command List ──────────── ^A Left Word Larrow To left on line ^S Left Character Rarrow To right on line ^D Right Character ^Q^J Jump to marker ^F Right Word ^Q^I Toggle auto indent mode Uarrow Up Line ^Q^R To top of File Darrow Down Line ^Q^C To end of File PgUp Up Page ^Q^B To begin of Block PgDn Down Page ^Q^K To end of Block ^W Scroll Up ^Q 1 Jump to Marker 1 ^Z Scroll Down ^Q 2 Jump to Marker 2 RETURN New Line .... .... ^N Insert Line ^Q 9 Jump to Marker 9 ^G,DEL Delete Character ^Q^Y Delete Line Right BKSP Delete Left Character ^Q^F Find Pattern ^I Tab ^Q^A Find and Replace ^T Delete Word ^Y Delete Line ^K^S Save File & Resume ^B Reformat Paragraph ^K^D Save & open new file Ins Toggle Insert Mode ^K^X Save & exit to Menu ^L Find Next Occurrence ^K^Q Abandon & open new file ^J Beginning/End of line ^K 1 Set Marker 1 Home Move to beginning of line ^K 2 Set Marker 2 End Move to end of line ... .... ^P Insert Char by ASCII ^K 9 Set Marker 9 ^O^O Open new window ^O^L Set Left Margin ^K^B Begin Block ^O^R Set Right Margin ^K^K End Block ^O^C Center Line ^K^H Hide Block ^O^K Change Case ^K^C Copy Block ^O^S Set UNDO Limit ^K^V Move Block ^O^W Toggle Wordwrap Mode ^K^Y Delete Block ^O^G Goto other window ^K^W Write Block ^O^I Goto Column ^K^R Read block ^O^N Goto Line ^K^M Set marker ^O^Y Destroy window ^K^T Define tab width F2 Switch to the CALC module F10 Activate Pulldown Menus ESC Undo last change Note: Turbo EDITOR TOOLBOX is a trademark of Borland International Inc. Some useful options: With ^Q^F: U - For search that is case independent. With ^Q^A: U - As above for ^Q^F. G - Global search. N - Replace without asking. A hint: When using the ^P command to insert printer codes into the text, you press ^P followed by the control character you want to send to the printer. You can enter only 1 control character each time you press ^P.