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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%
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- On
- 9600
- %CO:D,10,72%%CO:E,10,30%%CO:F,10,49%%CO:G,10,13%