The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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ProQube Lite (tm) User Manual Version 1 Copyright FormalSoft 1990 All Rights Reserved No part of this documentation may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of FormalSoft. Acknowledgements: Kim Kokkonen, for routines used to enhance the performance of ProQube Lite. Trademarks: FormalSoft, ProQube 3D, and ProQube Lite are trademarks of FormalSoft. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. FormalSoft * PO Box 1913 * Sandy, UT 84091 * 801-565-0971 CONTENTS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 INSTALLING PROQUBE LITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 HOW TO RUN PROQUBE LITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PROQUBE LITE BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 THE WORKQUBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 HOW TO GET HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 MOVING AROUND THE WORKQUBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ENTERING AND EDITING DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 HOW TO ENTER AND USE FORMULAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE CELL REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 DEFINING A BLOCK OF CELLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 BUILT-IN @FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 USING THE COMMAND MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 USING THE FUNCTION KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 SAVING AND RETRIEVING DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 USING THE FILE MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CHANGING YOUR SPREADSHEET'S APPEARANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 USING THE MULTIPLE PAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 CHANGING THE VIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 PRINTING YOUR DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 RECORDING A MACRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 THE PROQUBE LITE TEXT EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 THE PROQUBE LITE APPLICATION LANGUAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 REFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 THE FUNCTION KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 PROQUBE LITE COMMAND MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 PROQUBE LITE APPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 CREATING AN APPLICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 RUNNING AN APPLICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 SPECIAL KEY NAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 THE PROQUBE COMMAND LANGUAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 APPENDIX A SUPPLEMENT PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 QUBECALC CONVERSION PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 THE SETUP PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 APPENDIX B DESIGN HINTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 i LICENSE AGREEMENT ProQube Lite is distributed as Shareware. It is not free software, nor is it in the public domain. You are granted a limited license to use ProQube Lite on a trial basis. If you want to continue using ProQube Lite, you should register with FormalSoft using the form provided on the next page. If ProQube Lite is used on multiple machines (or on a network), then a copy must be purchased for as many copies as will be running simultaneously. You are also granted a limited license to copy and distribute ProQube Lite for evaluation by others on the following conditions: - You may NOT charge anything for ProQube Lite itself. You may charge a copying fee (not to exceed $8) to cover disks and handling. - You may NOT copy the printed documentation in any manner or form. - You may NOT bundle ProQube Lite with any other product without prior written permission from FormalSoft. - You may NOT distribute versions of ProQube Lite which have been modified in any way. - You must include ALL of the files which are distributed with ProQube Lite. These files must be ARCHIVED together if you place them on an electronic bulletin board. WHAT IF I NEED EVEN MORE POWER? FormalSoft also offers a commercial (non-Shareware) spreadsheet called ProQube 3D. ProQube 3D contains all of the features of ProQube Lite, plus presentation graphics, database querying and entry forms, goalseeking, auditing, network file locking, expanded memory support, more @functions, enhanced macro language, file encryption, and much more. And ProQube 3D can directly read your ProQube Lite files. According to Jim Seymour in Today's Office, "It is one of the best -- and best implemented -- new ideas in spreadsheets in a long time." ProQube 3D is priced at $99, and is available either directly from us or through your local dealer. [NOTE: Because ProQube 3D is not Shareware, the ProQube 3D license does NOT allow you to copy and distribute the program to others.] ii Registration Form ----------------- TO ORDER: Send this form & payment to: FormalSoft P.O. Box 1913 Sandy, UT. 84091-1913 Or call our voice number: 801-565-0971 Or call our BBS conference: BEACONetwork 801-298-5222 (N-8-1) Join the conference after logging on by typing J PROQUBE at the main menu. Please send me the following product: [ ] ProQube Lite for $29 ($25 + $4 s/h). Registered ProQube Lite users may upgrade at any time to ProQube 3D for $74. [ ] ProQube 3D for $103 ($99 + $4 s/h). ProQube 3D is FormalSoft's commercial 3D spreadsheet which provides all the features of ProQube Lite plus presentation graphics, database querying and entry forms, goalseeking, auditing, network file locking, expanded memory support, more @functions, enhanced macro language, file encryption, and much more. * Utah residents please add 6.25% sales tax. Name:____________________________________________________________________ Company:_________________________________________________________________ Address:_________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip:________________________________________________________ Country:_________________________________________________________________ ___ CHECK (US $ drawn on US bank only) ___ VISA/MC ___ American Express Credit card #_________________________________ Exp date_______________ Signature_______________________________________________________________ Where did you get your copy from?______________________________________ Comments?______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ iii ABOUT THE DOCUMENTATION The ProQube Lite documentation is divided into several sections, to accommodate all levels of users. Regardless of how much experience you have with spreadsheets, you should read Getting Started for help with installing ProQube Lite on your system. If you are new to spreadsheets, then you will want to start with ProQube Lite Basics, to learn about how spreadsheets work in general, and how ProQube Lite works in specific. You may also want to run the tutorial program described in the Getting Started section. If you are a spreadsheet wizard, you may still want to skim over ProQube Lite Basics, because there are many features in ProQube Lite which are not available in any other spreadsheet. Getting Started This section describes how to install, configure, and run ProQube Lite. ProQube Lite Basics This section provides an overview of ProQube Lite's capabilities. ProQube Lite Reference This section describes each of ProQube Lite's commands, functions and features, and how to use them. ProQube Lite Applications This section describes the ProQube Command Language (PCL), and how to use it to create sophisticated application programs. Appendix This section provides detailed information on supplementary programs, design hints, etc. In this documentation, special keys are surrounded by angle brackets. For example the enter key is designated by <Enter>, the F1 function key is designated by <F1> and so on. So when you are asked to type the following: PQLITE<Enter> it means to type the word PQLITE, then press the <Enter> key. 1 GETTING STARTED INSTALLING PROQUBE LITE You should have the following files: README Important information. ORDER.DOC ProQube Lite order form. PQLITE.EXE * The ProQube Lite program. PQLITE.OVR * Another part of the program. PQLITE.HLP The help file. PQLITE.ERR * The error message file. CONVERT.EXE Converts QubeCalc files to ProQube Lite files. SETUP.EXE Lets you set colors and options. PQLITE.DOC The on-disk ProQube Lite user manual. PRINTDOC.EXE Prints the on-disk manual to your printer. After you run ProQube, you may also see files named PQLITE.CFG and PQLITE.SET. These are files which ProQube uses to store information about your various settings. * ProQube Lite works best when run from your hard disk. If you want to run ProQube Lite from a floppy, the files marked with an asterisk are the only ones that have to be on the disk. 2 HOW TO RUN PROQUBE LITE To Start To start ProQube Lite on your computer: - Turn on your computer - Change to the directory where the ProQube Lite files are - Type PQLITE<Enter> If you want to have a file retrieved immediately upon booting up ProQube Lite, simply add the file's name on the command line. For example, if you want to start up with the file named EXAMPLE.PQS, then enter PQLITE EXAMPLE<Enter> at the DOS prompt to begin running the program. The Menus When you want to execute a command in ProQube Lite, you will usually select it from ProQube Lite's menu system. A menu is simply a list of commands which you can select from. All you have to do to bring up ProQube Lite's main menu is to press the / key. If you are using a mouse, then you can also bring up ProQube Lite's main menu by pressing the left mouse button. This manual will often refer to menu commands like /File Retrieve. This refers to the command performed when you press /, then select File from the menu, then select Retrieve from the submenu. Special Keys ProQube Lite assigns several of its commands to one of the 10 function keys (<F1> through <F10>) instead of or in addition to the command menus. These commands are ones which you might normally want to select with a single keystroke. Help ProQube Lite provides extensive online help for its features. To call up this help, simply press the <F1> Help key at any point in the program. A help screen will pop up which provides information about the operation you are attempting. To Quit Exiting from ProQube Lite is just one of the commands available in ProQube Lite's command menus. To quit, simply press the / key to bring up the menu, and then press Q for Quit. 3 PROQUBE LITE BASICS This section is intended you get you up and running with ProQube Lite. Even if you are already familiar with spreadsheet programs, you will want to at least read a few of the chapters in this section, because ProQube Lite contains many features which are not available in any other spreadsheet program. THE WORKQUBE A spreadsheet may be thought of as a large electronic worksheet, much like a piece of paper divided into rows and columns, like this: A B C D E F G H --------------------------------- 1| | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 2| | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 3| | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 4| | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 5| | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 6| | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 7| | | | | | | | | --------------------------------- A ProQube Lite worksheet has 512 rows and 512 columns. In order to distinguish columns from each other, ProQube Lite assigns a letter of the alphabet to each column. The first 26 columns are labeled with the letters A through Z. Since there are 512 columns but only 26 letters, the remaining columns must use 2 letters to identify them. ProQube Lite assigns each of the rows in a worksheet a number from 1 to 512. The top row in a worksheet is row 1 and the bottom row is row 512. ProQube Lite provides you with 512 of these worksheets, one behind the other. The front page is page 1, the second is page 2, and so on through page 512. This collection of pages is called the WorkQube. The area where a row and a column cross is known as a cell. Each cell in the WorkQube is identified by the letter (or letters) of the column it is in, the number of the row it is in, and the number of the page it is on. For example, the cell that is in column R and row 29 on page 4 is named R29;4 (the column letters always come before the row number, and the page number is separated by a semicolon). Each one of the cells may contain some text, a number, or a formula. 4 When you first run ProQube Lite, the following display will appear on your monitor. [Front] A1;1: (W9) BLANK <Default > 1 A B C D E F G H 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1=Help 2=Edit 3=Block 4=Absolute 5=GoTo 6=Search 7=Load 8=Save 9=Recalc Since it is impossible to view all 512 rows, columns, and pages at once, this display provides a window looking into the WorkQube. The letters of the columns which are on the screen are displayed in a horizontal bar above the columns, while the numbers of the rows which are on the screen are displayed in a vertical bar to the left of the rows. ProQube Lite displays the page number in the upper left corner where these two bars meet. A status line is located in the upper left corner of the screen and looks something like this: [Front] A1;1: (W9) BLANK <Default > Each component of the status line tells you certain information about the current perspective and cell. [Front] tells you that you are currently viewing the WorkQube from the front. A1;1 tells you that the cell you are currently at is in column A, row 1, and page 1. (W9) tells you that the column you are in is 9 characters wide. 5 BLANK tells you that the cell you are at is currently blank. This item tells you what is currently in the cell: BLANK - a blank cell TEXT - a line of text NUMBER - a number FORMULA - a formula with a numeric result TXTFORM - a formula with a text result FORMAT - a blank cell which contains formatting information ERROR - a formula which has an error value The bottom line of the display is an index to the function keys <F1> through <F10> so you don't have to memorize or look them up. Pressing <Ctrl> changes this index to reflect the operation of the function keys when used in combination with the <Ctrl> key. 6 HOW TO GET HELP ProQube Lite provides extensive online help for its features. To call up this help, simply press the <F1> Help key at any point in the program. A help screen will pop up which provides information about the operation you are attempting. ProQube Lite's help is context-sensitive. This means that ProQube Lite is always keeping track of what you are doing so that it can provide the proper help screen when you ask for it. For example, if you press <F1> when you are trying to copy a cell, then a help screen which explains that feature will pop up. ProQube Lite's help is also interactive. This means that the help screen which pops up will also list several other help screens which are related to what you are doing. You may view one of these related help screens by simply using the <Left> and <Right> keys (or moving the mouse) to move the highlight bar to the name of the help screen desired, and then pressing the <Enter> key or left mouse button, or by simply pressing the first letter of the desired help screen's name. You may also call up a list of help screens called the <HELP INDEX> by pressing the <F1> key a second time, or by pressing the right button on your mouse. After you have read the help screens that interest you, simply press the <Esc> key (or both mouse keys simultaneously) to return to what you were doing. 7 MOVING AROUND THE WORKQUBE ProQube Lite's workspace contains over 134 million cells, and it's very important to be able to move easily to all of them. You move from cell to cell by moving the "cell pointer". The cell pointer is a highlighted bar on the screen which "points to" the cell in the WorkQube which is the current cell. The address of the current cell is displayed on the top line of the ProQube Lite screen. ProQube Lite provides many ways to move the cell pointer. <Up> <Down> <Left> <Right> These keys move the cell pointer up, down, left, or right one cell position. If you try to move the cell pointer beyond the edge of the display, the display window will scroll over to the next row or column (assuming there is a row or column to scroll to). <PgUp> * This key moves the cell pointer up to the next higher page number. The cell pointer will be moved to the cell with the same row coordinate and column coordinate (but the next higher page coordinate) as the cell you moved from. For example, if you are in cell G5;2 and press <PgUp>, the cell pointer will move to cell G5;3. <PgDn> * This key moves the cell pointer down to the next lower page number. The cell pointer will be moved to the cell with the same row coordinate and column coordinate (but the next lower page coordinate) as the cell you moved from. For example, if you are in cell G5;2 and press <PgUp>, the cell pointer will move to cell G5;1. <Home> This key moves the cell pointer to the top left corner of the current page (cell A1 on the current page). <End> This key operates in a different manner than the other movement keys. Pressing <End> does not move the cell pointer itself, but changes the way the <Left>, <Right>, <Up>, <Down>, <PgUp>, <PgDn> and <Home> keys work. If you press the <End> key and then one of the arrow keys or <PgUp> or <PgDn>, then the cell pointer will move in one of the following ways: - If the cell pointer is in a blank cell, it will move in the direction selected to the first non blank cell. - If the cell pointer is in a non blank cell, it will move in the direction selected to the last non blank cell before a blank cell. If you press the <End> key followed immediately by the <Home> key, the cell pointer will move to the cell in the 8 lower right corner of the page. If you want to cancel out the effect of the <End> key after you have pressed it, simply press <End> a second time. <^Right> This key sequence moves the cell pointer one screen's worth of columns to the right. This key sequence is generated by holding down the <Ctrl> key and pressing <Right>. <^Left> This key sequence moves the cell pointer one screen's worth of columns to the left. This key sequence is generated by holding down the <Ctrl> key and pressing <Left>. <^PgUp> * This key sequence moves the cell pointer up one screen's worth of rows. This key sequence is generated by holding down <Ctrl> and pressing <PgUp>. <^PgDn> * This key sequence moves the cell pointer down one screen's worth of rows. This key sequence is generated by holding down <Ctrl> and pressing <PgDn>. <^Home> This key moves the cell pointer to the upper left cell on the current display. <^End> This key moves the cell pointer to the lower right cell on the current display. <F5> This key moves the cell pointer anywhere you tell it to. ProQube Lite will ask you which cell you want to go to, and you just type in the cell name and hit <Enter>. In addition to the various movement keys, ProQube Lite provides built-in mouse support. If you have a mouse and have installed your mouse driver before running ProQube Lite, then you can move the cell pointer by simply moving the mouse in the direction you want to go. * The functions of the <PgUp>/<PgDn> keys can be swapped with those of the <^PgUp>/<^PgDn> keys by first running the program SETUP.COM described in Appendix A. 9 ENTERING AND EDITING DATA You can enter numbers or text into any of the cells in the WorkQube. Just move the cell pointer to the cell you want to enter a number or text in, and type the number or text. You may enter up to 240 characters into each cell. The number or text will be entered into the cell as soon as you press <Enter> or one of the movement key sequences (<Up>, <Down>, <Left>, <Right>, <PgUp>, or <PgDn>). If you finish entering the data using the <Enter> key, the cell pointer will remain positioned at the same cell. If you finish entering the data using one of the movement keys, the data will be entered into the current cell, and then the cell pointer will move to another cell in the direction you specified. Numbers A number can range in value from -10E+37 to 10E+37, and can have up to 11 significant places. You can enter a number into a cell using either standard notation (like 12.345) or scientific notation (like 1234.5e-2). Text If you enter a line of text which contains more characters than the column is wide, it will spill over into adjacent cells (if the adjacent cells are blank). If the adjacent cells contain data, then the extra characters in the text string will be hidden from view (but they will still be in the cell). If you want to see the entire string, you must widen the column containing the text. The way your text is displayed in a cell depends on the first character of the text. There are four (4) possible characters which can precede your text and which affect the way the text is displayed. These characters are: ' causes the text to be left justified in the cell " causes the text to be right justified in the cell ^ causes the text to be centered in the cell \ causes the next character to be repeated If you enter some text without one of the above special characters as the first character, ProQube Lite will automatically place the global justify character on the text for you. You can select or change this global justify character with the /WorkQube Justify command on the main menu. Once the text has been entered into a cell, you may change the justification using either the /Cell Justify or the /Block Justify commands (or use the <F2>Edit function key to enter edit mode and just change the justification character to the one you want). Editing If you need to change an entry in a cell, but don't want to retype the entire thing, ProQube Lite provides the ability to edit your entry. Simply move the cell pointer to the cell you want to edit, and press the <F2> Edit key. If there is anything in the cell to edit, ProQube Lite will enter its 10 editing mode. Also, if you make an error when entering a formula this editing capability will be called automatically. When you are in edit mode, the following editing keys are available: <Left> moves the cursor one character to the left. <Right> moves the cursor one character to the right. <Home> moves the cursor to the first character on the line. <End> moves the cursor to the last character on the line. <^Right> moves the cursor one word to the right. <^Left> moves the cursor one word to the left. <BkSp> deletes the character to the left of the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <^BkSp> deletes the entire line. This is not the same as erasing the cell. The cell will still take up memory, but it will contain a blank string. To erase the cell completely, use the /Cell Erase command. <Del> deletes the character underneath the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <Ins> toggles between insert and overwrite modes. When you are in insert mode, typing a character will insert the new character into the line at the point where the cursor is. The character under the cursor and those to the right of the cursor are shifted to the right to make room for the new character. When you are in overwrite mode, typing a character will replace the character under the cursor with the new character. When you are in insert mode, the cursor will be an underline. In overwrite mode the cursor will be a solid block. 11 HOW TO ENTER AND USE FORMULAS One of the most useful features of any spreadsheet is the ability to perform calculations using the numbers and text entered in other cells. This is done by entering a formula into a cell. To enter a formula, you simply move the cell pointer to the cell you want the formula to be in, type the formula, then press <Enter>. When a cell contains a formula, it will display the value that the formula evaluates to, rather than the formula itself. A ProQube Lite formula must begin with an equal sign '=' and may be made up of numbers (or text in some cases), references to values in other cells, built-in functions, and mathematical, logical, and comparison operators. Example Let's say you have a number in cell B5;1 and another in cell C6;1, and you would like to add these two numbers and place the result in cell A4;1. Simply move the cell pointer to A4;1, and type in the following formula: =B5;1+C6;1 (followed by <Enter>). Cell A4;1 now contains the formula you entered, but it will display the result of the formula. If you later change the number in either B5;1 or C6;1, the formula in A4;1 will be recalculated and the new value will be displayed. You can use the following operators in a formula (a and b can be any number, cell reference, function, or formula): Mathematical a+b Addition a-b Subtraction a*b Multiplication a/b Division a^b Exponentiation Logical a&b And (is true only if a is true AND b is true) a|b Or (is true is a is true OR b is true) ~b Not (is false if b is true, and is true if b is false) Comparison a=b is true if a is equal to b a<>b is true if a is NOT equal to b a<b is true if a is less than b a>b is true if a is greater than b a<=b is true if a is less than or equal to b a>=b is true is a is greater than or equal to b You can also use the comparison operators to compare text strings with each other. Two strings are considered equal if they are the same length, and contain the same characters in the same order. String comparisons are case insensitive, which means that two letters are considered the same regardless of whether one is uppercase and one is lowercase. For example, the string Test is considered equal to the string test. In addition, the + operator can also be used to concatenate 2 strings. For 12 example, the formula: ="This is"+" a test" returns the string This is a test. If you enter a formula which uses more than one operator, the operations are always performed in a specific order (called precedence). The order of precedence is: 1. Exponentiation ^ 2. Negation - 3. Multiplication and Division * / 4. Addition and Subtraction + - 5. Comparison = < > <= >= <> 6. Not ~ 7. And/Or & | where exponentiation is performed before negation and so on. If you want to change the order in which operations are performed, then you must use parentheses in your formulas. Operations which you place in parentheses will be performed before those outside the parentheses. For example, the formula =2+3*4 evaluates as 14 (not 20) because the multiply has a higher precedence than the addition. If you want the addition to be performed first, then use parentheses to make the equation look like =(2+3)*4 When you are entering cell references in a formula (like B3;4), you only need to add the page number (and the semicolon) if the reference is to a cell on a different page. If you leave the page number off, ProQube Lite will automatically add the current page number to the reference when the formula is entered into the cell. In addition to typing cell references in formulas, you can also enter cell references by pointing to them with the cell pointer. At any point in entering a formula where a cell reference is allowed, you can simply press any of the cell pointer movement keys to begin pointing to a cell or block of cells. The address of the cell which the cell pointer is on will appear in the formula. As you move the cell pointer around, the reference in the formula will be adjusted to reflect the new position of the cell pointer. When the cell pointer is highlighting the cell reference you want, either press the <Enter> key or the character you want to immediately follow the cell reference. If you press the <Enter> key, the reference will be entered and you may continue to enter the formula. If you press another key, the reference and the key you pressed will be entered on the formula 13 line, and you may continue entering the formula. If you change your mind about pointing to a cell reference, simply press the <Esc> key and you will be returned to formula entry without any cell reference being entered. If you have named any cells with the /Block Name command, you may also select a cell or block reference from a list of these references. Simply press the <F3> key when you want to select a named block, and a menu will pop up which lists all the currently defined block names. You can then select the range name you want, and it will be placed into your formula for you. The <F3> key will only pop up the block name list when it is legal to enter a cell or block reference. If you enter a formula which ProQube Lite can't evaluate, the formula you entered will be displayed on the command line and the editing facility will be invoked. The cursor will be placed near the part of the formula which ProQube Lite didn't like, and you may fix the formula using the editing commands. If you enter (or edit) a formula and the word CIRC appears in the upper right corner of the screen, this means a circular reference exists in your worksheet. A circular reference means that a formula in your worksheet depends on the value of the cell it is in. For example, if cell A1;1 contains the formula =2*A1;1, then the formula must use the current value of cell A1;1 to calculate the next value of cell A1;1. If you have a circular reference, the status window (<^F8>) will tell you which cell it is. 14 RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE CELL REFERENCES When a formula references another cell, there are two different ways that the cell can be referenced; absolute and relative. The purpose of relative and absolute references is to let ProQube Lite know what to do when moving formulas from cell to cell. It is easy to distinguish between an absolute and a relative cell reference. An absolute cell reference uses the $ character in front of each of its coordinates, like $A$1;$1, while a relative reference uses no special characters, like A1;1. Absolute An absolute cell reference in a formula points to the exact same cell, regardless of where the formula is moved or copied to. Relative A relative cell reference in a formula points to the cell which is a certain number of rows, columns, and pages away. If the formula is moved, the new relative cell reference will be adjusted to point to the cell the same number of rows, columns and pages away from the new formula location. Example The cell C3;1 contains the formula =$A$1;$1+A1;1. The first cell reference $A$1;$1 is an absolute reference. The value in cell A1;1 will always be used as the value of this reference, even if the formula is copied. The second reference A1;1 is a relative reference. Since cell A1;1 is 2 columns left of and 2 rows above cell C3;1, the value of this reference is taken from the cell which is 2 columns to the left of and 2 rows above the formula, even if the formula is copied. If the formula in cell C3;1 is now copied to cell D5;1, the contents of D5;1 will be =$A$1;$1+B3;1. Notice that the absolute reference did NOT change; it still points "ABSOLUTELY" to cell A1;1, but the relative reference was adjusted so that it points to cell B3;1 (cell B3;1 is the cell which is 2 columns to the left of and 2 rows above the new cell D5;1). Relative references to other pages are also adjusted when a page is inserted or deleted, or data is copied from one page to another. It doesn't matter whether a cell reference is absolute or relative when a formula is evaluated; the result will be the same in either case. For example, the formula =2*A1;1 will have the same value as =2*$A$1;$1. You can have both absolute and relative references in the same equation if you want. It is possible, and even useful sometimes, to mix absolute and relative references in a single cell reference. For example, the reference A$2;3 points relatively to column A and page 3, but absolutely to row 2. 15 DEFINING A BLOCK OF CELLS Many of ProQube Lite's commands can operate on more than one cell at a time. These commands will usually ask you to define a block of cells to perform the command on. The block of cells you define can be a single cell, a two dimensional range of cells, or a three dimensional block of cells. A reference to a block is made up of the cells at opposite corners of the block separated by two periods. For example, the block reference A1;1..Z20;5 contains all the cells in the block bordered by columns A through Z, rows 1 through 20, and pages 1 through 5. When a command asks you to define a block of cells, there are 5 different options. - You can simply type in the block reference. - You can type in the name of a cell surrounded by square brackets. ProQube Lite will read the name of the range out of that cell. This option allows your application programs to indirectly supply a range reference to a command. Example If cell B5;1 contains the string 'G1;1..J10;3, then typing [B5;1] when you are asked to define a block will cause ProQube Lite to use the block G1;1..J10;3 for the command. - If you have named a block using the /Block Name command, you may simply type in the name. Example If you assigned the name COSTS to the block G1;1..J10;3, then typing COSTS when you are asked to define a block will cause ProQube Lite to use the block G1;1..J10;3 for the command. - Pressing the <F3> Block key will bring up a menu of all the currently defined block names. You may pick a block from this list by highlighting the name and pressing the <Enter> key. If there are more than 16 block names defined, you may press the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to view more block names. - You can highlight the block on screen using the cursor keys. When you are defining a block, all the visible cells in the block will be highlighted on the screen. On the command line you will see either a single cell reference or a block reference. A single cell reference means that an anchor cell has not been selected. In this case, pressing a movement key simply moves the cell pointer to a new cell, but does not highlight (or define) any other cells. If an anchor cell has been selected then all cells between the anchor cell and the current cell are defined (and highlighted if visible). You can use any of the movement keys (including <F5> GoTo) to move the cell pointer when highlighting a block of cells. In addition, the following keys are active when defining a block: 16 <Enter> This key causes all the cells in the block on the command line to be defined. If only a single cell reference is displayed when you press <Enter>, then only that cell will be defined. . This key sets the anchor to the current cell. If an anchor was already set before you pressed ., then it is released before the new one is set. <Esc> This key releases the anchor if it is set. Pressing <Esc> when the anchor is not set cancels the block selection, and returns you to whatever you were doing before you were asked to define a block. <F4> This key cycles the block cell references among the absolute and relative types. If no anchor is set then the first coordinate is adjusted. If the anchor has been set then <F4> will adjust the non-anchor reference. 17 BUILT-IN @FUNCTIONS ProQube Lite provides over 80 built-in functions which you can use in your formulas. These built-in functions each begin with the character @, and are often called at functions. A detailed list of these functions is in the reference section of this manual. Most of these functions require one or more arguments. An argument is a value which the function uses as an input to provide an output value. An argument may be a number, a text string, a reference to a value in another cell, or another formula. In the case of the statistical functions, an argument may also be a range or block of cells. If a function requires arguments, they are enclosed in parentheses and immediately follow the name of the @function. If more than one argument is required, they must be separated from each other with a comma. A built-in function can return either a numerical or text value and may be treated exactly like a number or text would be. Example A cell contains the formula =2*@ABS(-3). @ABS is the name of a built-in function which returns the absolute (positive) value of its argument. -3 is the argument to the function. The function returns a value of 3, and is used in the rest of the formula just like the number 3. The value of the entire formula is 6 (2 times the value of the @function). If the value that a function returns is an error, it will return the special value ERROR. A formula which contains a function with a value of ERROR will also return ERROR as the value for the cell it is in. 18 USING THE COMMAND MENUS When you want to execute a command in ProQube Lite, it will usually be through ProQube Lite's menu system. A menu is simply a list of commands which you can pick from. Through the menus you can manipulate cells, blocks, or the entire WorkQube, graph or print data, manipulate files, or even temporarily exit to the operating system. To bring up ProQube Lite's menu system, you simply press the / key. If you are using a mouse, then you may also press the left mouse button to bring up the menu. At the top of the ProQube Lite screen you will see the following menu. Cell Block Slice WorkQube File Print Data Macro OpSys Quit The menu system uses a sliding bar to show your choices. There are three ways you can choose an option: - Press the <Left> or <Right> key until the sliding bar is highlighting the option you want. Then press <Enter> to make the choice. The <Home> key can be pressed to highlight the first menu choice, and pressing the <End> key will highlight the last menu choice. - If you are using a mouse, you may move the sliding bar by moving the mouse back and forth. Move the mouse until the sliding bar is highlighting the option you want. Then press the left mouse button to make the choice. - As a shortcut you can simply press the highlighted letter of the desired item (usually the first character) to select that option. A help line appears above the main menu. This line describes the highlighted menu option. When you move the sliding bar to a new item, this help line will change to display a line of help about the newly highlighted item. When you choose an option from the menu, a new submenu will pop up which works the same as the main menu. As each new submenu is chosen, the previous menus remain on-screen, providing you with a "tree" of your commands. To go back one level, simply press the <Esc> key (or the right mouse button). To clear all the menus from the screen at once, press the <BkSp> key (or both mouse buttons simultaneously. A detailed list of menu commands can be found in the reference section of this manual. 19 USING THE FUNCTION KEYS Several of ProQube Lite's commands are assigned to one of the 10 function keys instead of or in addition to the command menus. These commands are ones which you might normally want to select with a single keystroke. Several other commands are also assigned to one of the function keys with the <Ctrl> key pressed. To execute one of these commands, simply hold down the <Ctrl> key and then press the appropriate function key. A detailed description of each of the function keys may be found in the reference section of this manual. Function Keys FUNCTION KEY WHAT IT DOES <F1> Help Calls up context sensitive help. <F2> Edit Allows you to edit the current cell. <F3> Block Calls up a menu of defined block names. <F4> Absolute Toggles absolute & relative references. <F5> Goto Allows you to go to another cell. <F6> Search Search and replaces the contents of cells. <F7> Load Retrieves a worksheet from disk. <F8> Save Saves the current worksheet to disk. <F9> Recalc Recalculates the entire worksheet. FUNCTION KEY W/ <Ctrl> PRESSED WHAT IT DOES <^F1> Info Allows you to enter a worksheet description. <^F2> Debug Application program debug menu. <^F3> Break Breaks out of a running application. <^F4> Mark Marks the current cell for later return with <^F5>. <^F5> ToMark Returns to the last cell marked with <^F4>. <^F6> Files Calls up the File Manager. <^F7> EGA43 Toggles 43/50 line mode on EGA/VGA monitors. <^F8> Status Displays a status window. <^F9> Enter Toggles data entry mode. <^F10> Record Turns the macro recorder on and off. 20 SAVING AND RETRIEVING DATA As you are creating and using spreadsheets, your data is stored in the memory of your PC. You should store your spreadsheets on disk periodically throughout the day or session and definitely at the end of each day. In the event of a power outage or if you should forgetfully turn off the machine before a save has been done, the data entered since the last save to disk is lost. Saving You can save your worksheet to a file on disk using the /File Save command. You will be asked for the name you want to give your file, and ProQube Lite will store your spreadsheet on disk in the ProQube Lite format. If you just want to save a small part of your spreadsheet, the /File Xtract command will provide that capability. Retrieving When you want to read a file off the disk back into memory, you should use the /File Retrieve command. You will be asked for the name of the file to retrieve, and ProQube Lite will read the contents of that file into memory. Importing The ability to import files is an important function. The /File Import command lets you bring in data from just about any source and use it in your spreadsheet. ProQube Lite can import data from Lotus 1-2-3 (WKS and WK1), dBase II/III/III+ , DIF and ASCII files. Exporting If you wish to use your spreadsheet data with other software programs, the /File Export command should accomplish your desired result. ProQube Lite can export its data in several different formats, and most software packages are capable of reading at least one of them. ProQube Lite can export Lotus 1-2-3 (in two forms, WKS or WK1), dBase II or dBase III or III+, DIF, or ASCII files. 21 USING THE FILE MANAGER ProQube Lite provides many features designed to simplify its use. One of these features is the Visual File Manager. The File Manager allows you to manipulate files, directories, and drives by simply pointing and selecting. It may be accessed by two methods. 1) Any time you are asked for a file name, pressing the <Enter> key without a file name will bring the File Manager forward to assist you. Only the files that satisfy the request you are making will be shown. For example, if you have selected /File Retrieve, then responded to the prompt for a file name with the <Enter> key, spreadsheet files will be the only ones listed. You simply highlight the desired file with the <Up> and <Down> keys and press <Enter>. ProQube Lite will then retrieve the selected file. 2) To access the complete listing of files, select /File Files from the command menu. You will be asked to enter a mask. A mask is simply a way of telling ProQube Lite which files you want to be displayed. You may use the asterisk * in the mask. The asterisk will match any set of characters. For example, if you enter the mask *.BAK, then the file manager will list every file which ends with .BAK. If you enter the mask Q*.*, then all the files beginning with the letter Q will be displayed. Pressing <Enter> will use the Mask *.*, which will display all the files in the current directory. The File Manager also simplifies the tasks of changing drives and directories. To change to another directory, simply press the <Left> key to highlight the word DIRECTORIES at the top of the screen, then use the <Up> and <Down> keys to highlight the name of the directory you want to change to. Once the name is highlighted, press the <Enter> key and ProQube Lite will change to that directory and list the files in that directory. Changing drives is just as easy. Simply press the <Left> key until the word DRV is highlighted at the top of the screen, then press the letter of the drive you want to change to. For example, if you want to change to drive A:, then just press A. When you bring up the File Manager with the /File Files command, the function keys perform the following functions. <F1> Causes a help screen on the File Manager to appear. <F2> Loads the highlighted .PQS file into memory. <F3> Combines the highlighted file with the worksheet in memory. <F4> Imports the highlighted file. <F5> Lets you to edit the contents of the highlighted text file. <F6> Causes the highlighted text file to be printed. <F7> Causes the highlighted .EXE, .COM, or .BAT file to run. <F8> Allows you to rename the highlighted file. <F9> Copies the highlighted file to another location. <F10> Deletes the highlighted file. <^F1> Displays the description of the highlighted .PQS file. <^F2> Rescans the current drive to update the directory tree. 22 CHANGING YOUR SPREADSHEET'S APPEARANCE ProQube Lite lets you change the way numbers are displayed on the screen by assigning a "format" to cells. You might set a cell to the Currency format, for example, so that the number in that cell will be displayed with a leading dollar sign. Changing the format of a cell does not change the value stored in the cell, only the way it is displayed on the screen (and printouts). Normally, when you enter data into a cell, the cell will take on the global (WorkQube) format. You can see what this format is by pressing <^F8> to bring up the status window. The WorkQube format may be changed by using the /WorkQube Format command. It is also possible to set a default format for individual pages with the /Slice Page Format command. The format of an individual cell may be changed using the /Cell Format command, and the format of a block of cells may be changed using the /Block Format command. You should use care when formatting blocks of blank cells, because formatted cells use up memory, even if the cells' contents are blank. A cell may be set to any of the following formats: General The value is displayed with only the necessary number of decimal places. If the value is an integer, then no decimal point is displayed. If the column which the value is in is not wide enough to display all the decimal places, then only as many decimal places as will fit are displayed. If the column is not wide enough to display the integer part of the value, then the value will be displayed in scientific notation. Currency The value is displayed with a preceding dollar sign and a selected number of decimal places. If the value is negative, the value is enclosed in parentheses rather than displayed with a negative sign. There are two sub-options: Comma A comma will be inserted every three whole digits. (Example: $103,297.25) NoComma No comma is inserted in the number. Fixed The value is displayed with a fixed number of decimal places. Values which are very large or very small will appear in scientific notation. Four sub-options are available: Comma A comma will be inserted every three whole digits (Example: 12,345.67). Negative numbers are preceded by a negative sign. 23 NoComma No comma is inserted in the number. Negative numbers are preceded by a negative sign. A () No comma is inserted in the number. Negative numbers are enclosed in parentheses. B (,) A comma will be inserted every three whole digits. Negative numbers are enclosed in parentheses. Percent The value is displayed as a percentage with a fixed number of decimal places. The value is multiplied by 100, and is displayed with a trailing percent sign %. Two sub-options are available: Comma A comma will be inserted every three whole digits. (Example: 1,024%) NoComma No comma is inserted in the number. Scientific The value is displayed in exponential form, and shows the power of 10 that the number must be multiplied by. For example, 1.78E+07 means 1.78 times 10 to the 7th power. Time A time number (usually provided by one of the ProQube Lite time functions) is displayed in one of two ways. AM/PM The time appears in the a.m. or p.m. form. Thus, 5:00 in the evening appears as 5:00 p.m. Military The time appears as it would on a 24-hour clock. Thus, 5:00 in the evening appears as 17:00. Date A date number (usually provided by one of the ProQube Lite date functions) is displayed in one of five ways. dd-mmm-yy June 10, 1960 appears as 10-Jun-60. dd-mmm June 10, 1960 appears as 10-Jun. mmm-yy June 10, 1960 appears as Jun-60. mm/dd/yy June 10, 1960 appears as 06/10/60. month dd, yyyy June 10, 1960 appears as June 10, 1960. If you enter a date (in one of the first four formats above) into a date formatted cell, ProQube Lite will enter the date number into the cell rather than the text. For example, if you type 4/15/89 into a date formatted cell, ProQube Lite will enter the value 32703 (the date value for April 15, 1989) into the cell. This conserves memory, because the number takes less memory than the text string would. 24 Hidden The value will not be displayed on the screen. If you later want to unhide a hidden cell, simply set it to any of the other formats. Label All formulas (rather than their values) will be displayed on screen. Reset Resets the cell to the default format. EXAMPLE FORMATS Format 12.345 -12.345 =@PI*10000 General 12.345 -12.345 31415.92653 Currency $12.35 ($12.35) $31415.93 Currency (,) $12.35 ($12.35) $31,415.93 Fixed 12.35 -12.35 31415.93 Fixed (,) 12.35 -12.35 31,415.93 Fixed A () 12.35 (12.35) 31415.93 Fixed B (,) 12.35 (12.35) 31,415.93 Percent 1234.50% -1234.50% 3141592.65% Percent (,) 1,234.50% -1,234.50% 3,141,592.65% Scientific 1.2345E+01 -1.2345E+01 3.1415E+04 Time AM/PM 08:16:48AM 08:16:48AM 10:14:13PM Military 08:16:48 08:16:48 22:14:13 Date dd-mmm-yy 12-Jan-00 12-Jan-00 03-Jan-86 dd-mmm 12-Jan 12-Jan 03-Jan mmm-yy Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-86 mm/dd/yy 01/12/00 01/12/00 01/03/86 m d, yyyy January 12, 1900 January 12, 1900 January 3, 1986 Hidden Label 12.345 -12.345 =@PI*10000 If the formatted value contains more characters than the width of the column it is in, the cell display will be filled with a row of asterisks like *******. You can fix this condition in one of two ways. - Select a display format for the cell which requires fewer characters to display (or reduce the number of digits after the decimal point to be displayed). - Increase the width of the column so the formatted cell will fit in it. You can do this with the /Cell Width command. 25 USING THE MULTIPLE PAGES As a true three dimensional spreadsheet ProQube Lite uses multiple pages for storing data. Each page appears to be a flat two dimensional spreadsheet. Pages are "stacked" together into a WorkQube. You enter data just as it is entered in other spreadsheets, in rows and columns, within each page. Moving from page to page is simple - <PgUp> moves to the following pages and <PgDn> moves to the preceding pages. The multiple pages of the WorkQube present endless applications that are impossible or very difficult with conventional spreadsheets. Each page can contain the information for one year, one department, one district, or any other grouping of data that is meaningful to you. Each page can have a completely different format from the other pages or the same format as the other pages. And since every cell reference contains a page number, formulas can access any cell on any page, providing built in consolidation capabilities. Let's work through one example to see some of the possibilities that ProQube Lite's WorkQube present. For a small business, you might have a spreadsheet for expenses which consists of the four pages shown on the next page. Each year's detail information is contained on a separate page with page 2 containing 1987 data, page 3 for 1988, and page 4 for 1989. Consolidation of data is one of ProQube Lite's most powerful features. Since every cell reference includes the page number, any formula can access any cell on any page. You can even sum up ranges of cells which span across multiple pages. In our example, cell D5 in pages 2, 3, and 4 contain the January rent for the 3 years 1987, 1988, and 1989. In order for cell D5 on page 5 to consolidate the January rent for the 3 years, you simply enter the formula =@SUM(D5;2..D5;4) into cell D5;5. This formula sums up cell D5 across pages 2 through 4. 26 Example 2 A B C D E F 1 1987 Expenses 2 3 Total Jan 87 Feb 87 Mar 87 4 Advertising 300 120 35 145 5 Rent 910 300 300 310 6 Taxes 108 36 36 36 7 Telephone 913 504 300 109 8 Utilities 575 225 210 140 9 Total 2806 1185 881 740 3 A B C D E F 1 1988 Expenses 2 3 Total Jan 88 Feb 88 Mar 88 4 Advertising 346 140 56 150 5 Rent 1140 380 380 380 6 Taxes 174 58 58 58 7 Telephone 1039 709 301 29 8 Utilities 707 257 290 160 9 Total 3406 1544 1085 777 4 A B C D E F 1 1989 Expenses 2 3 Total Jan 89 Feb 89 Mar 89 4 Advertising 398 170 68 160 5 Rent 1260 420 420 420 6 Taxes 267 89 89 89 7 Telephone 1067 608 309 150 8 Utilities 847 360 307 180 9 Total 3839 1647 1193 999 5 A B C D E F 1 Total Expenses 2 Jan Feb Mar 3 Total Total Total Total 4 Advertising 1044 430 159 455 5 Rent 3310 1100 1100 1110 6 Taxes 549 183 183 183 7 Telephone 3019 1821 910 288 8 Utilities 2129 842 807 480 9 Total 10051 4376 3159 2516 27 CHANGING THE VIEW Probably the most powerful feature of ProQube Lite is its ability to let you view your 3D worksheets from different perspectives. This capability allows you to view data from different pages on the screen at the same time. ProQube Lite's 3D workspace is laid out as a cube of data known as the WorkQube. Changing the view determines which direction your pages slice through this WorkQube. From the FRONT view the pages slice through the WorkQube like this: --------------------- | PAGE 3 | --------------------- | | PAGE 2 | | --------------------- | | | PAGE 1 | | | | | |--- | | | | |--- | | --------------------- Every column in the WorkQube lies directly behind the same column on the previous page. For example, column A on page 3 lies directly behind column A on page 2, which lies behind column A on page 1. If we wanted to compare the data from each of the column A's together, we could change to the RIGHT view so that the pages slice through the 3D worksheet like this: /| /| /| / | / | / | / |/ |/ | / / / | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | / | /| /| / | / | / | / |/ |/ |/ Notice that the column A's from the FRONT view have been combined to make page 1 in the RIGHT view. Similarly, the column B's in the FRONT view have combined into page 2 in the RIGHT view, the column C's have combined into page 3, and so on. And suppose you view the WorkQube from the top. Since each of the rows in the FRONT view are behind one another, they combine into pages in the TOP 28 view, like this: ----------------- / / / PAGE 1 /---- /----------------/ / / PAGE 2 /---- /----------------/ / / PAGE 3 / /----------------/ Changing your view of the WorkQube is as simple as selecting the /WorkQube View command. You may view the WorkQube from the Front, Right, Top, Back, Left, or from the Under side. Although the concept of changing the view of your worksheet may appear complex, it is really quite simple, and is best learned by practice and experience. The disk based tutor provides an entire lesson on the 3D aspects of ProQube Lite, and is recommended if you find the concept confusing. Example Front Using the 3D worksheet from the previous section, you can see that the Front view of the WorkQube provides a page of expenses for each year, as well as a summary page. Column A of each page contains the categories of expenses, column C contains the total for the year, and columns D through O containing the expenses incurred in each month (January through December). Right Now, suppose you wanted to compare your expenses for a single month for various years. Rotating the WorkQube to the Right view allows us to compare by column. The A columns in the Front view combine to make up page 1 in the Right view, the Front B columns make up page 2 in the Right view, and so on. So page 4 of the Right view contains the information from column D (or January) of all the front view pages. Therefore, from the Right view all of January's expenses from each of the years is displayed side by side, like this: 29 [Right] 4 A B C D E 1 January Expenses 2 Jan 3 Jan 87 Jan 88 Jan 89 Total 4 Advertising 120 140 170 430 5 Rent 300 380 420 1100 6 Taxes 36 58 89 183 7 Telephone 504 709 608 1821 8 Utilities 225 257 360 842 9 Total 1185 1544 1647 4376 Since some expenses are seasonal (such as utilities), trends show up more accurately when the same month is compared from year to year. When comparing the Rent paid in January 1987 ($300) to the Rent paid in January 1989 ($420), you find that in two years the Rent increased 40%. And if you want to see the months of February compared with each other, you just press the <PgUp> key to move up to the next page. Top Now suppose you want to see a complete look at each individual expense's entries for all months in all years. This is the view you will get from the Top of the WorkQube. The rows in the Front view combine to make up the pages in the Top view. Page 1 of the Top view is made up of the row 1's in the Front view. Page 4 of the Top view contains the Rent expenses, or the contents of row 4 of all the pages. [Top] 5 A B C D E F 1 Rent Expenses 2 Rent 3 Rent 87 Rent 88 Rent 89 Total 4 5 January 300 380 420 1100 6 February 300 380 420 1100 7 March 310 380 420 1110 And if you want to see the other individual expenses, simply use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to move from page to page in the Top view. 30 Others Since the three remaining views (Back, Left, and Under) slice pages the same way as the Front, Right, and Top views, they are used to transpose the positions of the rows and columns and present the same data as viewed in the Front, Right, and Top views. 31 PRINTING YOUR DATA ProQube Lite allows you to print out the data you have entered and gives you control over what is printed and how the printout looks. You can print your entire worksheet or any portion of it, including border rows and columns. The /Print Options command gives you control over the appearance of your printed product. You can set margins and page numbering, as well as headers and footers. You may print the data from the spreadsheet or the formulas behind it. You can direct the output to a printer (LPT1 or LPT2) or to a file. Once you have selected the data, the borders, and the options, printing is accomplished by a simple command - Go. Example 1 A B C D E F 1 1987 Sales 2 3 Jan Feb Mar Apr May 4 Joe 1234 2011 1893 1500 1438 5 Bill 2102 1453 2415 1627 1888 6 David 1845 1739 2194 1999 2003 7 Mike 2340 2112 1693 1429 2236 8 9 You want to print the spreadsheet above. 1. Select /Print from the main menu to begin. 2. Next, you must tell ProQube Lite what portion of the spreadsheet you wish to print by selecting Block from the Print menu. You will be asked to define the block you wish to print. Either type in the block, like A1;1..F7;1, or highlight the block using the cursor keys. 3. Set the print options to produce the output that you want. This is accomplished by choosing Option from the pop-up menu. A full screen Option menu will appear with several options that can be set. Let's set the left margin to 10 and insert a header to read "Prepared on May 1, 1989". Hit <Esc> when all the options have been set to suit your needs. 4. Finally, print your spreadsheet by selecting Go from the menu. 32 RECORDING A MACRO Although ProQube Lite's application language is powerful enough to create sophisticated business applications, there are many times when you will want to simply repeat a sequence of keystrokes over and over. ProQube Lite's Macro Recorder provides an easy way to create and play back often repeated key sequences. The macro recorder allows you to assign a sequence of keystrokes to a single key, and when you press that single key, it will automatically play back the keystroke sequence for you. To begin recording a macro, you simply press the <^F10> key. You then press the key you want to assign the macro to, and the word REC will begin flashing in the upper right corner of the screen. As long as REC is flashing, ProQube Lite will be memorizing any further keystrokes you type. When you want to stop recording, just press the <^F10> key again. Your macro will be stored in a file whose name corresponds to the key you assigned the macro to. For example, a macro assigned to <Ctrl>T would be named CTRLT.PQM. Later, when you press <Ctrl>T, ProQube Lite will look for the macro file CTRLT.PQM, and play back the keystrokes which are saved there. You can assign a macro to just about any key which isn't already defined and used by ProQube Lite. For example, you can't redefine the arrow keys to do something else, but you can assign other keys to do the same thing as the arrow keys. Example Suppose that you often need to format individual cells with the currency format and 2 decimal places (and no commas). The keystrokes needed to perform that command are: /CFCN2<Enter> Rather than type these 7 keystrokes for each cell, you want to be able to push a single key (lets say <Alt>F) to perform the formatting. First, move to one of the cells you want to format, then press <^F10> to turn on the macro recorder. A box will pop up telling you to press the key to assign the macro to, so press <Alt>F. The work REC will begin flashing in the upper right corner of the screen. Then just begin typing the keystrokes you want to record: /CFCN2<Enter> followed by <^F10> to turn the macro recorder off. You have just created a macro. Now, the next time you want to format a cell as currency, just put the cell pointer on that cell and press <Alt>F. ProQube Lite will search for the file named ALTF.PQM which was created by the macro recorder, and will replay the keystrokes which were stored in that file. 33 THE PROQUBE LITE TEXT EDITOR ProQube Lite provides a simple text editor which you can use to create and edit your application programs. This editor can be called up in two different ways. - The /Macro Edit command will ask you for the name of a macro. You may enter a file name, or press <Enter> to select a file from the file manager. You will then be placed in the ProQube Lite text editor. - You may press <F5> when you are using the /File Files command to edit the highlighted file. When you are using the text editor, the following keys are available for moving around and manipulating text in your file. <Up> <Down> <Left> <Right> The arrow keys move the cursor up or down one line, or left or right one character. <Home> This key moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. <End> This key moves the cursor to the end of the line. <^Right> This key moves the cursor one word to the right. <^Left> This key moves the cursor one word to the left. <^Home> This key moves the cursor to the top of the file. <^End> This key moves the cursor to the end of the file. <PgDn> This key moves the cursor down one screen. <PgUp> This key moves the cursor up one screen. <BkSp> This key deletes the character to the left of the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <^BkSp> This key deletes the entire line. <Del> This key deletes the character underneath the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <Ins> This key toggles between insert and overwrite modes. When you are in insert mode, typing a character will insert the new character into the line at the point where the cursor is. The character under the cursor and those to the right of the cursor are shifted to the right to make room for the new character. When you are in overwrite mode, typing a character will replace the character under the cursor with the new character. When you are in insert mode, the cursor will be an underline. In overwrite mode the cursor will be a solid block. 34 In addition, the following function keys perform the following functions when used in the text editor. An index of these function keys is located along the bottom line of the editor display. <F1> Help This key causes a help screen to appear which lists all of the commands available for text editing. <F2> Mark This key turns on marking at the current line. Moving the cursor after pressing this key causes text between that line and the new line to be highlighted. Pressing <F2> a second time will turn off text marking. <F3> Cut Pressing this key with marking turned on (<F2>) causes the marked lines to be cut out of the file and placed in a buffer. You may then move to another location in the file and use the <F4> key to paste the lines back into the file. The buffer will only hold one block of lines, so if you cut data a second time, the new data replaces the older data in the buffer. <F4> Paste This keys causes the contents of the buffer to be pasted into the file at the cursor location. This does not clear the buffer, so you may paste the same buffer data into more than one location. <F5> DelLine This command deletes the line the cursor is on. <F6> Search This command allows you to search for a string in the file. You will be asked to enter the text you want to search for. Simply enter the text, and the cursor will be moved to the next occurrence of that text. The search is case insensitive, which means that hello will match hello, Hello, or HeLlO. <F7> Save This command allows you to save the current file to disk without having to exit. <F10> Exit This command allows you to exit from the editor. If you have made any changes to the file, you will be asked if you want to save it first. 35 THE PROQUBE LITE APPLICATION LANGUAGE In addition to the macro recorder, ProQube Lite provides a built in programming language which provides additional capabilities such as windowing, menu creation, control structures, database screen painting, and file, printer, and DOS access. A ProQube Lite application program simply consists of a text file containing the commands which you would like ProQube Lite to execute. You may give your program files any valid DOS name, but the extension must be .PQM (for example MYPROG.PQM). Your application program can consist of keystroke macros, ProQube Command Language (PCL) commands, or both. Macros A keystroke macro is simply a sequence of keystrokes following the apostrophe character '. When ProQube Lite encounters one of these keystroke sequences in your program, it simply treats the keystrokes as if you typed them in yourself. For example, if you place the line: '/sci2<Enter> into your application program, then ProQube Lite will automatically insert two columns when it executes this line. It does this by first typing the / character (which will bring up the menu), then S (for slice), then <Ctrl> (for column), then I (for insert), then the number 2 (to insert 2 columns), and finally the <Enter> key (to complete the command). Commands The ProQube Command Language (PCL) is a set of instructions which provides flexible I/O capabilities, numerous control structures, file, printer, and DOS access, and more. In fact, you may find that the PCL commands are so versatile that many of your application programs will need few if any keystroke macros. The PCL commands are described in detail in ProQube Lite Applications. Creating You create an application with a text editor, just as you would write a program in any programming language. ProQube Lite provides a simple text editor which can be called up with the /Macro Edit command, or you can use your own text editor outside of ProQube Lite. Running Once you have created your application program, you will probably want to run it. There are several ways to run a ProQube Lite application program which you have created. - Using the /Macro Run command. - Pressing the key assigned to an application program. - Setting up conditions to start your program automatically using the /Macro Startup command. 36 - Giving your program the same name as one of your worksheets. When a new data file (.PQS) is retrieved, ProQube Lite will check for a corresponding application to run. For example, when you retrieve INVOICE.PQS, then ProQube Lite will look for and run the application INVOICE.PQM (if it exists). Debugging Since few people can create the perfect program the first time around, ProQube Lite provides several powerful application debugging features. If an error is encountered when running an application, then an error message will first be displayed. Then, when you press a key to continue, ProQube Lite will load the application into the editor, and place you on the line where the error occurred to allow you to fix the problem. ProQube Lite also provides single stepping, conditional breakpoints, and the ability to examine and edit cells during program execution. 37 REFERENCE THE FUNCTION KEYS Several of ProQube Lite's commands are assigned to one of the 10 function keys instead of or in addition to the command menus. These commands are ones which you might normally want to select with a single keystroke. Several other commands are also assigned to one of the function keys with the <Ctrl> key pressed. To execute one of these commands, simply hold down the <Ctrl> key and then press the appropriate function key. The commands tied to the function keys are also accessible with the mouse. Pressing the right button on the mouse will turn the function key index at the bottom of the screen into a moving bar menu. Pressing the right mouse button additional times toggles the function key menu between the function key menu with and without the <Ctrl> key pressed. Pressing the left mouse button selects the item which is highlighted. Pressing both keys together escapes from the menu. <F1> Help This key calls up context sensitive help. A help screen will pop up which provides information about the operation you are currently attempting. The help screen which pops up will also list several other help screens which are related to what you are doing. You may view one of these related help screens by simply using the <Left> and <Right> keys to move the highlight bar to the name of the help screen desired, and then pressing the <Enter> key, or by simply pressing the first letter of the desired help screen's name. You may also call up a list of help screens called the <HELP INDEX> by pressing the <F1> key a second time. After you have read the help screens you are interested in, you can simply press the <Esc> key to return to what you were doing. <F2> Edit This key allows you to edit the current cell. When you are in edit mode, the following editing keys are available: <Left> moves the cursor one character to the left. <Right> moves the cursor one character to the right. <Home> moves the cursor to the first character. <End> moves the cursor to the last character. <^Right> moves the cursor one word to the right. <^Left> moves the cursor one word to the left. <BkSp> deletes the character to the left of the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to 38 the left to fill in the empty space. <^BkSp> deletes the entire line. <Del> deletes the character underneath the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <Ins> toggles between insert and overwrite modes. <F3> Block This key calls up a menu of defined block names. This key can be used any time you are asked to define a cell, range, or block. You may pick a block from this list by highlighting the name and pressing the <Enter> key. If there are more than 16 block names defined, you may press the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to view more block names. <F4> Absolute This key cycles absolute and relative references when you are pointing out cell references with the cursor keys. If no anchor is set then the first coordinate is adjusted. If the anchor has been set then <F4> will adjust the non-anchor reference. <F5> GoTo This key allows you to move the cell pointer to another cell. You will be asked for the name of the cell to move to. For example, if you enter Q23;43, then the cell pointer will be moved to that cell. If you enter a block name, then the cell pointer will be moved to the cell in the upper left corner of the block. You may also press the <F3> Block key and pick a block name from a menu of existing names. <F6> Search This key allows you to search for some text in a cell, and allows you to move the cell pointer to that cell or replace the text with other text. Find This option allows you to enter the text you want to search for. Replace with This option allows you to enter the text you want to replace the Find text with. Ignore case If you set this option to No, then the Find text must match text in the WorkQube exactly to be considered a match. If this option is Yes, then the Find text will match text in the WorkQube if the letters are the same, even if some are uppercase and some are lower case. Block This option allows you to define the block of cells you want to search. This allows you to limit your search to as small a block of 39 cells as you want. Start This command begins the search and replace operation. ProQube Lite will begin searching through the defined block, and will stop when it finds a match. The matching cell and its contents will be displayed, and you will be asked if you want to perform the Replace. There are 4 options. No No, don't perform the replace, but continue searching. Yes Yes, perform the replace, and then continue searching. All Yes, perform the replace on this, and all other matches which you find. This is a global search and replace, and you will not be asked for any further confirmation. GoTo No, don't perform the replace, and just move the cell pointer to this new cell and quit any further searching. If you just want to quit, then you can simply press the <Esc> key. <F7> Load This key retrieves a worksheet from disk. You will be asked for the name you want the file to retrieve. If you press <Enter> without entering a file name, the File Manager will appear, and you may select your file from a list. <F8> Save This key saves the current worksheet to disk. You will be asked for the name you want the file to be saved as. If you press <Enter> without entering a file name, the File Manager will appear. <F9> Recalc This key recalculates the entire worksheet. This command is only necessary when you have used the /WorkQube Calc Manual command to disable automatic minimal recalculation. <^F1> Info This key allows you to enter a worksheet description. The description may be up to 60 characters long, and is saved along with the worksheet. If you press <^F1> when you are in the File Manager, it will display the description of the currently highlighted worksheet. This allows you to see a description of a worksheet without having to actually load the worksheet into memory. <^F2> Debug This key brings up the application program debug menu when 40 you are single stepping through an application program. Simply select Edit from the menu, then type in the name of the cell you want to examine. ProQube Lite will display the current contents of the cell, and will allow you to modify those contents if you want. When you press <Enter>, the ProQube Lite will resume single stepping through the application. <^F3> Break This key breaks out of a running application. If you press this key when an application program is running, it will abort the application unless the application program has used the #BREAK command to disable breaking. <^F4> Mark This key marks the current cell so that you can later return to it with the <^F5> key. For example, if you press <^F4> when the cell pointer is on cell Q53;3, then you can move anywhere in the worksheet and return to cell Q53;3 by simply pressing the <^F5> key. <^F5> ToMark This key returns to the last cell marked with <^F4>. <^F6> Files This key calls up the File Manager. You will be asked to enter a mask to tell ProQube Lite which files you want to be displayed. Pressing <Enter> will use the Mask *.*, which will display all of the files in the current directory. The following functions are available within the File Manager: <F1> Help screen. <F2> Loads the highlighted .PQS file. <F3> Combines the highlighted .PQS file. <F4> Imports the highlighted file. <F5> Allows you to edit the contents of the highlighted text file. <F6> Causes the highlighted text file to be printed. <F7> Runs the highlighted .EXE, .COM, or .BAT file. <F8> Allows you to rename the highlighted file. <F9> Copies the highlighted file. <F10> Deletes the highlighted file. <^F1> Displays the description of the highlighted .PQS file. The File Manager also simplifies the tasks of changing drives and directories. To change to another directory, simply press the <Left> key to highlight the word DIRECTORIES at the top of the screen, then use the <Up> and <Down> keys to highlight the name of the directory you want to change to. Once the name is highlighted, press the <Enter> key and ProQube Lite will change to that directory and list the files in that directory. 41 Changing drives is just as easy. Simply press the <Left> key until the word DRV is highlighted at the top of the screen, then press the letter of the drive you want to change to. For example, if you want to change to drive A:, then just press A. <^F7> EGA43 This key toggles 43/50 line mode on EGA/VGA monitors. If you have an EGA or VGA monitor, this function allows you to see twice as many rows on the screen as normal. <^F8> Status This key displays a status window. The status window lists the current directory and file name, the amount of memory available, the current date and time, and the current default settings. <^F9> Enter This key toggles Enter mode. This mode is especially useful for repetitive data entry. When you are in Enter mode, pressing the <Enter> key to enter data into a cell will enter that data and them move the cell pointer in the last direction moved. For example, if the cell pointer last moved down, then typing in a number and pressing <Enter> will enter that number into the highlighted cell, and will move the cell pointer down to the next cell. This allows you to use the numeric keypad and the <Enter> key to enter rows or columns of data. <^F10> Record This key turns the macro recorder on and off. The macro recorder allows you to assign a sequence of keystrokes to a single key, and when you press that single key, it will automatically play back the keystroke sequence for you. To begin recording a macro, you simply press the <^F10> key. You then press the key you want to assign the macro to, and begin typing the keys to record. The word REC will flash in the upper right corner of the screen while recording is on. When you are ready to stop recording, just press the <^F10> key again. Your macro will be stored in a file whose name corresponds to the key you assigned the macro to. For example, a macro assigned to <Ctrl>T would be named CTRLT.PQM. Later, when you press <Ctrl>T, ProQube Lite will look for the macro file CTRLT.PQM, and play back the keystrokes which are saved there. If a macro already exists for the key you want to record to, ProQube Lite will provide the following options: Replace Replace the existing macro with this new one. Edit Edit the existing macro. Cancel Cancel this operation. 42 PROQUBE LITE COMMAND MENUS When you want to execute a command in ProQube Lite, it will usually be through ProQube Lite's menu system. A menu is simply a list of commands which you can pick from. Through the menus you can manipulate cells, blocks, or the entire WorkQube, graph or print data, manipulate files, or even temporarily exit to the operating system. To bring up ProQube Lite's menu system, you simply press the / key (or press the left button on your mouse). At the top of the ProQube Lite screen you will see the following menu. Cell Block Slice WorkQube File Print Data Macro OpSys Quit The menu system uses a sliding bar to show your choices. There are two ways to choose an option: - Press the <Left> or <Right> key until the sliding bar is highlighting the option you want. Then press <Enter> to make the choice. The <Home> key can be pressed to highlight the first menu choice, and pressing the <End> key will highlight the last menu choice. - As a shortcut you can simply press the highlighted letter of the desired item (usually the first character) to select that option. A help line appears above the main menu. This line describes the highlighted menu option. When you move the sliding bar to a new item, this help line will change to display a line of help about the newly highlighted item. When you choose an option from the menu, a new submenu will pop up which works exactly the same way as the main menu. As each new submenu is chosen, the previous menus remain on-screen, providing you with a "tree" of your commands. To go back one level, simply press the <Esc> key. To clear all of the menus from the screen at once, press the <BkSp> key. 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Format -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Change the way a value in a cell is displayed. Remarks This command allows you to modify the display of the current cell by setting its format. If the value using the format you select is too long to fit into the cell's assigned width, a row of asterisks will appear. Options General, Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Time, Date, Hidden, Label, and Reset. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Width -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Change a column width. Remarks This command allows you to make the column the cell pointer is in wider or narrower (or even hide it). This command is often used when the formatted values in a column exceed its current width, and a row of asterisks appear. This situation is easily corrected by widening the cell. If you set a column width to zero, the column will not be displayed. You may still move the cell pointer into the hidden column, but it will not be visible on the screen. If you want to make the column visible again, simply move the cell pointer into the column and reset the width or set it to a new wider value. Options Set The set option allows you to change the width. You will be asked how wide the column should be. You may either enter a number, or use the arrow keys to change the width. <Left> will narrow the column, and <Right> will widen the column. Reset Resets the column the cell pointer is in to the global width. All Sets the width of the current column on all pages. For example, if the cell pointer is in column F, then using this command to set the column width to 15 will set the width of column F to 15 on all 512 pages. This is much more memory efficient than setting the column's width on all 512 pages individually. The arrow keys may also be used to change the column width. Clear Resets the width of the current column on all pages (if it was set with the /Cell Width All command). Any individual column widths which were set using /Cell Width Set will retain that setting. 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Erase -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Erase a cell from memory. Remarks This command erases the contents of the current cell. This is important, since editing the cell's contents using the <F2> key will not completely blank the cell; the cell will still be using memory. The cell will retain its formatting; for example, a cell formatted for percent will still be formatted for percent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Justify -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Justify text in a cell. Remarks This command allows you to change the way text strings are displayed in the cell which the cell pointer is in. The command has three options: Options Left Justifies text in the current cell to the left edge of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear beginning in the leftmost character of the cell. Right Justifies text in the current cell to the right edge of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear flush right in the cell. Center Justifies text in the current cell to the center of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear centered in the cell. 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Copy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Copy a cell to another cell or block of cells. Remarks This command copies the contents of the cell that the cell pointer is in to another cell or block of cells. You will be asked to define the cell or block of cells you want to copy to. If you copy the cell to more than one cell, an individual copy will be made in each of the destination cell. If the source cell contains a formula, all relative references will be adjusted when the formula is copied. Example Cell B12;1 sums up the cells above it with the formula: =@SUM(B1;1..B11;1) You want cells C12;1 through X12;1 to sum up the cells above each of them. Simply move the cell pointer to cell B12;1, select /Cell Copy, and define the block to copy to as C12;1..X12;1. The formula will be copied to each of those cells, and the relative references in the formula will be adjusted so that they sum up the proper cells. For example, cell S12;1 will contain the formula: =@SUM(S1;1..S11;1) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Move -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Move the contents of a cell to another cell. Remarks This command moves the contents of the cell that the cell pointer is in to a different location. You will be asked to define the destination cell. If the current cell contains a formula, then the references will be adjusted to point to the same data. References in other cells which refer to the moved cell will also be adjusted so that they continue to point to the same data. 46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Protect -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set protection on a cell. Remarks This command allows the current cell to be protected against changes. If, for example, the cell contains a formula that you do not want changed, use the /Cell Protect Yes command to guard against changes. If you thereafter want to edit or change that formula, use the /Cell Protect No command to unprotect the cell. The default mode is "protected." A protected cell may still be modified until WorkQube protection is enabled using the /WorkQube Protect Enable command. WorkQube Protect is much like a "master switch" which turns protection capabilities on and off for the entire WorkQube. Options Yes Enables protection on the current cell. No Disables protection on the current cell. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Cell Setup -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Select a setup string to a cell. Remarks This command allows you to select a setup string for the current cell (for printing--the style will not change on-screen). This allows for very sophisticated printouts of spreadsheets. Bottom lines may be boldfaced, for example, or may appear in a different font. Options The options depend on your printer. If your printer supports boldfacing, underlining, italics, and condensed print, your options would include those choices. If, for example, your printer allows italics, "Italics" can be one of the option choices. To change the current cell's font to italic, issue the command /Cell Setup and select Italics from the menu. In order to use the /Cell Setup command, you must first enter your setup strings using the /Print Setup Fonts command. 47 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Format -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Change the way values in a block of cells is displayed. Remarks This command allows you to choose the best format for the cells in a block. You will be asked to define the block of cells you want to change the format of. Options General, Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Time, Date, Hidden, Label, and Reset. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Width -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set the width of several columns at once. Remarks This command allows you to make several columns wider or narrower (or even hide them). You will be asked to define the block of columns to widen or narrow. If you set a column width to zero, the column will not be displayed. You may still move the cell pointer into the hidden column, but it will not be visible on the screen. If you want to make the column visible again, simply move the cell pointer into the column and reset the width or set it to a new wider value. This command is often used when the formatted values in a column exceed its current width, and a row of asterisks appear. The situation is easily corrected by widening the column. Options Set The set option allows you to change the width of several columns at the same time. You may either enter a number, or use the arrow keys to change the width. <Left> will narrow the column, and <Right> will widen the column. Reset Resets the columns in the block to the global width. All Sets the width of the columns in the block on all pages. For example, if the cell pointer is in column F, then using this command to set the column width to 15 will set the width of column F to 15 on all 512 pages. This is much more memory efficient than setting the column's width on all 512 pages individually. The arrow keys may also be used to change the column widths. Clear Resets the width of the columns in the block on all pages (if it was set with the /Cell Width All command). Any individual column widths which were set using /Cell Width Set will retain that setting. 48 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Erase -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Erase a block of cell's contents from memory. Remarks This command erases the contents of a block of cells. You will be asked to define the block of cells you want to erase. This is important, since editing each cell in the block using the <F2> key will not completely blank the block; the block will still be using memory. The cells in the block will retain their formats; for example, cells in the block formatted for percent will still be formatted for percent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Justify -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Justify text in a block of cells. Remarks This command allows you to change the way text strings are displayed in each cell in a block. You will be asked to define the block of cells you want to change. The command has three options: Options Left Justifies text in each cell of the block to the left edge of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear beginning in the leftmost character of the cell. Right Justifies text in each cell of the block to the right edge of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear flush right in the cell. Center Justifies text in each cell of the block to the center of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear centered in the cell. 49 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Copy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Copy a block of cells to another location. Remarks This command copies the contents of a block of cells to another location. You will first be asked to define the cell or block of cells you want to copy (source block), and then the location you want to copy to (destination). If the destination you define is a single cell, the source block will be copied starting at that location. If the destination contains more than one cell, the source block will be copied to each cell in the destination block. This is useful for copying a block of cells to several adjacent locations at once. If any of the source cells contain a formula, all relative references will be adjusted when the formula is copied. Example Column A contains a list of formulas from row 1 through 10. You want to copy this block of formulas to columns B through F. Select /Block Copy, and select the block A1;1..A10;1 as the source block. Since you want to copy the block to columns B through F, you should select the block B1;1..F1;1 as the destination. ProQube Lite will then copy the source block to each cell in the destination block. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Move -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Move the contents of a block of cells. Remarks This command moves the contents of a block of cells to a different location. You will be asked to first define the block of cells to move (source block), and then the destination. If any of the cells in the source block contains a formula, then the references will be adjusted to continue to point to the same data. References in other cells which refer to the moved cell will also be adjusted so that they continue to point to the same data. When you define the destination, you only need to supply a single cell address; the source block will be copied with the upper left corner in the destination cell. 50 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Name -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Give a name to a block of cells. Remarks This command allows you to give a name to a cell or block of cells. This name can then be used anywhere that a cell address or block reference can be used by either typing in the block's name or by pressing the <F3> Block key and selecting the name from a menu. Single cells are acceptable as named blocks. A formula may also reference a named range absolutely by simply putting a $ character in front of the range name. Options Create Allows you to name the cell or block. When this option is selected, you are asked what you want to name the cell or block. The name must begin with a letter of the alphabet and can be up to 8 characters long. You are then asked to define the block to name by typing in the block address or by pointing out the block with the cursor keys. Delete Releases the block name which is associated with a block. You will be asked to type in the name to delete. You may press <Enter> without typing a name, and a menu of the current block names will appear, and you may select the name to delete from the menu. Up to 16 names will be displayed at a time. If you don't see the name you want to delete, use the <PgDn> and <PgUp> keys to see more names. Reset Deletes all block names. List Causes a list of the current block names to appear. Up to 16 names will be displayed at a time. Use <PgUp> and <PgDn> to see more names. Example If you assigned the name PRICES to the block B3;1..C6;3, the formula @AVG(PRICES) will be identical to the formula @AVG(B3;1..C6;3). Other /Block commands which request a block reference, such as /Block Erase, will accept the name as an address. Pressing <F3> will bring up a menu of range names. The <F5> GoTo key will also accept block names. 51 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Protect -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set protection on a block of cells. Remarks This command allows you to protect a block of cells. If, for example, the block contains formulas that you do not want changed, use the /Block Protect Yes command to guard against changes. If you thereafter want to edit or change a cell in the block, use the /Cell Protect No command to unprotect the cell. The default mode is "protected." A protected cell may still be modified until WorkQube protection is enabled using the /WorkQube Protect Enable command. WorkQube Protect is much like a "master switch" which turns protection capabilities on and off for the entire WorkQube. You will be asked to define the block you want to protect. Options Yes Enables protection on the selected block. No Disables protection on the selected block. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Block Setup -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Select a setup string for a block of cells. Remarks This command allows you to select a setup string for a block of cells (for printing--the style will not change on-screen). This allows for very sophisticated printouts of spreadsheets. Bottom lines may be boldfaced, for example, or may appear in a different font. Options The options depend on your printer. If your printer supports boldfacing, underlining, italics, and condensed print, your options would include those choices. If, for example, your printer allows italics, "Italics" can be one of the option choices. To change the current block's setup string to italic, issue the command /Block Setup and select Italics from the menu. In order to use the /Block Setup command, you must first enter your setup strings using the /Print Setup Fonts command. 52 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Column Insert -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Insert one or more blank columns. Remarks This command inserts one or more blank columns at the current cell pointer position. The current column and all the columns to the right will be shifted right to make room for the blank columns. Relative references in formulas will be updated by the change; absolute references will remain unchanged. You will be asked how many blank columns you want to insert. You may also use the arrow keys to highlight how may columns should be inserted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Column Delete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Delete one or more columns. Remarks This command deletes one or more columns at the current cell pointer position. The contents of the deleted columns will be erased, and all of the columns to the right will be shifted left to fill in the deleted columns. Relative references in formulas will be updated by the change; absolute references will remain unchanged. You will be asked how many columns you want to delete. You may also use the arrow keys to highlight the columns that should be deleted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Column Erase -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Erase the contents of a column of cells. Remarks This command erases the contents of all the cells in the column which the cell pointer is in. This is important, since editing each cell in the column using the <F2> Edit key will not completely blank the column; the cells in the column will still be using memory. The cells in the column will retain their formatting; for example, a column formatted for percent will still be formatted for percent. 53 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Column Copy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Copy a column of cells to another column or columns. Remarks This command copies the contents of one or more columns of cells to another location. You will first be asked to define the column or columns you want to copy (source columns), and then the location you want to copy to (destination). If the destination you define is a single column, the source column will be copied starting at that location. If the destination contains more than one column, the source column will be copied to each of the destination columns. If any of the source cells contain a formula, all relative references will be adjusted when the formula is copied. Because ProQube Lite only looks at the column coordinates in the destination range, you only need to include one cell in each column you want to copy to. Example If you want to copy column A to columns B through F, you can select a destination range of B1;1..F1;1, or B4;1..F4;1, or any other range which includes columns B through F. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Column Move -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Move a column's data to another column. Remarks This command moves the contents of one or more columns to another location. You will be asked to first define the columns to move (source columns), and then the destination. If any of the cells in the source columns contains a formula, then the references will be adjusted to continue to point to the same data. References in other cells which refer to the moved cells will also be adjusted so that they continue to point to the same data. When you define the destination, you only need to supply a single cell address; the source columns will be copied with the first column in the same column as the destination cell. 54 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Row Insert -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Insert one or more blank rows. Remarks This command inserts one or more blank rows at the current cell pointer position. The current row and all the rows below will be shifted down to make room for the blank rows. Relative references in formulas will be updated by the change; absolute references will remain unchanged. You will be asked how many blank rows you want to insert. You may also use the arrow keys to highlight the number of rows that should be inserted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Row Delete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Delete one or more rows. Remarks This command deletes one or more rows at the current cell pointer position. The contents of the deleted rows will be erased, and all of the rows below will be shifted up to fill in the deleted rows. Relative references in formulas will be updated by the change; absolute references will remain unchanged. You will be asked how many rows you want to delete. You may also use the arrow keys to highlight the rows that should be deleted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Row Erase -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Erase the contents of a row of cells. Remarks This command erases the contents of all the cells in the row which the cell pointer is in. This is important, since editing each cell in the row using the <F2> Edit key will not completely blank the row; the cells in the row will still be using memory. The cells in the row will retain their formatting; for example, a row formatted for percent will still be formatted for percent. 55 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Row Copy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Copy a row's contents to another row or rows. Remarks This command copies the contents of one or more rows of cells to another location. You will first be asked to define the row or rows you want to copy (source rows), and then the location you want to copy to (destination). If the destination you define is a single row, the source rows will be copied starting at that location. If the destination contains more than one row, the source row will be copied to each of the destination rows. If any of the source cells contain a formula, all relative references will be adjusted when the formula is copied. Because ProQube Lite only looks at the row coordinates in the destination range, you only need to include one cell in each row you want to copy to. Example If you want to copy row 1 to rows 2 through 10, you can select a destination range of A2;1..A10;1, or F2;1..F10;1, or any other range which includes rows 2 through 10. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Row Move -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Move a row's contents to another row. Remarks This command moves the contents of one or more rows to another location. You will be asked to first define the rows to move (source rows), and then the destination. If any of the cells in the source rows contains a formula, then the references will be adjusted to continue to point to the same data. References in other cells which refer to the moved cells will also be adjusted so that they continue to point to the same data. When you define the destination, you only need to supply a single cell address; the source rows will be copied with the first row in the same row as the destination cell. 56 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Page Insert -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Insert one or more blank pages. Remarks This command inserts one or more blank pages at the current cell pointer position. The current page and all the pages behind will be shifted back to make room for the blank pages. Relative references in formulas will be updated by the change; absolute references will remain unchanged. You will be asked how many blank pages you want to insert. You may also use the arrow keys to highlight the number of pages that should be inserted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Page Delete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Delete one or more pages. Remarks This command deletes one or more pages at the current cell pointer position. The contents of the deleted pages will be erased, and all of the pages behind will be shifted forward to fill in the deleted pages. Relative references in formulas will be updated by the change; absolute references will remain unchanged. You will be asked how many pages you want to delete. You may also use the arrow keys to highlight the pages that should be deleted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Page Erase -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Erase a page of cells. Remarks This command erases the contents of all the cells in the current page. This is important, since editing each cell in the page using the <F2> Edit key will not completely blank the page; the cells in the page will still be using memory. The page will retain its formatting; for example, a page formatted for percent will still be formatted for percent. 57 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Page Copy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Copy data in a page to one or more pages. Remarks This command copies the contents of one or more pages to another location. You will first be asked to define the page or pages you want to copy (source pages), and then the location you want to copy to (destination). If the destination you define is a single page, the source pages will be copied starting at that location. If the destination contains more than one page, the source page will be copied to each of the destination pages. If any of the source cells contain a formula, all relative references will be adjusted when the formula is copied. Because ProQube Lite only looks at the page coordinates in the destination range, you only need to include one cell in each page you want to copy to. Example If you want to copy page 1 to pages 2 through 4, you can select a destination range of A1;2..A1;4, or F12;2..F12;4, or any other range which includes pages 2 through 4. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Page Move -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Move data in a page to another page. Remarks This command moves the contents of one or more pages to another location. You will be asked to first define the pages to move (source pages), and then the destination. If any of the cells in the source pages contains a formula, then the references will be adjusted to continue to point to the same data. References in other cells which refer to the moved cells will also be adjusted so that they continue to point to the same data. When you define the destination, you only need to supply a single cell address; the source pages will be copied with the first page in the same page as the destination cell. 58 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Slice Page Format -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Format a page of cells. Remarks This command allows you to select a format for the current page. A page may individually be using one format, while the global format is set differently. Options General, Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Time, Date, Hidden, Label, and Reset. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Format -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set the global default format. Remarks This command allows you to choose a global format for the entire WorkQube. When the WorkQube Format is changed, all cells which use the default format will be displayed with the new WorkQube format. Otherwise, this command does not affect the format of cells which already contain data; it only determines which format will be used for blank cells which may contain data in the future. Options General, Currency, Fixed, Percent, Scientific, Time, Date, Hidden, and Label. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Width -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set the global default width. Remarks This command allows you to set the default width of all columns in the WorkQube. This command is often used when the values in an entire WorkQube are expected to exceed the default column width, and the telltale row of asterisks would appear. The situation is easily corrected by widening the columns in the WorkQube. You will be prompted to enter the new global column width. You may either enter a number, or use the arrow keys to change the width. <Left> will narrow the column, and <Right> will widen the column. 59 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Erase -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Erase the entire 3D worksheet from memory. Remarks This command erases the current WorkQube's contents entirely. All of the WorkQube settings are restored to their defaults. You will be asked to confirm whether you really want to erase the worksheet. Options Yes Erase the Worksheet from memory. No Don't erase the Worksheet from memory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Justify -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set the global default text justification. Remarks This command allows you to change the way text strings are displayed in each cell of the WorkQube. This command will not change they way existing text cells are justified. It only determines how text entered in the future will be displayed. The command has three options: Options Left Justifies text in cells to the left edge of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear beginning in the leftmost character of the cell. Right Justifies text in cells to the right edge of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear flush right in the cell. Center Justifies text in cells to the center of the cell. When a label is entered, it will appear centered in the cell. 60 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube View -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function View the 3D worksheet from other perspectives. Remarks ProQube Lite allows you to view, enter or manipulate your data in any of the six faces of the WorkQube. The current face is shown in the upper left corner in front of the current cell name (like [Front]). The view of the WorkQube may be changed using the /WorkQube View command. Options Front The WorkQube is viewed from the front. Right The WorkQube is viewed from the right side. Top The WorkQube is viewed from the top. Back The WorkQube is viewed from the back. Left The WorkQube is viewed from the left side. Under The WorkQube is viewed from the bottom. Example For an example of how the various views can be used, see Changing The View in ProQube Lite Basics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Title -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Lock title rows and columns on the screen. Remarks This command allows you to lock (or hold) rows and columns on screen. The command acts as a toggle; invoking it a first time turns the title locking ON, and invoking it a second time turns the title locking OFF. With title locking ON, the rows above the current cell and the columns to the left of the current cell will be locked on screen. The cell pointer will not move into the locked title rows and columns. Pages which lie below the page where you set the title locking ON will also be inaccessible. If you don't want to lock rows, make sure the cell pointer is in row 1 when you title lock. If you don't want to lock columns, make sure the cell pointer is in column A when you title lock. If you don't want to lock pages, make sure the cell pointer is in page 1 when you title lock. Each face may be locked individually. Example If you turn on title locking with the cell pointer in cell D5;3 then the rows on the screen above row 5 and the columns on the screen to the left of column D will be locked on the screen. In addition, you will be unable to move the cell pointer back past page 3. 61 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Protect -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Enable or disable cell protection. Remarks This command enables or disables the protection in the WorkQube. When the WorkQube protection is disabled, any cell in the WorkQube may be modified, regardless of whether the cell is protected or not. When the WorkQube protection is enabled, those cells which are protected using the cell or block protection commands may not be modified or altered in any way. Options Enable Turns WorkQube protection on. Disable Turns WorkQube protection off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Setup -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Select the global print setup string. Remarks This command allows you to select a setup string for the current WorkQube (for printing--the style will not change on-screen). The WorkQube setup string affects the entire printout. Individual cells or blocks may use other fonts by invoking the Cell Setup or Block Setup commands. Options The options depend on the printer driver. If your printer supports boldfacing, underlining, italics, and condensed print, your options would include those choices. If, for example, your printer allows italics, "Italics" can one of the option choices. To change the WorkQube's global font to italic, issue the command /WorkQube Setup and select Italics from the menu. In order to use the /WorkQube Setup command, you must first enter setup strings for your printer using the /Print Setup Fonts command. 62 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Zero -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Suppress the display of zeros. Remarks This command allows you to suppress the display of all cells which have a value of zero. There are many times when a large number of formulas in a worksheet evaluate to zero, especially when the worksheet is only partially filled with data. Many times it is advantageous to suppress the display of all of these zeros to make non zero values stand out more. Options No Don't suppress the display of zeros. Yes Suppress the display of zeros. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /WorkQube Calc -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Select recalculation options. Remarks This command allows you to select whether ProQube Lite should recalculate the WorkQube after any cell is changed, or only when the <F9> Recalc key is pressed. Very complex worksheets with a large number of inter-related formulas can often take a long time to recalculate. Since any delay can become annoying when entering a large amount of data, it is often desirable to be able to turn off automatic recalculation. Options Auto Recalculate the cells which need recalculation after any cell is changed. Manual Only recalculate the worksheet when the <F9> Recalc key is pressed. Since the recalculation state of the worksheet will usually not be current, ProQube Lite will write the word CALC in the upper right corner when the worksheet needs to be recalculated. Limited Allows you to limit recalculation to a block of cells. You will be asked to define a range (or block) of cells which should be recalculated instead of the entire worksheet. This is useful, for example, when you only want the current page to recalculate, and not all of the previous pages. Full Restores recalculation to the entire worksheet. 63 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Retrieve -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Retrieves a 3D worksheet from disk. Remarks This command retrieves a file from disk into memory. You will be asked for the name of the file to retrieve. If you press the <Enter> key without a file name, the ProQube Lite file manager will appear, from which you may select a file with the cursor keys. When a file is read in, all of the data, settings, and current face and pointer position are loaded. All current data will be cleared from memory when a new file is loaded. ProQube Lite checks to see if you have made any changes to the current file, and will ask if you want to save your data before loading the new file. Options A file can be loaded immediately upon booting up ProQube Lite. If you want to start up with the file named EXAMPLE loaded, simply enter PQLITE EXAMPLE<Enter> at the DOS prompt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Save -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Saves the 3D worksheet in memory to disk. Remarks This command asks you for a name to save the WorkQube as, then proceeds to save the file to disk in the current directory. Pressing the <Enter> key without a file name brings up the ProQube Lite File Manager, from which a file may be selected with the cursor keys. In addition to data, all of the WorkQube settings are saved to disk. If the file name you provide already exists in the current directory, ProQube Lite will ask you whether you want to overwrite the existing file, or back it up. If you select Backup, the extension of the existing file's name will be changed from .PQS to .BAK, and the current file will receive the .PQS extension. 64 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Directory -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Changes the current directory. Remarks This command allows you to change the current directory or drive. You may enter either a full DOS pathname or simply a subdirectory name to be appended to the current directory. Pressing the <Enter> key without a file name brings up the ProQube Lite File Manager, from which a directory may be selected with the cursor keys. Example If the current directory is B:\dir1, then entering: C: switches to the active directory on drive C: C:\ switches to the root directory on drive C: C:\dir2 switches to dir2 on drive C: dir2 switches to B:\dir1\dir2 (if dir2 exists) 65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Files -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Brings up the ProQube Lite File Manager. Remarks This command presents a File Manager, and allows "point-and- shoot" operations on files, directories, and drives. You will be asked to enter a mask. A mask is simply a way of telling ProQube Lite which files you want to be displayed. You may use the asterisk * in the mask. The asterisk will match any set of characters. For example, if you enter the mask *.BAK, then the file manager will list every file which ends with .BAK. If you enter the mask Q*.*, then all of the files beginning with the letter Q will be displayed. Pressing <Enter> will use the Mask *.*, which will display all of the files in the current directory. Options <Up> <Down> Using these keys, you can highlight files, drives, or directories (depending on what area of the file manager the highlighted bar is in). Operations can then be performed on the selected file, drive, or directory. <Left> <Right> Allows you to change files, drives, or directories. If, for example, the highlighted bar is in the "Directory" section of the file manager, and you wanted to change drives, hitting the left arrow key will move the bar into the "Drive" section. A new drive may be selected by using the down arrow and Enter keys. <Enter> Causes the highlighted file, drive, or directory to be selected. <F1> Causes a Help screen to appear, giving help on how to use the File Manager. <F2> Causes the currently highlighted file to be loaded. <F3> Causes the highlighted file to be combined. For more details see /File Combine. <F4> Causes the highlighted file to be imported. For more details see /File Import. <F5> Allows you to edit the contents of the highlighted text file. Although the macro editor will be used, you are not limited to editing just macro (.PQM) files. See /Macro Edit for details on the options available when editing. 66 <F6> Causes the highlighted text file to be printed. This function is primarily for printing out application programs. <F7> Causes the highlighted file to run, if it is a program or batch file, and if enough memory is available. <F8> Allows you to rename the highlighted file. You will be prompted for a new name. <F9> Copies the highlighted file to another drive, directory, or name. You will be prompted for a new drive, directory, or name. <F10> Deletes the highlighted file. ProQube Lite will request confirmation before actually deleting the file. <^F1> Displays the description for the highlighted worksheet file. This allows you to find out a little information about a worksheet without having to load it into memory first. <^F2> Scans the current drive to update the directory tree. The File Manager also simplifies the tasks of changing drives and directories. To change to another directory, simply press the <Left> key to highlight the word DIRECTORIES at the top of the screen, then use the <Up> and <Down> keys to highlight the name of the directory you want to change to. Once the name is highlighted, press the <Enter> key and ProQube Lite will change to that directory and list the files in that directory. Changing drives is just as easy. Simply press the <Left> key until the word DRV is highlighted at the top of the screen, then press the letter of the drive you want to change to. For example, if you want to change to drive A:, then just press A. 67 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Combine -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Combines all or part of a 3D worksheet on disk with the worksheet currently in memory. Remarks This command allows you to combine several ProQube Lite files into a single file. You will be asked for the name of the file to be read in, and the file will be loaded without clearing the WorkQube. Pressing the <Enter> key without a file name brings up the ProQube Lite File Manager, from which a file may be selected with the cursor keys. The original cells will remain unchanged unless the new file contains data in the same cells. Blank cells in the new file will not affect existing cells in the WorkQube. Current WorkQube settings will be retained. Options Copy The data in the new file will be combined into the current WorkQube. If the new file and the current WorkQube contain any data in the same cell, the data in the new file will be copied over the data already in memory. Add The data in the new file will be combined into the current WorkQube. If the new file and the current WorkQube contain values in the same cell, the value in the new file will be added to the value already in memory. Since this command is primarily for consolidating data from several worksheets, cells containing text will not be combined into the current file. Subtract The data in the new file will be combined into the current WorkQube. If the new file and the current WorkQube contain values in the same cell, the value in the new file will be subtracted from the value already in memory. Since this command is primarily for consolidating data from several worksheets, cells containing text will not be combined into the current file. Each of these options has two suboptions which determine how much of the new file should be combined in. All Combines in the entire file. Every cell in the new file will be combined into the same location in the current WorkQube. For example, cell X23;46 will be combined into cell X23;46 in the current worksheet. Part Combines in a block from the file. The cells in the block you combine in will be combined starting at the location of the cell pointer. For example, if the cell pointer is in cell D5;3, and you combine in the block 68 A1;1..D12;4 from the other file, then cell A1;1 in the new file will be combined into cell D5;3 in the current worksheet. You will be asked for the block in the other file which you want to combine in. If you type in the block reference like A1;1..F12;4, it is very important to remember the page numbers. If the block you want to combine in was named with the /Block Name command, you can press the <F3> Block key to bring up a menu of all the named blocks in the other file. 69 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Xtract -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Saves part of the 3D worksheet in memory to disk. Remarks This command is similar to the /File Save command, except that it saves a block of cells rather than the entire WorkQube. You will be asked for the name of the file to save to, and to define the block of cells to save. ProQube Lite saves all of the WorkQube settings with the saved block. Pressing the <Enter> key without a file name brings up the ProQube Lite File Manager, from which a file may be selected with the cursor keys. This command is useful for extracting single pages out of a larger 3D worksheet, so that it may be combined into another 3D worksheet with the /File Combine command. 70 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Import -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Imports data from 1-2-3, dBase, DIF, or ASCII files into the current page. Remarks This command imports data files from other programs into ProQube Lite. The file is imported onto the current page. You will be asked for the name of the file to import. Pressing <Enter> without a file name brings up the ProQube Lite File Manager, from which a file may be selected with the cursor keys. Options 1-2-3 Imports a Lotus 1-2-3 (tm) file into the current page. If ProQube Lite encounters a formula which uses an unsupported @function, it will read the value of the formula rather than the formula itself. If the 1-2-3 file contains more than 512 rows, a message will appear and you will be asked if you want to Truncate the imported data at 512 rows, or if you want to Wrap the remaining rows onto subsequent pages. dBase Imports selected records from a dBase (tm) file into the current page. Fields will appear as columns, and records will appear as rows. You do not have to import every field of the data base. Before the import begins, ProQube Lite will step through the names of each field and ask if you want to import that field. You may select: Yes Import this field. No Don't import this field. All Import this and all the remaining fields. If there are more than 511 records to import, additional records will be imported into the following pages. DIF Imports a Data Interchange Format (DIF) file into the current page. Many databases and spreadsheets are capable of creating DIF files. If the DIF file contains more than 511 records, additional records will be imported into the following pages. ASCII Imports a comma delimited or space delimited ASCII file into the current page. Each line in the ASCII file will be imported into a row in the worksheet. Each line may contain multiple fields (cells) of data, each of which must be separated by a comma or space. If a string which contains spaces or commas is to be 71 imported into a single cell, then that string must be surrounded by quotation marks ". For example: ASCII line read in Translated like this 1,2,3,4,5 Each number in a separate cell 1 2 3 4 5 Each number in a separate cell Hello and Goodbye Each word in a separate cell Hello,and,Goodbye Each word in a separate cell "Hello and Goodbye" Entire line in a single cell "Hello,and,Goodbye" Entire line in a single cell Hello 23 Word and number in separate cells Hello,23 Word and number in separate cells "1 2 3 4 5" Entire line in a single cell "1,2,3,4,5" Entire line in a single cell "Hello 23" Entire line in a single cell If the ASCII file contains more than 511 lines, additional lines will be imported into the following pages. 72 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Export -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Exports part of the current page to a 1-2-3, dBase, DIF, or ASCII file. Remarks This command exports a range of cells to the file format of another program. You will be asked for the file name you want to export to, and to define the range of cells you want to export. If the file name you provide exists, ProQube Lite will ask you if you want to Overwrite the existing file or Cancel the operation. Options 1-2-3 This option allows you to export the range to a 1-2-3 R1 (WKS) or R2 (WK1) file. You must select from a menu which version you want to export to. Any ProQube Lite formula which references a cell in another page or which contains an @function which 1-2-3 doesn't support, will be exported as a value rather than a formula. dBASE This option allows you to export the range to a dBase II, III, or III+ file. You must select from a menu which version you want to export to. ProQube Lite will use the top row of the range you define as the field names for the data to be exported. The widths of each column will be used as the field width in the dBase file. For example, if you select the range A3;1..C9;1 below as the range to export, ProQube Lite will use Name, Division, and Sales as the field names for the data in their columns. 1 A B C 1 1988 Sales 2 3 Name Division Sales 4 Joe Smith West 1049354 5 Bill Jones Southwest 1345938 6 Dave Adams South 1234823 7 Don Nielson Midwest 934834 8 Sam Davis Southeast 1834735 9 Jim Turner Northeast 1634868 Before the actual export is performed, ProQube Lite will step through each field name and ask you what type of field it should be. The available field types are: Character The values in the field are text. Number The values in the field are numbers. 73 Logical The values in the field are TRUE or FALSE. Date The values in the field are dates. This option is available only when you export to dBase III or III+. DIF The file will be exported in the DIF (Data Interchange Format) format. ASCII The file will be exported to a comma delimited ASCII file. Each row of the range will be on a separate line of the ASCII file, and the value of each cell in the row will be separated by a comma. Text items will be surrounded by quotes ". 74 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /File Link -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Link to a .PQS file on disk. Remarks This command allows you to link multiple 3D spreadsheets together. You are not limited to linking a single cell. You may link to an entire three-dimensional block within another spreadsheet. The current cell will contain the link. If you change the value of the cell in the other spreadsheet, this "link cell" will change accordingly. If you create a link to a block of cells in another file, the link cell will take on the same value as the cell in the upper left corner of the block in the other file. The cells to the right of and below the link cell will take on the values of corresponding cells from the other file. If a change is made to any of the linked cells in the other worksheet, the current worksheet will be updated to reflect those changes. Each time you retrieve a file which is linked to other files, you will be asked if you want to update all of the links. If you select Yes then ProQube Lite will update every link in the file. If you select No then ProQube Lite will not update any of the links in the file. If none of the files which were linked to have been changed, then selecting No can greatly speed up the retrieval of the file. If your file has a large number of links in it, but only one of the links needs to be updated, you should select No, and then use the /File Link Update command to update the single link. Options Create Create or edit a link to another 3D worksheet. You will be asked for two items. - The name of the file you want to link to. The file must already be in existence. - The name of the block you want to link to. Pressing <F3> will allow you to pick from a list of all the named blocks in the other file. While the program accepts cell and block addresses, it is best to use a block name; otherwise, the reference may be modified in the other file (as by an addition or deletion of a row or column), and the link may be disturbed. 75 Delete Delete an existing link to another 3D worksheet. A menu of all existing links will appear, and you may pick the link you want to delete. List List all of the links in the current WorkQube. Edit Allows you to edit an existing link to another file. A menu of all the links in the file will be displayed, from which you may select the link you want to edit. You may then change either the file to link to, or the range in the file, or both. Update Allows you to update a link to another file. A menu of all the links in the file will be displayed, and you may select the link you wish to be updated. 76 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Block -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Defines the block of cells to print. Remarks This command allows you to define a block to print. You will be asked to define the block to be printed. The block will not actually be printed until the /Print Go command is issued. If you select a 3 dimensional block, each page of the block will begin printing at the top of a page of paper. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Rows -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Defines rows to print above the print block on each page. Remarks This command allows you to define one or more rows which will be printed above your data on each page. This command is useful when you are printing a range which has more rows than will fit on a single sheet of paper; it allows you to have a row of header data printed at the top of each page. Example 1 A B C D 1 1988 Sales 2 3 Name Division Sales 4 Joe Smith West 1049354 5 Bill Jones Southwest 1345938 6 Dave Adams South 1234823 7 Don Nielson Midwest 934834 8 Sam Davis Southeast 1834735 9 Jim Turner Northeast 1634868 You have 200 sales people in this worksheet, which takes more than a single page to print out. You want row 3 to print out at the top of each page to show what the columns are. Simply select the /Print Rows command and mark row 3 as the row border. 77 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Columns -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Defines columns to print to the left of the print block on each page. Remarks This command allows you to define one or more columns which will be printed to the left of your data on each page. This command is useful when you are printing a range which has more columns than will fit on a single sheet of paper; it allows you to have a column of titles printed at the left of each page. Example 1 A B C D 1 1988 Sales 2 3 Name Division Sales 4 Joe Smith West 1049354 5 Bill Jones Southwest 1345938 6 Dave Adams South 1234823 7 Don Nielson Midwest 934834 8 Sam Davis Southeast 1834735 9 Jim Turner Northeast 1634868 You have 30 columns of data on each sales person in this worksheet, which takes more than a single page to print out. You want column A to print out at the left of each page to show which sales person the data is associated with. Simply select the /Print Columns command and mark column A as the column border. 78 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Undefine -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Undefines the current Print, Rows, and Columns blocks. Remarks Since ProQube Lite remembers which block you printed last, it is sometimes necessary to reset the /Print Block setting. When doing so, it is usually easiest to clear the previous block setting entirely by using the /Print Undefine command. Options Block Clears the previous /Print Block setting. Rows Clears the previous /Print Rows setting. Columns Clears the previous /Print Columns setting. All Clears all previous /Print block settings. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Align -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Align the paper in the printer. Remarks This command sets the current position of the printhead as the top of the page. This is important; the printer and the program will be keeping individual track of the top of the page. It is good habit to precede the /Print Go command with the /Print Align command. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Line -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Advance the printer by one line. Remarks This command sends a line feed to the printer, causing the printer to print a blank line. Since the printer and the program are keeping separate track of the pagination, sending a line feed through the printer control panel will cause the program's pagination to be off by a line, resulting in unwanted offsets in your printout. More importantly, though, it is usually easier to advance the paper one line using this command than by using the printer's control panel. 79 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Advance the printer to the top of the next page. Remarks This command sends a form feed to the printer, causing the paper to advance one page. This is usually done at the end of a printout, since printing will stop with the last line actually printed. Thus, to remove the page from the printer, simply select the /Print Page command. Since the printer and the program are keeping separate track of the pagination, sending a form feed through the printer control panel will cause the program's pagination to be off, resulting in unwanted offsets in your printout. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Options -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Set options for your printout. Remarks This command allows complete control over the format of the printout. There are numerous options, all visible from a single pop-up screen. You may select an option either by pressing the first letter of the option name (highlighted), or by using the arrow keys to highlight the option and pressing the <Enter> key. Options Left Margin Lets you set the number of characters from left edge of the page to begin printing. Right Margin Lets you set the number of characters from left edge of the page that you want your right margin set to. The right margin must be greater than the left margin or an error will occur. Top Margin Lets you set the number of blank lines to print at the top of each page. If you set this option to 3, ProQube Lite will begin printing on the fourth line of the page. Bottom Margin Lets you set the number of blank lines to print at the bottom of each page. ProQube Lite will automatically advance the paper to the next page before it resumes printing. Page Length Lets you set the number of physical lines on a page. On an 8 1/2" x 11" paper at 6 lines per inch, there are 66 lines. ProQube Lite must have this information so that it can keep track of where it is on the page. 80 Header Allows you to enter a header, which will appear at the top of every page. There are two special characters that you can use in headers: @ will be replaced by the current date. # will be replaced by the current page number. The header may start with one of the text justify characters to determine where on the line the header will be placed. These characters are ' left justify the header " right justify the header ^ center the header For example, if you enter the header: ^Page # Then on page 3, the header Page 3 will be centered at the top of the page. If no header is defined, then a blank line will be printed in its place. Footer Allows you to enter a footer, which will appear at the bottom of every page. There are two special characters that you can use in footers: @ will be replaced by the current date. # will be replaced by the current page number. The footer may start with one of the text justify characters to determine where on the line the header will be placed. These characters are ' left justify the footer " right justify the footer ^ center the footer For example, if you enter the footer: "@ Then the current date will be right justified at the bottom of each page. If no header is defined, then a blank line will be printed in its place. 81 Mode Lets you decide what type of printout you want. Display The printout will appear as the file does on-screen; that is, the values calculated by the formulas will be printed. Formula The formulas themselves will be printed, one cell per line. This is useful for documentation and error-handling. Output Lets you decide where to send your output. Printer All output will be sent to the printer. File All output will be sent to a file. You will be asked for the name of the file you want to send the printout to. Number (page) Displays the current page number, which you can set or reset. Device Allows you to select whether to send the printout to LPT1 or LPT2. 82 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Setup -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Setup ProQube Lite to handle various printer controls. Remarks This command allows you to map screen characters to your printer character set and enter printer setup strings. This allows ProQube Lite to take advantage of the various characteristics which your printer offers. ProQube Lite stores this information in a file named ProQube Lite.SET which is stored in the user directory. Map Most printers do not have the exact same character set that IBM PCs and compatibles use on screen. The mapping option displays a table which allows you to map your printers character set to the IBM character set. The table displays all of the IBM characters, as well as the ASCII value that will be sent to the printer when that character is encountered. For example, ProQube Lite normally sends the ASCII value 156 when it encounters the pound symbol. If your printer set defines the pound symbol as ASCII value 192, then you would use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the pound symbol on the screen, press the <Enter> key, and replace the value 156 with 192. Fonts This option allows you to enter the printer control codes necessary to turn printer features on and off. A screen will appear which contains 3 columns. The first column is for a descriptive name for each of the printer fonts/characteristics (for example, italics, bold, or condensed). The second column contains the printer codes necessary to turn each characteristic on, and the third column contains the codes to turn the characteristic off. To change a description or code, move the bar to the desired row and column with the arrow keys, press <Enter>, and type in the description or code. Most printer codes contain control characters which can't be entered directly. To enter a control character into your ON/OFF codes, simply enter a backslash character \ followed by the 3 digit ASCII code (in decimal) for the control character. For example, since the ASCII value (in decimal) for the <Esc> character is 27, you would use a setup string of \027E to send an <Esc>E to the printer (this sequence selects emphasized print on an EPSON printer). 83 Your printer manual should list all of the available printer codes for your particular printer. Save This option will save the printer setup information to the ProQube Lite.SET file in the user directory. 84 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Print Go -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Send your data to the printer (or print file). Remarks This command begins the process of printing. ProQube Lite will not begin printing until it receives this command. If the block you are trying to print is wider than the left and right margins allow, ProQube Lite will ask if you want if to break the page into smaller pieces for printing. These pieces can then be put back together into a larger sheet. If you don't want the printout to be broken into smaller pieces, then you must go back into the /Print Options and reset your left and right margins to allow for a wider printout. If you want to abort the print job after it has started, simply press the <Esc> key (printers with built-in print buffers will continue to print until the print buffer has been emptied). 85 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Data Sort -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Sort a range of data. Remarks This command allows you to sort rows or columns of data, in either ascending or descending order. A window of options will appear on the screen. To change an option, either press the key corresponding to the first letter of the option name (D for Direction for example), or use the cursor keys to move the lightbar to the option you want to change and press the <Enter> key. Options Direction Determines how your data is to be sorted. Row Rows will be sorted. Column Columns will be sorted. Block You will be asked to define the block to sort. This block should include all of the rows or columns which you want rearranged. 1st - 9th Key The Key options indicate the fields to be used in determining the sorted (new) order of the data. You will be prompted to indicate the column or row that contains the data by which the sort is to be performed. The column or row may be indicated either by pointing or by typing an appropriate cell address. You will also be asked whether the sort should be in Ascending or Descending order. Sorting the data in ascending order causes numerical data to be sorted from the smallest number to the largest number (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while textual data will be sorted alphabetically (A, B, C, D, etc). Sorting the data in descending order has the opposite effect; numbers will be arranged from large to small (5,4,3,2,1, etc), and textual data will be sorted in reverse alphabetical order (Z, Y, X, W, etc). Reset This command resets all of the sort settings. This function is necessary when you need to undefine the sort keys. Start Pressing the Start key in the options menu will cause the sort to be performed as indicated in the menu. 86 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Data Fill -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Fill a block of cells with data. Remarks This command allows you to fill a specified block of cells with text or numbers. You will be asked for an equation which is used to determine the values placed in each of the cells to be filled. A variable named # is initialized to 0 and is incremented by 1 for each cell in the block. The # variable may be used anywhere in the equation to provide an endless number of sequences. The equation entered with this command may be any legal formula containing numbers, operators, cell or block references, functions, or the # variable. Cell references in the formula are treated as relative unless you specifically make them absolute using the $ symbol. Examples # generates a sequence starting with 0 and incrementing by 1. 1000+# generates a sequence starting with 1000 and incrementing by 1. 5+#*3 generates a sequence starting with 5 and incrementing by 3. @TODAY+# generates a sequence of date numbers starting with the current date. Assume you have a column of values in the range A1;1..A20;1. You want to fill column B with a running total of the values in column A. Simply copy the value in cell A1;1 to cell B1;1, select /Data Fill, define B2;1..B20;1 as the range you want to fill, and enter the equation B1;1+A2;1. Since the cell address in the Data Fill equation are relative, they will be adjusted for each cell in the fill range. Each cell in the fill range will be filled with the value of the cell above it added to the cell to the left of it. This gives you exactly what you wanted, a running total of column A in column B. 87 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Data Value -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Convert formulas in a block to their values. Remarks This command converts formulas in a block to their values. You will be asked to define a block of cells to convert. Since formulas require more memory than values, this command helps conserve memory when you just need a set of values rather than the formulas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Data Modify -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Modify all numerical values in a block. Remarks This command allows you to modify all of the values in a block. You may specify that each cell in a specified block be multiplied by 5, or subtracted from the average value of the block, or that they be modified in any of the ways that a legal formula may provide. You will be asked to define the block to modify, as well as an equation to modify the cells with. This command provides a variable named # which is set to the value of each cell in the block. This variable may be used just like a number or cell reference in the formula. Example Below are examples of equations and the way they modify the block. 2*# doubles all of the values in the block. #^2 squares all of the values in the block. #+3 adds 3 to all of the values in the block. @ABS(#) makes all of the values in the block positive. 88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Macro Edit -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Edit or create a macro. Remarks This command allows you to edit or create a macro. You will be asked for the name of a macro to edit. Pressing <Enter> without entering a macro name will cause the ProQube Lite File Manager to appear on-screen; the macro name may then be chosen from the File Manager. Once a macro is chosen, the ProQube Lite Macro Editor will display the macro and allow you to edit it. The following commands are available for editing the macro. <Up> <Down> <Left> <Right> The arrow keys move the cursor up or down one line, or left or right one character. <Home> This key moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. <End> This key moves the cursor to the end of the line. <^Right> This key moves the cursor one word to the right. <^Left> This key moves the cursor one word to the left. <^Home> This key moves the cursor to the top of the file. <^End> This key moves the cursor to the end of the file. <PgDn> This key moves the cursor down one screen. <PgUp> This key moves the cursor up one screen. <BkSp> This key deletes the character to the left of the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <^BkSp> This key deletes the entire line. <Del> This key deletes the character underneath the cursor and shifts the following characters in the line to the left to fill in the empty space. <Ins> This key toggles between insert and overwrite modes. When you are in insert mode, typing a character will insert the new character into the line at the point where the cursor is. The character under the cursor and those to the right of the cursor are shifted to the right to make room for the new character. When you are in overwrite mode, typing a character will replace the character under the cursor with the new character. When you are in insert mode, the cursor will be an underline. In overwrite mode the cursor will be a solid block. 89 <F1> Help This key causes a help screen to appear which lists all of the commands available for text editing. <F2> Mark This key turns on marking at the current line. Moving the cursor after pressing this key causes lines between that line and the new cursor position to be highlighted. Pressing <F2> a second time will turn off text marking. <F3> Cut Pressing this key with marking turned on (<F2>) causes the marked lines to be cut out of the file and placed in a buffer. You may then move to another location in the file and use the <F4> key to paste the lines back into the file. The buffer will only hold one block of lines, so if you cut data a second time, the new data replaces the older data in the buffer. <F4> Paste This keys causes the contents of the buffer to be pasted into the file at the cursor location. This does not clear the buffer, so you may paste the same buffer data into more than one location. <F5> DelLine This command deletes the line the cursor is on. <F6> Search This command allows you to search for a string in the file. You will be asked to enter the text you want to search for. Simply enter the text, and the cursor will be moved to the next occurrence of that text. The search is case insensitive, which means that hello will match hello, Hello, or HeLlO. <F7> Save This command allows you to save the current file to disk without having to exit. <F10> Exit This command allows you to exit from the editor. If you have made any changes to the file, you will be asked if you want to save it first. 90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Macro Delete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Deletes a macro file from the disk. Remarks This command deletes a macro file from the disk. You will be asked for the name of a macro to delete. Pressing the <Enter> key without indicating a macro to be deleted will cause the ProQube Lite File Manager to appear on-screen. You may then choose the macro to be deleted using the File Manager. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Macro List -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function List all macros in the current directory. Remarks This command lists all of the macros in the current directory. The command uses the ProQube Lite File Manager to find files with the .PQM extension. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Macro Run -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Run a macro or application program. Remarks This command executes a macro (or application program). You will be asked for the name of a macro to run. Pressing the <Enter> key without indicating a macro to be run will cause the ProQube Lite File Manager to appear on-screen. You may then choose the macro to be run using the File Manager. For information on creating macros and application programs, see the section ProQube Lite Applications. 91 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /OpSys -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Temporarily returns to DOS. Remarks This command allows you to temporarily return to the DOS command line, where you can execute DOS commands or other programs. When you are ready to return to ProQube Lite, simply type: EXIT<Enter> at the DOS prompt. If enough expanded memory or hard disk space is available, ProQube Lite will swap most of itself out to free up as much memory as possible. When swapping out to your hard disk, ProQube Lite will print the message Swapping... to your screen. IMPORTANT: Never run TSRs from the /OpSys command line (this includes the DOS PRINT command). Doing so can cause unexpected problems to occur. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Quit -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Exits from ProQube Lite. Remarks This command allows you to leave ProQube Lite entirely. This is an intelligent exit command; if you have made changes, ProQube Lite will allow you to save the file before exiting. If no changes have been made, ProQube Lite will simply exit the program. Options If changes have been made to the WorkQube since the last time you saved it, you will be asked if you want to lose the changes you made: No Returns you to the WorkQube without exiting the program. Yes Exits ProQube Lite. Any changes made to the WorkQube will be lost. Save Saves the WorkQube, then exits the ProQube Lite program. 92 BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS ProQube Lite provides over 80 built-in functions which you can use in your formulas. These built-in functions each begin with the character @, and are often called at functions. Most of these functions require one or more arguments. An argument is a value which the function uses as an input to provide an output value. An argument may be a number, a text string, a reference to a value in another cell, or another formula. In the case of the statistical functions, an argument may also be a range or block of cells. If a function requires arguments, then they are enclosed in parentheses and immediately follow the name of the @function. If more than one argument is required, they must be separated from each other with a comma. A built-in function can return either a numerical or text value and may be treated exactly like a number or text would be. Example A cell contains the formula =2*@ABS(-3). @ABS is the name of a built-in function which returns the absolute (positive) value of its argument. -3 is the argument to the function. The function returns a value of 3, and is used in the rest of the formula just like the number 3. The value of the entire formula is 6 (2 times the value of the @function). If the value that a function returns is an error, it will return the special value ERROR. A formula which contains a function with a value of ERROR will also return ERROR as the value for the cell it is in. Mathematical ProQube Lite's math functions allow your formulas to perform more sophisticated mathematical operations than the operators alone can provide. FUNCTION RETURNS @ABS(x) the absolute value of x. @EXP(x) e to the xth power. @FACT(x) x factorial. @FRAC(x) the fraction part of x. @INT(x) the integer part of x. @LN(x) the natural log of x. @LOG(x) the common log of x. @MOD(x,y) x modulo y. @RAND a uniform random number. @ROUND(x,n) x rounded to n decimal places. @SIGN(x) the sign of x. @SQRT(x) the square root of x. 93 Trigonometric ProQube Lite's trigonometry functions work the same way as the mathematical functions, but they specialize in working with angles. All angle arguments and results are in radians. To convert from degrees to radians, use the @RADIAN function. To convert from radians to degrees, use the @DEGREE function. FUNCTION RETURNS @ACOS(x) the arc cosine of x. @ASIN(x) the arc sine of x. @ATAN(x) the 2 quadrant arc tangent of x. @ATAN2(x,y) the 4 quadrant arc tangent of y/x. @COS(x) the cosine of x. @DEGREES(x) x converted from radians to degrees. @PI the value pi (3.14159..) @RADIANS(x) x converted from degrees to radians. @SIN(x) the sine of x. @TAN(x) the tangent of x. Statistical ProQube Lite's statistical functions allow you to analyze and summarize your data in a variety of ways. The statistical functions calculate and return various statistics of a list of values. The list may consist of numbers, references to values in other cells, formulas, or a range or block of cells. Ranges and blocks of cells are defined by using the cell names of two opposite corners of the block separated by two periods (for example: C14;2..D16;3). Each individual item in the list must be separated by a comma. For example, suppose you want to sum 1.23, the value in the cell A1;1, and the values in each cell in the block defined by the cells C14;2 and D16;3. You would simply use the formula: =@SUM(1.23,A1;1,C14;2..D16;3) FUNCTION RETURNS @AVG(list) the average of a list of values. @COUNT(list) the number of items in a list. @MAX(list) the maximum value in a list of values. @MIN(list) the minimum value in a list of values. @STD(list) the standard deviation of a list of population values. @SUM(list) the sum of a list of values. @VAR(list) the variance of a list of population values. 94 Financial ProQube Lite's financial functions allow you to perform many powerful analyses. Functions include formulas to compute time value of money calculations, depreciation calculations, and growth rate calculations. FUNCTION RETURNS @CTERM(rate,fv,pv) the number of periods for an investment to reach a future value. @DDB(cost,salv,l,p) the amount of depreciation of an asset using the Double-Declining Balance method. @FV(pmt,int,term) the future value of an annuity. @IRR(guess,range) the internal rate of return of a cash flow. @NPV(int,range) the net present value of a series of future cash flows. @PMT(prin,int,term) the payment required to amortize a loan amount. @PV(pmt,int,term) the present value of an annuity. @RATE(fv,pv,term) the interest rate at which a present value will grow to a future value. @SLN(cost,salv,life) the amount of depreciation of an asset using the straight line method. @SYD(cost,salv,l,p) the amount of depreciation of an asset using the sum of the years' digits method. @TERM(pmt,int,fv) the number of periods for an investment to reach a future value. 95 Date/Time ProQube Lite represents dates as the number of days since December 31, 1899. For example: Jan 1, 1900 = 1 Jan 2, 1900 = 2 and so on. Time is represented as a fraction of a day (starting at midnight). For example: midnight = 0.0 noon = 0.5 because it is half way through the day, 6:00PM = 0.75 because it is 3/4 way through the day, and so on. This allows dates and times to be manipulated with ordinary math operations. For example, you could find out what day, month, and year 90 days from today is by simply adding 90 to the number which represents today's date. FUNCTION RETURNS @DATE(yr,mnth,day) the date number of day,mnth,yr. @DAY(date#) the day (1..31) for date number. @HOUR(time#) the hour (0..23) for time number. @MINUTE(time#) the minute (0..59) for time number. @MONTH(date#) the month (1..12) for date number. @NOW the combined time and date number for the current moment. @SECOND(time#) the second (0..59) for time number. @TIME(hr,min,sec) the time number of hr,min,sec. @TODAY the date number for the current date. @YEAR(date#) the year (0..200) for date number. Logical The ProQube Lite logical functions evaluate their arguments to determine one thing: truth or falsity. Typically, logical functions supply the value 1 as the representative of truth, and 0 as the representative of falsity. FUNCTION RETURNS @FALSE the value 0 (FALSE) @IF(condition,x,y) if condition is TRUE, then x; else y @ISERR(x) 1 (TRUE) if x is ERROR @ISNUM(x) 1 (TRUE) if x is numeric @ISTEXT(x) 1 (TRUE) if x is textual @TRUE the value 1 (TRUE) 96 String The ProQube Lite string functions allow you to process character strings more efficiently. They are often used when importing data from other programs, printing, and in macros that process strings. FUNCTION RETURNS @CHAR(x) a character, based on its ASCII value. @CODE(x) the ASCII value of a character. @EXACT(s1,s2) TRUE (1) if s1 and s2 match exactly. @FIND(s1,s2,x) the position in s2 where s1 is found. @LEFT(s1,n) the left part of a string. @LEN(string) the length (in characters) of a string. @LOWER(string) a string converted to lowercase. @MID(s1,x,y) the middle part of a string. @PROPER(string) a string, with the first character of words in uppercase. @REPEAT(s1,x) a string repeated a given number of times. @REPLACE(s1,x,n,s2) s1 with n characters removed from position x, and with s2 inserted at position x. @RIGHT(s1,x) the right part of a string. @STRING(x,n) a string which looks like a number. @TRIM(string) a string with extra spaces trimmed out. @UPPER(string) a string converted to uppercase. @VALUE(string) the number that string looks like. Data ProQube Lite's data functions allow your formulas to access data in a variety of ways, from lookup tables, to access to cell statistics. FUNCTION RETURNS @CELL(att,range) information about a cell. @CHOOSE(x,y1,y2,..yn) an item from a list of items. @COLS(range) the number of columns in range. @ERROR the value ERROR. @HLOOKUP(x,blk,row,page) a value from a horizontal lookup table. @INDEX(range,col,row,page) a value from a 3D array. @PAGES(range) the number of pages in range. @POINTER(att) information about the current cell. @ROWS(range) the number of rows in range. @VLOOKUP(x,blk,col,page) a value from a vertical lookup table. @@(cell) data from a cell through an indirect address. 97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ABS Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the absolute (positive) value of a number. Syntax @ABS(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Example =@ABS(-212) = 212 =@ABS(25.3) = 25.3 =@ABS(B5;1) = 13, if the value of B5;1 is 13 or -13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ACOS Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the arc cosine of a number. Syntax @ACOS(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the angle whose cosine is x. The value of x must be between -1 and 1, or @ACOS will return the value ERROR. The value of the angle returned will be in radians, and will lie between 0 and pi. If you want the result to be in degrees instead, then use the @DEGREES function to convert the result. Example =@ACOS(-0.990) = 3 =@ACOS(-1) = 3.14159 =@DEGREES(@ACOS(-1)) = 180 =@ACOS(2) = ERROR -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ASIN Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the arc sine of a number. Syntax @ASIN(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the angle whose sine is x. The value of x must be between -1 to 1, or @ASIN will return the value ERROR. The value of the angle returned will be in radians, and will lie between pi/2 and -pi/2. If you want the result to be in degrees instead, then use the @DEGREES function to convert the result. Example =@ASIN(0.1411) = 0.141572 =@ASIN(1) = 1.570796 =@DEGREES(@ASIN(1)) = 90 98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ATAN Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the arc tangent of a number. Syntax @ATAN(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the angle whose tangent is x. The value of the angle returned is in radians. If you want the result to be in degrees instead, then use the @DEGREES function to convert the result. Since the @ATAN function finds an angle based on a single value, the result is limited to quadrants I and IV (-pi/2 to pi/2). If you want to find a 4 quadrant angle, you must use the @ATAN2 function. Example =@ATAN(1) = 0.7854 =@DEGREES(@ATAN(1)) = 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ATAN2 Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the four quadrant arc tangent of y/x. Syntax @ATAN2(x,y) where x and y are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the angle whose tangent is y/x. The @ATAN2 function calculates the value of the arc tangent differently than the @ATAN function. Where the @ATAN function takes as its argument the value of the tangent, the @ATAN2 function calculates the value of the arc tangent using the x and y coordinates. The result will be a full 4 quadrant angle, and will be between -pi and pi. Example =@ATAN2(1,1) = 0.7854 =@DEGREE(@ATAN2(1,1)) = 45 =@DEGREE(@ATAN2(-1,-1)) = -135 99 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @AVG Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the average of a list of values. Syntax @AVG(list) where list is a list of values separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function calculates the average, or mean, of the values in list. The @AVG function will completely ignore all items in the list which are text or blank. This means that if a text string is in a range in list, you do not have to worry about it being used incorrectly in the calculation. Example =@AVG(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 4.5 If the cells A1;1 through A10;1 contain the values listed above, then =@AVG(A1;1..A10;1) = 4.5 =@AVG(1234,6435,2567) = 3412 100 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @CELL Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns information about a cell. Syntax @CELL(attribute,range) where attribute is a string in quotations or a cell reference; and range is a cell range, named or otherwise. Remarks This function returns information about the upper left cell in range. Although the information is only for a single cell, range must be entered as a range instead of a single cell. Attribute must be one of the following strings: "address", "col", "contents", "format", "page", "prefix", "protect", "row", or "type". @CELL is primarily for use in applications to determine certain characteristics about a cell. attribute @CELL returns "address" the name of the cell (for example B5;1) "col" the column number of the cell (1 through 512) "contents" the contents of the cell "format" the formatting of the cell 0 Default 1 Fixed 2 Currency 3 Percent 4 Scientific 5 Hidden 6 Text 7 Fixed with commas 8 Currency with commas 9 Percent with commas 10 dd-mmm-yy 11 dd-mmm 12 mmm-yy 13 mm/dd/yy 14 Month DD, YYYY 15 HH:MM AM/PM 16 HH:MM Military 17 General "page" the page number of the cell (1 through 512) "prefix" the justification character of the cell ' if left justified " if right justified ^ if centered blank if the cell doesn't contain text 101 "protect" the protection status of the cell 0 = Not protected, 1 = Protected "row" the row number of the cell (1 through 512) "type" the type of data in the cell BLANK FORMAT NUMBER TEXT FORMULA TXTFORM ERROR Example If cell A1;1 contains centered text: =@CELL("type",A1;1..A1;1) = "TEXT" =@CELL("prefix",A1;1..A1;1) = ^ =@CELL("type",A1;1) = ERROR because the second argument must be entered as a range instead of a single cell reference. If cell B5;1 contains a value formatted as currency, then: =@CELL("type",B5;1..B5;1) = "NUMBER" =@CELL("format",B5;1..B5;1) = 2 =@CELL("row",B5;1..B5;1) = 5 102 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @CHAR String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns a character, based on its ASCII value. Syntax @CHAR(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the ASCII character for the value x. The value of x must lie in the range 1 to 255. Example =@CHAR(42) = * =@CHAR(55) = 7 =@CHAR(80) = P =@CHAR(113) = q -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @CHOOSE Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Choose an item from a list. Syntax @CHOOSE(x,y1,y2,y3...yn) where x is an offset value, and y1...yn is the list of items to choose from. Remarks This function performs a simple lookup based on the value of x. If x has a value of 1, then @CHOOSE will return y1; if x has a value of 2, then @CHOOSE will return y2, and so on. The items in the list can be numeric, text, or both. If x is less than 1 or greater than the number of items in the list, then @CHOOSE will return the value ERROR. See Also @HLOOKUP, @VLOOKUP, @PLOOKUP, @ELOOKUP Example If A1;1 contains the value 3, then @CHOOSE(A1;1,"Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat")=Tue and =@CHOOSE(A1;1,23,"Item 2",17) = 17 =@CHOOSE(4,"Item 1","Item 2","Item 3") = ERROR 103 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @CODE String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the ASCII value of a character. Syntax @CODE(string) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address. Remarks This function returns the ASCII value of the first character in string. If the length of string is zero, or is not a string, then @CODE will return the value ERROR. Example =@CODE("Test") = 84 =@CODE("test") = 116 =@CODE("@") = 64 =@CODE(" ") = 32 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @COLS Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the number of columns in a block. Syntax @COLS(block) where block is a cell range, either named or otherwise. Remarks This function returns the number of columns in block. Example If the block A1;1..G20;30 is named BUILDINGS then =@COLS(BUILDINGS) = 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @COS Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the cosine of an angle. Syntax @COS(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the cosine of the angle x. x must be in radians. If x is in degrees, then you must use the @RADIANS function to convert x to radians first. The result of @COS will be between -1 and 1. Since the secant of an angle is simply the reciprocal of the @COS function, you can calculate the secant of an angle by dividing 1 by the cosine of the angle. Example =@COS(3) = -0.9900 =@COS(@PI) = -1 =@COS(@RADIANS(180)) = -1 104 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @COUNT Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the number of values in a list. Syntax @COUNT(list) where list is a list of items separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function counts all of the cells in list which contain data. Blank cells in a range are not counted, but individual cell references are always counted, even if they are blank. Example =@COUNT(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 10 If range A1;1 to A10;1 contained a list of names, then =@COUNT(A1;1..A10;1) = 10 If 5 of those cells were deleted, then =@COUNT(A1;1..A10;1) = 5 and =@COUNT(A1;1..A10;1,C5;1) = 6, even if cell C5;1 is blank. 105 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @CTERM Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the number of periods for an investment to reach a future value. Syntax @CTERM(rate,fv,pv) where rate, fv and pv are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the number of periods needed to reach a given future value, using a specified initial investment and a periodic interest rate. rate is the periodic interest rate, fv is the future value to be reached, and pv is the initial investment. @CTERM is often used in retirement planning, where a fixed amount of money (usually large) is necessary to sustain retirement. @CTERM can determine whether a certain investment is likely to reach the monetary goal in the necessary time period. Example An investment is likely to produce a 13% return. The investor needs $300,000, and has $70,000 available to invest right now. How long will it take to reach the goal? =@CTERM(0.13,300000,70000) = 11.90734 years The answer is returned in the periods indicated by the interest rate. Thus, if you need to know the number of months needed to reach the goal, divide the yearly interest rate by 12: =@CTERM(0.13/12,300000,70000) = 135.0605 months 106 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @DATE Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns a date number for a date. Syntax @DATE(year,month,day) where year, month, and day are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the date number for year, month, and day. The date number is the number of days from Dec 31, 1899 to the given date. Formatting a cell containing a date number using the /Block Format Date commands will turn the number into a readable date. The key use for all date commands is in date arithmetic-- the determination of time between two periods. ProQube Lite also provides intelligent date entry, which you may often want to use instead of @date. When entering dates into cells which have been formatted as date, you may type in the date directly and ProQube Lite will automatically enter the date number into the cell. For example, if you type 4/15/89 into a cell which has a date format, ProQube Lite will enter the date value 32703 into the cell. Example How many days are between Jan. 16, 1959 and June 10, 1960? =@DATE(60,6,10)-@DATE(59,1,16) = 511. What date is 90 days after April 15, 1989? =@DATE(89,4,15)+90 = 32703 Formatting this value as a date gives July 14, 1989. 107 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @DAY Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function The Day Function Syntax @DAY(date number) where date number is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function returns the day of the month of date number. The @DAY function is most often used to avoid the often tedious process of looking up dates; clearly, it is possible to simply look at a cell that is formatted as a date to discover what number is the day that is contained there. Using the @DAY function allows you to bypass the lookup; the function extracts the day automatically. Example =@DAY(@DATE(89,1,16)) = 16 108 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @DDB Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the amount of depreciation of an asset using the double- declining balance method. Syntax @DDB(cost,salvage,life,period) where cost, salvage, life, and period are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function calculates the amount of depreciation of an asset using the Double-Declining Balance method of accelerated depreciation. cost is the cost of the asset, salvage is the salvage value of the asset after it is totally depreciated, life is the useful life of the asset, and period is the period within that life in which the depreciation is being calculated. The depreciation for a period is: (book value * 2) / life where the book value for a period is: cost - (total depreciation for all prior periods) The total depreciation over the life of the asset will never exceed the assets cost - salvage value. Example Your company purchased a piece of equipment last year for $40,000. Its scrap value has been determined to be $11,000, and its useful life is seven years. How much depreciation should be assigned to it in this, its second year of useful life? =@DDB(40000,11000,7,2) = $8,163.27 109 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @DEGREES Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Converts radians to degrees. Syntax @DEGREES(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks Although all of ProQube Lite's trigonometry functions operate on angular values expressed in radians, it is often easier to analyze angular data when expressed in degrees. The @DEGREES function provides an easy way to convert a value from radians to degrees. Example If cell A1 were a value in radians, and you wanted its value in degrees, entering =@DEGREES(A1) would return the correct value in degrees. =@DEGREES(@PI) = 180 =@DEGREES(@PI/2) = 90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ERROR Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the value ERROR. Syntax @ERROR Remarks This function causes the ERROR flag to appear in the cell in which it is entered. The @ERROR function is usually used as an argument in an @IF function. Often it is used to flag values that may be outside of a prescribed range. Example This formula will multiply B5 by 1.1, unless B5 is greater than C5. If this happens, it will flag you with an ERROR. =@IF(B5>C5,@ERROR,B5*1.1) 110 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EXACT String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Compares two text strings. Syntax @EXACT(string1,string2) where string1 and string2 are strings in quotations or cell addresses. Remarks This function returns the value 1 (TRUE) if string1 and string2 are identical, or the value 0 (FALSE) if they are not. Comparing two strings with the @EXACT function is different than comparing them with the = operator. Strings compared with the @EXACT function must be exactly the same for a TRUE result, while strings compared with the = operator may differ in case and still be considered equal. Example If cell D80 contains the string ProQube Lite: =@EXACT("ProQube Lite",D80) = 1 (TRUE) =@EXACT("ProQube Lite",D80) = 0 (FALSE) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EXP Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns e raised to a power. Syntax @EXP(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns e to the x power. e is approximately 2.71828. x must be less than 85.2 or an overflow will occur and the value ERROR will be returned. This function is the inverse of the @LN function. To use the value of e in a formula, use @EXP(1). Example =@EXP(3) = 20.0855 =@EXP(90) = ERROR =@EXP(1) = 2.71828 =@EXP(@LN(5)) = 5 111 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @FACT Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the factorial of a number. Syntax @FACT(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks The factorial of x is x * (x-1) * (x-2)...* 1. x must be between 0 and 30 (inclusive), otherwise @FACT will overflow and return ERROR. x should be an integer; if it is not an integer, the program will use the value of the argument rounded to the nearest integer. Example =@FACT(5) = 5*4*3*2*1 = 120 =@FACT(4.7) = 120 =@FACT(45) = ERROR -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @FALSE Logical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the value FALSE (0). Syntax @FALSE Remarks This function returns the value 0 (FALSE). The primary purpose of the @FALSE function is to help make logical formulas easier to read. Example @IF(B4;1>1,@TRUE,@FALSE)=0, if B4;1 is not greater than 1 112 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @FIND String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Finds the occurrence of a string in a longer string. Syntax @FIND(substring,string,n) where substring and string are strings in quotations, or cell addresses, and n is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks substring is the part of a string to find, string is the longer string in which to find the substring, and n designates where in the string to begin looking. The search is case-sensitive. @FIND returns the position in string where substring is found. That is, if substring begins at the 20th character string, 20 will be returned. If no match is found, @FIND returns a value of 0. Example To find the word "time" in the phrase, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country,": If the longer string is entered in cell D2;1, then =@FIND("time",D2;1,1) = 12 You can also search for the second occurrence of "the" in the above phrase with =@FIND("the",D2,15) ProQube Lite will begin the search at the 15th character, and will return the position, 45. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @FRAC Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the fractional part of a number. Syntax @FRAC(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns only the part of x which comes after the decimal point. If x is negative, then the value returned by @FRAC will be negative also. Example =@FRAC(1.23) = 0.23 =@FRAC(-1.23) = -0.23 =@FRAC(@PI) = 0.14159 113 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @FV Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the future value of an annuity. Syntax @FV(pmt,int,term) where pmt, int, term are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function calculates the future value of an annuity. pmt is the amount of payment per period in the annuity, int is the discount rate per period, and term is the total number of payments to be made. @FV assumes that payments are being made at the end of the period. If payments are due at the beginning of the period, simply multiply the answer by (1+int). IMPORTANT: The interest rate must be a per period rate. For example, if the term is 240, indicating (probably) monthly payments over twenty years, the interest rate must also be a monthly rate. Thus, a 12% yearly rate would be entered as 1%. Example To calculate the future value of an ordinary annuity in which the payments are $500.00, made monthly for 20 years, and the yearly interest rate is 10%: =@FV(500,0.1/12,240) = 379,684.42 =@FV(500,0.1/12,240)*(1+0.1/12) = 382,848.45 114 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @HLOOKUP Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Looks up an item in a horizontal lookup table. Syntax @HLOOKUP(x,block,row offset,page offset) where block is a block of cells, named or otherwise; row offset and page offset are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values; and x is a number, text, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function looks up and retrieves a value or text from a horizontal lookup table. block is the block of cells which makes up the lookup table. If x is text, @HLOOKUP will compare x with each cell in the top row of block, and if a match is found, will move row offset rows, and page offset pages from that cell, and will return the value in the resulting cell. If x does not match any of the cells in the top row of block, then @HLOOKUP will return the value ERROR. If x is a value instead of text, @HLOOKUP will compare x with each cell in the top row of block until it finds a cell which is greater than or equal to x. This means that the values in the top row of block must be in ascending order for @HLOOKUP to work correctly. If the value in the cell is equal to x, @HLOOKUP will consider it a match. If the cell is greater than x, @HLOOKUP will move back to the previous cell and consider it a match. For example, if the values in the top row of block are 100, 200, 300, and 400, and the value of x is 250, then @HLOOKUP will search until it reaches 300, and will then move back and use the cell containing 200 as the match. When a match is found, @HLOOKUP will move row offset rows, and page offset pages from that cell, and will return the value in the resulting cell. If x is smaller than the first cell in the top row, @HLOOKUP will return the value ERROR. 115 Example 1 A B C D E F 1 1987 Sales 2 3 Jan Feb Mar Apr May 4 Joe 1234 2011 1893 1500 1438 5 Bill 2102 1453 2415 1627 1888 6 David 1845 1739 2194 1999 2003 7 Mike 2340 2112 1693 1429 2236 8 9 =@HLOOKUP("Feb",B3;1..F7;1,3,0) will compare the value "Feb" with each cell in the top row of the range B3;1..F7;1 until it finds the match in cell C3;1. It then moves down 3 rows to cell C6;1. Since page offset is 0, @HLOOKUP does not move up to another page. So @HLOOKUP in this case equals 1739 (David's February 1987 sales). =@HLOOKUP("Feb",B3;1..F7;4,3,1) = David's February 1988 sales from page 2) =@HLOOKUP("Apr",B3;1..F7;1,1,0) = 1500 =@HLOOKUP("Mar",B3;1..F7;1,0,0) = Mar 116 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @HOUR Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the hour of a time number. Syntax @HOUR(time number) where time number is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function returns the hour of time number. A result of 0 represents midnight, 1 represents 1:00 p.m., and 23 represents 11:00 p.m. time number should be a value between 0 and 1. ProQube Lite will not ignore a mixed number; it will simply use the fractional part. The @HOUR function is most often used in conjunction with other date and time functions to return only the hour portion of a previously entered value. Example =@HOUR(@NOW) = the current hour (in military time) =@HOUR(@TIME(13,40,55)) = 13 117 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @IF Logical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns one of two values depending on a condition. Syntax @IF(condition,x,y) where condition is a conditional statement, often in the form of an equation, other times in the form of a "greater than" or "less than" statement (or other inequality); and x and y are values, functions, or strings. Remarks This functions evaluates condition and returns x if it is TRUE, and y if it is FALSE. @IF is one of the most powerful ProQube Lite functions. It not only evaluates whether a condition exists, it also takes action depending on the existence or non-existence of the condition. More importantly, conditions can be built which are very complex, and may incorporate the Boolean operators (&, |, and ~) in addition to the logical operators. Nested @IF functions are allowed. x and y may be both numeric, both text, or one of each. Example If the price/earnings ratio of Micro Solutions, Inc.'s stock (located in cell D54;1) falls below 17, it is time to sell (in your opinion). If your spreadsheet contains a number of stocks, you may not want to look down the P/E column to evaluate each ratio. Instead, you enter this formula in a nearby cell on Micro Solutions' row: =@IF(D54;1<17," ","SELL") When the P/E ratio falls below 17, SELL will appear in that cell. =@IF(A1;1<1,A1;1*1.1,"Past due") = 1.1 or Past due, depending on the value of A1;1. 118 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @INDEX Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Looks up data in a 3D array. Syntax @INDEX(block,col,row,page) where block is a block of cells, named or otherwise; and col, row, and page are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function looks up and returns data from a 3D array. block is the 3D array, and col, row, and page are the offsets into the array. The top row of block has a row offset of 0, the left column of block has a column offset of 0, and the first page of block has a page offset of 0. col, row, and page refer to the column, row, and page offsets relative to the front face. If you are viewing your data from one of the other faces, the offset arguments will still be relative to the front face. This insures that @INDEX will provide the same result regardless of which face you happen to be viewing. See Also @HLOOKUP Example 1 A B C D E F 1 1987 Sales 2 3 Jan Feb Mar Apr May 4 Joe 1234 2011 1893 1500 1438 5 Bill 2102 1453 2415 1627 1888 6 David 1845 1739 2194 1999 2003 7 Mike 2340 2112 1693 1429 2236 8 9 @INDEX(A3;1..F7;1,2,3,0) will start at the first cell in the block (A3;1), and will move across 2 columns (to column C), down 3 rows (to row 6), and in 0 pages. It then returns the value from that cell (C6;1). So @INDEX in this case equals 1739 (David's February 1987 sales). @INDEX(A3;1..F7;4,2,3,1) = David's Feb 1988 sales from page 2 @INDEX(A3;1..F7;1,4,0,0) = Apr 119 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @INT Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the integer part of a number. Syntax @INT(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the integer part of a value, which is the part of the argument which is to the left (in front of) the decimal point. The sign of the value returned is the same as that of the argument. The @INT function does not round values for further calculation. (To round numbers, use @ROUND.) It merely truncates the numbers; only the integer part of the value is used in further calculations. The sign of the value can be either positive or negative. Example =@INT(-2.34) = -2 =@INT(1.2) = 1 =@INT(1.99) = 1 =@INT(@PI) = 3 120 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @IRR Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the internal rate of return of a series of cash flows. Syntax @IRR(estimate,range) where estimate is a number, cell address, or calculated value; and range is a block of cells, named or otherwise. Remarks This function calculates the discount rate at which the present value of an outlay (investment) equals the present value of cash inflows stemming (presumably) from that investment. Another way of saying this is that it is the discount rate at which the net present value of outlays and inflows is zero. estimate should be a value between 0 and 1 that represents a reasonable guess at the rate of return for the investment, and range is a range of cells that contain the net cash flows resulting from the investment. The first value in the range must be negative, indicating an investment was made which constituted an outflow of moneys. It is assumed that the cash flows that appear in the range are received at regular intervals. They need not be even, but they should at least approximate regular flows. The @IRR function further assumes that the income from the investment is reinvested at the rate of return. If this not the case (as with a capital investment in plant equipment), @IRR will be overstated. The amount of overstatement depends on the disparity between the assumed reinvestment and the actual rate of reinvestment. Finally, since @IRR is calculated by iteration, a really poor estimate may cause the function to misstate the discount rate. 121 Example 1 A B C D E F 1 -2000 2 700 3 700 4 700 5 700 6 Cell A1 contains the value -2,000 (indicating an investment of $2000), and cells A2 to A5 contain the value 700 (indicating periodic receipts of $700), then, using a 20% rate of return as our guess, we enter: =@IRR(0.2,A1;1..A5;1) = 14.96% 122 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ISERR Logical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Tests whether an item is an error. Syntax @ISERR(x) where x is a cell reference or a formula. Remarks This function is used to determine whether x is the value ERROR. @ISERR is used to stop ERROR values from carrying through to other parts of the worksheet. Example @ISERR(1/0) = 1 (TRUE) @ISERR(A1;1) = 1 if cell A1;1 contains the value ERROR; otherwise it equals 0. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ISNUM Logical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Tests whether an item is a number. Syntax @ISNUM(x) where x is a cell address or a formula. Remarks This function returns the value 1 (TRUE) if x is a numerical value; otherwise it returns the value 0 (FALSE). Example @ISNUM(1) = 1 (TRUE) @ISNUM("text") = 0 (FALSE) @ISNUM(A1;1) = 1 if cell A1;1 contains a numeric value; otherwise it equals 0. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ISTEXT Logical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Tests whether an item is text. Syntax @ISTEXT(x) where x is a cell address or a formula. Remarks This function returns the value 1 (TRUE) if x is a textual value; otherwise it returns the value 0 (FALSE). Example @ISTEXT(1) = 0 (FALSE) @ISTEXT("text") = 1 (TRUE) 123 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @LEFT String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the left part of a text string. Syntax @LEFT(string,n) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address; and n is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function returns the leftmost n characters from string. @LEFT is often used when extracting portions of a string--for example, an area code or the first digits of a billing code. Example If cell B225;1 contains the telephone number of a client, and you want to retrieve only the area code, then use: =@LEFT(B225;1,5) If your client's phone number is (208)555-1212, @LEFT will return (208) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @LEN String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the length of a text string. Syntax @LEN(string) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address. Remarks This function returns the number of characters in string. Example If cell A5;1 contains 'Goodbye and B9;1 contains ' cruel world then =@LEN(A5;1) = 7 =@LEN(B9;1) = 12 =@LEN(A5;1+B9:1) = 19 124 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @LN Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the natural logarithm of a number. Syntax @LN(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function calculates the natural logarithm (base e) of x. It is the inverse of the @EXP function. The value cannot be negative or equal to zero, or an ERROR value will be returned. Example =@LN(1000) = 6.9078 =@LN(@EXP(3)) = 3 since @LN is the inverse of the @EXP function. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @LOG Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the common logarithm of a number. Syntax @LOG(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks The @LOG function returns the logarithm of x. It uses the base 10, and is the reciprocal of exponentiation. The value must be greater than zero; a negative or zero value returns an ERROR value. Example =@LOG(1000) = 3 =@LOG(10^5) = 5 =@LOG(-12) = ERROR -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @LOWER String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Converts all the characters of a text string to lowercase. Syntax @LOWER(string) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address. Remarks The @LOWER function converts all of the characters in string to lowercase letters. Example If A1;1 contains the text "Instruction Manual", then =@LOWER(A1;1) = instruction manual 125 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @MAX Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the maximum value from a list of values. Syntax @MAX(list) where list is a list of values separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function returns the largest value in list. When lists become very large, it becomes useful to easily and quickly determine the largest value in the list. The @MAX function accommodates this need. Blank and text cells are ignored by @MAX. If the list consists entirely of blank cells, the value ERROR will be returned, because you can't determine a maximum of no values. Example =@MAX(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 9 If cells A1 to A10 contained those values, but in a different order, the formula =@MAX(A1..A10) would still return the value 9. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @MID String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the midsection of a text string. Syntax @MID(string,start,n) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address; and start and n are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function searches string, starting with the start character, and extracts and returns n characters. @MID can be useful in extracting strings from known positions in a larger string. More useful still, @MID can be combined with @FIND to extract characters from the middle of strings. Example Column A contains a list of customer phone numbers. For local numbers, no area code is listed. For other numbers, an area code is included. You want to create customer numbers by using the last digit of the telephone prefix, and the first three digits of the telephone number. You can find it using the formula: =@MID(A1;1,@FIND("-",A1;1,1)-1,5) If the telephone number were (208)882-8656, ProQube Lite would return the string 2-865. 126 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @MIN Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the minimum value from a list of values. Syntax @MIN(list) where list is a list of values separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function returns the smallest value in list. When lists become very large, it becomes useful to easily and quickly determine the smallest value in the list. The @MIN function accommodates this need. Blank and text cells are ignored. If the list consists entirely of blank cells, the value ERROR will be returned because you can't determine the minimum of no values. Example =@MIN(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 0 If cells A1 to A10 contained those values, but in a different order, the formula =@MIN(A1..A10) would still return the value 0. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @MINUTE Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the minute of a time number. Syntax @MINUTE(time number) where time number is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function returns the number of the minute (between 0 and 59) represented by time number. time number should be a value between 0 and 1 (not inclusive). ProQube Lite will not ignore mixed numbers; rather, it will extract only the fractional part. @MINUTE is most often useful in conjunction with other date and time functions. @MINUTE will extract only the minute portion of a time value. Example To find the current minute, and enter it into a cell, enter: =@MINUTE(@NOW) =@MINUTE(@TIME(10,20,30)) = 20 127 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @MOD Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the remainder after dividing two numbers. Syntax @MOD(x,y) where x and y are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the remainder after dividing x by y. @MOD function will typically be used any time that it is necessary to use the remainder in calculations. @MOD can be used to determine if x is odd or even by setting y to 2. If the result is 0, then x is even; if the result is 1, then x is odd. If y has a value of 0, ERROR will be returned, since dividing by 0 is illegal. Example =@MOD(5,2) = 1 =@MOD(6,2) = 0 =@MOD(12,7) = 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @MONTH Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the month of a date number. Syntax @MONTH(date number) where date number is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function returns only the month portion (1..12) of date number. Most often, the @MONTH function is used in conjunction with other date function. @MONTH extracts the month portion of the date given in its argument. Example If the current month is April, then =@MONTH(@NOW) = 4 =@MONTH(@DATE(89,11,3)) = 11 128 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @NOW Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the current date and time numbers. Syntax @NOW Remarks This function reads the system clock and returns a combined date and time number for the current date and time. The integer part of the result will be the date number for the current date, and the fractional part of the result will be the time number for the current time. If your system does not have a clock, you must respond correctly to the DOS DATE and TIME requests to have the proper date and time returned by the @NOW function. @NOW is often used in a reference by the other ProQube Lite date and time functions to supply the current date, month, year, hour, etc. Any recalculation which affects the cell in which the @NOW function is located will cause the current date and time to be re-entered into the cell. Example If it is currently 2:13 p.m. on May 10, 1989, then =@MONTH(@NOW) = 5 =@DAY(@NOW) = 10 =@YEAR(@NOW) = 89 =@HOUR(@NOW) = 14 (military time for 2 p.m.) =@MINUTE(@NOW) = 13 129 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @NPV Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the net present value of a series of future cash flows. Syntax @NPV(int,block) where int is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value, and block is a block of cells, named or otherwise. Remarks This function calculates the net present value of a series of future cash flows in range, given the discount rate int. Each of the future cash flows are brought back to the present; that is, each flow receives its equivalent present value. The period of the discount must agree with the period of the cash flows. That is, if the cash flows are yearly flows, then the discount rate must be a yearly rate; if the cash flows are monthly, then the discount rate must be monthly. Generally, yearly cash flows will be accurate enough. Even if the flows actually come on a monthly basis, summing up those flows into a single yearly flow will only change the answer by a small percentage. @NPV assumes that the period between cash flows is constant. @NPV assumes end-of-period-payments. For beginning-of-period- payments, multiply the answer by (1+int). Example 1 A B C D E F 1 -2000 2 900 3 900 4 900 5 900 6 Cell A1;1 contains the value -2,000 (indicating an investment of $2000), and cells A2 to A5 contain the value 900 (indicating periodic receipts of $900), then, using a 12% discount rate: =@NPV(0.12,A1;1..A5;1) = 655.01 (end of period) =@NPV(0.12,A1;1..A5;1)*(1.12) = 733.61 (start of period) 130 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @PAGES Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the number of pages in a block. Syntax @PAGES(block) Remarks This function returns the number of pages in a specified block of cells. Example If the block A1;1..B5;10 is named COST, then =@PAGES(COST) = 10 =@PAGES(B12;11..F20;14) = 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @PI Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the value of pi (3.14159...). Syntax @PI Remarks The @PI function simply returns the value of pi, 3.141592635... Example Entering the formula 2*@PI*5.3 returns the circumference of a circle with a radius of 5.3, or 33.30088. 131 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @PMT Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the payment required to amortize a loan amount. Syntax @PMT(prin,int,term) where prin, int, and term are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function calculates the periodic payment required to amortize a loan amount, given the amount of principal, the periodic interest rate, and the number of payments. prin is the total amount of principal, int is the periodic interest rate, and term is the number of payments in the loan. The @PMT function assumes a fixed rate of interest. It also requires (like all of the financial functions) that the interest and term in the argument are expressed in like intervals; that is, a monthly term requires a monthly interest rate. Example If you were looking at a home that would require a $75,000 loan, at 10% yearly interest for 30 years (360 monthly payments), how much would your monthly payment be? =@PMT(75000,0.1/12,360) = $658.18. 132 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @POINTER Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns information about the current cell. Syntax @POINTER(attribute) where attribute is a string in quotations or a cell reference. Remarks This function returns various types of information about the cell which the cell pointer is currently in. This function is intended for use in application programs which need information about the current cell. attribute determines what information is returned, and must be one of the following strings; "address", "col", "contents", "format", "page", "prefix", "protect", "row", or "type". Example attribute @POINTER returns "address" the name of the current cell (for example B5;1) "col" the column number of the current cell (1 thru 512) "contents" the contents of the current cell "format" the formatting of the current cell 0 Default 1 Fixed 2 Currency 3 Percent 4 Scientific 5 Hidden 6 Text 7 Fixed with commas 8 Currency with commas 9 Percent with commas 10 dd-mmm-yy 11 dd-mmm 12 mmm-yy 13 mm/dd/yy 14 Month DD, YYYY 15 HH:MM AM/PM 16 HH:MM Military 17 General "page" the page number of the current cell (1 through 512) "prefix" the justification character of the current cell ' if left justified " if right justified ^ if centered blank if the cell doesn't contain text 133 "protect" the protection status of the current cell 0 = Not protected, 1 = Protected "row" the row number of the current cell (1 through 512) "type" the type of data in the current cell BLANK FORMAT NUMBER TEXT FORMULA TXTFORM ERROR Example If the current cell contains centered text: @POINTER("type") = "TEXT" @POINTER("prefix") = ^ If the cell pointer is in cell B5;1, which contains a value formatted as currency, then: @POINTER("type") = "NUMBER" @POINTER("format") = 2 @POINTER("row") = 5 134 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @PROPER String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Capitalizes the first letter of each word in a text string. Syntax @PROPER(string) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address. Remarks This function converts the first letter of words in string to uppercase. @PROPER will only recognize words that are separated by spaces, or other non alpha characters. Example =@PROPER("this is a test") = This Is A Test =@PROPER("mid-size") = Mid-Size since the dash is a non alpha character. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @PV Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the present value of an annuity. Syntax @PV(pmt,int,term) where pmt, int, and term are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function calculates the present value of an annuity, given the periodic payment, the periodic interest rate, and the number of periods. pmt is the payment per period, int is the interest rate per period, and term is the total number of payments. The @PV function does precisely the same thing as the @NPV function, except that all payments are equal. Thus, it is only necessary to enter the amount once, rather than as a series of values. The interest rate and term must agree; monthly payments must be accompanied by a monthly term. @PV assumes end-of- period-payments. For beginning-of-period-payments, multiply the answer by (1+int). Example To calculate the present value of an annuity in which the payments are made monthly for 36 months, the interest rate is 10% per year, and the payments are $400, enter the formula: =@PV(400,0.1/12,36) ProQube Lite returns the value $12,396.42. 135 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @RADIANS Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Converts degrees to radians. Syntax @RADIANS(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function converts the angle x from degrees to radians. Since ProQube Lite's trigonometry functions require angles to be expressed in radians, the @RADIANS function is useful for making this conversion. Example =@RADIANS(180) = 3.14159 =@RADIANS(45) = 0.7854 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @RAND Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns a uniformly distributed random number. Syntax @RAND Remarks This function generates a random number which is greater than or equal to zero and is less than one. The value of @RAND will change to a new random value each time the cell (not the WorkQube) is recalculated. If you want the numbers to fall within a specified range, multiply the @RAND result by the difference between the high and low values in a range; then add this result to the lower value in the range. Example If you want to generate a random number which falls between 20 and 25, then use 20+(5*@RAND) 136 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @RATE Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the interest rate at which a present value will grow to a future value. Syntax @RATE(pv,fv,term) where pv, fv, and term are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the interest rate at which a present value will grow into a future value during a number of periods. pv is the present value amount of an investment, fv is the future value amount of the investment, and term is the number of periods. The periods are assumed to be regular intervals. Converting the compound growth rate on a yearly basis, given that the term is expressed in months, simply requires that the answer be multiplied by 12. Example If you want to calculate the periodic interest rate that will be required to make an investment of $1,000 grow into $1,750 in five years, =@RATE(1000,1750,5) = 0.1184 (or 11.84%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @REPEAT String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Repeats text a given number of times. Syntax @REPEAT(string,n) where string is a string in quotations or a cell address; and n is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function returns string repeated n times. Example =@REPEAT("abc",3) = abcabcabc =@REPEAT("-",15) = --------------- 137 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @REPLACE String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Replaces a substring in a string with a new string. Syntax @REPLACE(string,start,n,new string) where string and new string are strings in quotations or cell addresses; and start and n are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function removes n characters from string at position start, and inserts new string at the same position. @REPLACE is not only a function that allows replacement of a string; it also serves as an insert or a delete function. If n is set to zero, this is simply an insert function. If new string is empty, this serves as a delete function. Example If A1;1 contains the string This is a test, then =@REPLACE(A1;1,11,4,"game") = This is a game =@REPLACE(A1;1,11,0," game") = This is a game test =@REPLACE(A1;1,6,5,"") = This test -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @RIGHT String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the right part of a text string. Syntax @RIGHT(string,n) where string is a string in quotations or a cell address, and n is a number, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function extracts and returns n characters from the end of string. If n is greater than the number of characters in string, then the entire string is returned. See Also @LEFT, @MID. Example Column A contains a list of customer phone numbers. You want to create customer numbers by using the last four digits of the telephone number. Just use =@RIGHT(A1;1,4) for the first number. If the telephone number were (208)882- 8656, ProQube Lite would return the string 8656. =@RIGHT("this is a test",8) = s a test 138 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ROUND Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Rounds a value to a given number of decimal places. Syntax @ROUND(x,n) where x and n are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the value of x rounded to n places. n can be either positive or negative; when n is negative, the program rounds n digits to the left of the decimal point. When n is positive, the program rounds n digits to the right of the decimal. See Also @INT Example =@ROUND(123.456,-2) = 100 =@ROUND(123.456,-1) = 120 =@ROUND(123.456,2) = 123.46 =@ROUND(123.456,0) = 123 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ROWS Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the number of rows in a block. Syntax @ROWS(block) Remarks This function returns the number of rows in block. @ROWS is particularly useful when used with named blocks. Example If the block A1;1..B10;2 is named COST then =@ROWS(COST) = 10 139 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SECOND Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the second of a time number. Syntax @SECOND(time number) where time number is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the value in seconds (between 0 and 59) of time number. time number should be a value between 0 and 1. ProQube Lite will not ignore mixed numbers; rather, it will extract only the fractional part. The argument may be either a value, a cell reference to a value, or a cell reference to a formula which calculates a value. @SECOND is used whenever it is important to extract only the second portion of a time value. This function is most often used in conjunction with other time functions, such as @NOW or @TIME. Example If the current time were 10:43.34, then =@SECOND(@NOW) = 34 =@SECOND(@TIME(10,20,30)) = 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SIGN Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the sign of a number. Syntax @SIGN(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the sign of its x. If x is negative, the function returns -1. If x positive, the function returns 1. If x is 0, the function returns 0. Example =@SIGN(23.4) = 1 =@SIGN(-13.9) = -1 =@SIGN(0) = 0 =@SIGN(@PI) = 1 140 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SIN Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the sine of an angle. Syntax @SIN(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the sine of the angle x. x must be in radians. If x is in degrees, then the @RADIANS function must be used to convert x to radians. The value returned by the @SIN function will always lie between -1 and 1. Example =@SIN(3) = 0.1411 =@SIN(@PI) = 0 =@SIN(@RADIANS(90)) = 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SLN Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the amount of depreciation of an asset using the straight line method. Syntax @SLN(cost,salvage,life) where cost, salvage, and life are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function calculates and returns the amount of depreciation of an asset using the Straight-Line method of accelerated depreciation. cost is the cost of the asset, salvage is the salvage value of the asset after it is totally depreciated, and life is the useful life of the asset. Example Your company purchased a piece of equipment last year for $40,000. Its scrap value has been determined to be $11,000, and its useful life is seven years. What is the yearly depreciation expense? =@SLN(40000,11000,7) = $4,142.86 141 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SQRT Mathematical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the square root of a value. Syntax @SQRT(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the square root of x. x must be positive, since any two negative numbers multiply to a positive number. Since @SQRT will not work with negative numbers, it will often be necessary to convert negative values to positive ones. To do this, simply combine the @SQRT function with the @ABS function. Example =@SQRT(16) = 4 =@SQRT(-9) = ERROR =@SQRT(@ABS(-9)) = 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @STD Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the standard deviation of a list of values. Syntax @STD(list) where list is a list of values separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function calculates the standard deviation of the values in list. Standard deviation is a measure of dispersion; that is, it measures the degree to which each value in list varies from the mean of the values in list. @STD will completely ignore all items in list which are text or blank. This means that if a text string is in a range in list, you do not have to worry about it being used incorrectly in the calculation. Example =@STD(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 2.87 Similarly, if cells A1;1 to A10;1 contained those values, the formula =@STD(A1;1..A10;1) would return the value 2.87 142 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @STRING String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Converts a value to a string. Syntax @STRING(x,n) where x and n are values, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function converts x to a string with n decimal places. To perform string operations on values, you must use either the @STRING or @FORMAT functions to convert the value to a string. See Also @FORMAT Example If cell A1;1 contains the function @PI, then =@STRING(A1;1,3) will return the string 3.142 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SUM Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the sum of a list of values. Syntax @SUM(list) where list is a list of values separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function adds up all of the values contained in list. @SUM will completely ignore all items in list which are text or blank. This means that if a text string is in a range in list, you do not have to worry about it being used incorrectly in the calculation. Example =@SUM(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 45 Similarly, if cells A1;1 to A10;1 contained those same values, entering the formula =@SUM(A1;1..A10;1) would return the value 45. 143 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SYD Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the amount of depreciation of an asset using the Sum of the Years' Digits method. Syntax @SYD(cost,salvage,life,period) where cost, salvage, life, and period are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function calculates the amount of depreciation of an asset using the Sum-of-the-Years'-Digits method of accelerated depreciation. cost is the cost of the asset, salvage is the salvage value of the asset after it is totally depreciated, life is the useful life of the asset, and period is the period within that life in which the depreciation is being calculated. Example Your company purchased a piece of equipment last year for $40,000. Its scrap value has been determined to be $11,000, and its useful life is seven years. How much depreciation should be assigned to it in this, its second year of useful life? =@SYD(40000,11000,7,2) = $6,214.29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @TAN Trigonometry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the tangent of an angle. Syntax @TAN(x) where x is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the tangent of the angle x. x must be expressed in radians. If x is in degrees, then the @RADIANS function must be used to convert x to radians. Example =@TAN(3) = -0.1425. =@TAN(7) = 0.8714. 144 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @TERM Financial -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the number of periods for an investment to reach a future value. Syntax @TERM(pmt,int,fv) where pmt, int, and fv are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns the number of terms needed to reach a specified future value, given an interest rate (rate of return) and the value of equal payment to be made each period. pmt is the amount of the equal periodic payments, int is the interest rate or expected rate of return, and fv is the future value to be reached. Many investments (including many people's savings accounts) take a series of equal payments. To determine how long it will take to accumulate a specific future value, use the @TERM function. Example You deposit $500 per month in your savings account, which earns 7% annually. You need $9,000 to make the down payment on your first home. How many months will it take to accumulate that much? First, convert the yearly interest to months. Divide .07 by 12; monthly interest is .00583. Enter the formula: =@TERM(500,0.00583,9000) The formula returns the number of months to achieve the goal, 17. 145 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @TIME Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns a time number for a time. Syntax @TIME(hour,min,sec) where hour, min, and sec are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values. Remarks This function returns a time number between 0 and 1, from hour, min, and sec. hour is the hour of the day (between 0 and 23), min is the minute of the hour (between 0 and 59), and sec is the seconds of the minute (between 0 and 59). It is usually necessary to format the cell containing @TIME using the /Cell Format Date command. Example If cell A4;1 contains the following formula and is formatted in a time format, then =@TIME(15,12,25) in cell A4;1 would return the time: 3:12:25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @TODAY Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the date number of the current date. Syntax @TODAY Remarks This function reads the system clock and returns the date number for the current date. As with virtually all of the date and time functions, it is necessary to convert the value supplied by this function into a readable date format using the /Cell Format Date commands. The date will not be recalculated unless you want it to be, as a result of ProQube Lite's dependency-based recalculation. Example To enter the current date into cell A1, format the cell using the /Cell Format Date commands, then type =@TODAY into the cell. 146 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @TRIM String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Trims all extra spaces out of a text string. Syntax @TRIM(string) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address. Remarks This function strips all extra spaces from string. The result contains only single spaces between words. Often, importing ASCII files will produce strings with extraneous spaces. The problem is overcome with @TRIM. Example The imported string in A1 reads: This is a test. Entering the formula =@TRIM(A1) produces the new string: This is a test. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @TRUE Logical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the value TRUE (1). Syntax @TRUE Remarks This function returns the value 1 (TRUE). The primary purpose of the @TRUE function is to help make logical formulas easier to read. Example =@IF(B4;1>100,@TRUE,@FALSE)=1, if B4;1 is greater than 1. 147 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @UPPER String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Converts all the characters of a text string to uppercase. Syntax @UPPER(string) where string is a string in quotations, or a cell address. The @UPPER function converts all of the characters in string to uppercase. Example If cell A1;1 contains the text "Instruction Manual" =@UPPER(A1;1) = INSTRUCTION MANUAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @VALUE String -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the value that a text string looks like. Syntax @VALUE(string) where string is a string in quotations or a cell address. Remarks This function converts string into a value that can be used in formulas, equations, and other calculations. @VALUE is especially useful for converting mixed fractions (such as stock values) into numerical values. Example If A1 contains the label, "4.34" =@VALUE(A1) = 4.34 =@VALUE("3 1/4") = 3.25 148 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @VAR Statistical -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the variance of a list of values. Syntax @VAR(list) where list is a list of values separated by commas, or a range containing values, or some combination of the two. Remarks This function returns the variance of the values contained in list. The @VAR function measures dispersion, much like the @STD function. In fact, the variance of list is simply the square of its standard deviation. The @VAR function will completely ignore all items in the list which are text or blank. This means that if a text string is in a range in list, you do not have to worry about it being used incorrectly in the calculation. Example =@VAR(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) = 8.25 Similarly, if cells A1;1 to A10;1 contain those values =@VAR(A1;1..A10;1) = 8.25 149 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @VLOOKUP Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Looks up an item in a vertical lookup table. Syntax @VLOOKUP(x,block,col offset,page offset) where block is a block of cells, named or otherwise; and col offset and page offset are numbers, cell addresses, or calculated values; and x is a number, text, cell address, or calculated value. Remarks This function looks up and retrieves a value or text from a vertical lookup table. block is the block of cells which makes up the lookup table. If x is text, @VLOOKUP will compare x with each cell in the left column of block, and if a match is found, will move col offset columns, and page offset pages from that cell, and will return the value in the resulting cell. If x does not match any of the cells in the left column of block, then @VLOOKUP will return the value ERROR. If x is a value instead of text, @VLOOKUP will compare x with each cell in the left column of block until it finds a cell which is greater than or equal to x. This means that the values in the left column of block must be in ascending order for @VLOOKUP to work correctly. If the value in the cell is equal to x, @VLOOKUP will consider it a match. If the cell is greater than x, @VLOOKUP will move up to the previous cell and consider it a match. For example, if the values in the left column of block are 100, 200, 300, and 400, and the value of x is 250, then @VLOOKUP will search until it reaches 300, and will then move back and use the cell containing 200 as the match. When a match is found, @VLOOKUP will move col offset columns, and page offset pages from that cell, and will return the value in the resulting cell. If x is smaller than the first cell in the left column, @VLOOKUP will return the value ERROR. 150 Example 1 A B C D E F 1 1987 Sales 2 3 Jan Feb Mar Apr May 4 Joe 1234 2011 1893 1500 1438 5 Bill 2102 1453 2415 1627 1888 6 David 1845 1739 2194 1999 2003 7 Mike 2340 2112 1693 1429 2236 8 9 @VLOOKUP("Bill",A4;1..F7;1,2,0) will compare the value "Bill" with each cell in the left column of the range A4;1..F7;1 until it finds the match in cell A5;1. It then moves across 2 columns to cell C5;1. Since page offset is 0, @VLOOKUP does not move up to another page. So @VLOOKUP in this case equals 1453 (Bill's February 1987 sales). =@VLOOKUP("Bill",A4;1..F7;4,2,1) = Bill's February 1988 sales from page 2) =@VLOOKUP("Joe",A4;1..F7;1,4,0) = 1500 =@VLOOKUP("Mike",A4;1..F7;1,0,0) = Mike 151 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @YEAR Date/Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns the year of a date number. Syntax @YEAR(date number) where date number is a number, a cell address, or a calculated value. Remarks This function returns the year of date number. For years in the 1900's, the final 2 digits are returned. For the year 2000 @YEAR will return the value 100. Again, the date number is usually supplied by one of the other date functions; this function is used to extract the year from one of those functions. Example CURRENT YEAR @YEAR(@NOW) returns 1980 80 1989 89 1999 99 2000 100 2001 101 2010 110 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@ Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Returns data from a cell through an indirect reference. Syntax @@(cellname) where cellname is a string in quotations or a cell address Remarks This function will return the contents of the cell named cellname. If cellname is a string which looks like a cell address, then @@ will read and return the contents of the cell named cellname. If cellname is a cell reference, then @@ will use the contents of cellname as the name of the cell to retrieve data from. @@ is typically used in macros, where you may need to retrieve the contents of certain cells automatically. Example If cell B5;1 contains the text Overdue and cell A1;1 contains the text 'B5;1, then @@(A1;1) and @@("B5;1") will both return the label Overdue 152 PROQUBE LITE APPLICATIONS ProQube Lite provides a built in programming language which you can use to create any application, from a simple time-saving keystroke repeating routine to a fully customized business application. A ProQube Lite application program simply consists of a text file containing the commands which you would like ProQube Lite to execute. You may give your program files any valid DOS name, but the extension must be .PQM (for example MYPROG.PQM). Your application program can consist of keystroke macros, ProQube Command Language (PCL) commands, or both. Macros A keystroke macro is simply a sequence of keystrokes following the apostrophe character '. When ProQube Lite encounters one of these keystroke sequences in your program, it simply treats the keystrokes as if you typed them in yourself. For example, if you place the line: '/sci2<Enter> into your application program, then ProQube Lite will automatically insert two columns when it executes this line. It does this by first typing the / character (which will bring up the menu), then S (for slice), then C (for column), then I (for insert), then the number 2 (to insert 2 columns), and finally the <Enter> key (to complete the command). Commands The ProQube Command Language (PCL) is a set of instructions which provides flexible I/O capabilities, numerous control structures, file, printer, and DOS access, and more. In fact, you may find that the PCL commands are so versatile that many of your application programs will need few if any keystroke macros. 153 CREATING AN APPLICATION The easiest way to create a keystroke macro is with ProQube Lite's Macro Recorder. To begin recording a macro, you simply press the <^F10> key. You then press the key you want to assign the macro to, and begin typing the keys to record. When you are ready to stop recording, just press the <^F10> key again. Your macro will be stored in a file whose name corresponds to the key you assigned the macro to. For example, a macro assigned to <Ctrl>T would be named CTRLT.PQM. Later, when you press <Ctrl>T, ProQube Lite will look for the application file CTRLT.PQM, and run it if it exists. If it doesn't exist, then an error message will pop up. Applications or keystroke macros can be assigned to just about any key which isn't already defined and used by ProQube Lite. For example, you can't redefine the arrow keys to do something else, but you can assign other keys to do the same thing as the arrow keys. Applications may also be created with a text editor, just as you would write a program in any programming language. ProQube Lite applications are not limited to simple keystroke macros. ProQube Lite supplies a rich programming language which provides flexible I/O capabilities, numerous control structures (IF/THEN/ELSE, FOR/NEXT, REPEAT/UNTIL, WHILE/ENDWHILE, etc), access to DOS commands and external programs, file access commands, and more. These applications can be written using either the simple editor which ProQube Lite provides (/Macro Edit), or outside of ProQube Lite with your own text editor. You may give your application any valid DOS name (the extension must be .PQM), including one of the keystroke names (such as ALTX.PQM). This allows you to run extremely powerful applications at the press of a key. There are a number of advantages to having applications reside in a file rather than in the worksheet itself. - The application can load and save data files without being written over by the incoming worksheet. - You can create large libraries of applications and macros which can be used in any worksheet without having to load the entire library into memory each time. - Large applications can be broken into smaller parts, and only the part which is running needs to be in memory. This means you can create and run applications which would normally require more memory than is available. 154 RUNNING AN APPLICATION Once you have created your application program, you will probably want to run it. There are several ways to run a ProQube Lite application program which you have created. /Macro Run You can run an application program from the menus using the /Macro Run command. You will be asked for the name of the application program to run. If you press <Enter> without entering a name, the ProQube Lite file manager will pop up from which you may select the application from. Keystroke If you have named your application with one of the keystroke names, you can run the application by pressing the key. For example, if the application file is named CTRLX.PQM then pressing <Ctrl>X will run the application. Worksheet You can also give your application the same name as one of your worksheets (except that the extension will be .PQM instead of .PQS). When a new data file (.PQS) is retrieved, ProQube Lite will check for a corresponding application to run. For example, when you retrieve INVOICE.PQS, then ProQube Lite will look for and run the application INVOICE.PQM (if it exists). If an error is encountered when running an application, then an error message will first be displayed. Then, when you press a key to continue, ProQube Lite will load the application into the editor, and place you on the line where the error occurred to allow you to fix the problem. 155 LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION A ProQube Lite application program is one or more lines of text residing in an ASCII file. There are four different types of lines which you can put in your application; comments, labels, macros, and commands. The first character of each line of text determines what type of command that line is. Each line of your application program will begin with one of four different characters, a pound sign (#), an apostrophe ('), a colon (:), or an exclamation mark (!). Comments A line which begins with an exclamation mark (!) is simply a comment. All of the characters on the line after the ! are ignored when ProQube Lite runs the application program. The sole purpose of comments is to make your programs easier to understand when you read them. Example: ! This is a comment This line is ignored when ProQube Lite encounters it in an application program. Labels A line which begins with a colon (:) is a label. A label is simply a string which marks a specific position in the application program. Example: :MyLabel This line does nothing when it is encountered in a ProQube Lite application program. Some ProQube Lite PCL commands (such as #GOTO) use labels as a place to jump to for further processing. Macros A line which begins with an apostrophe (') is a sequence of direct keystrokes (keystroke macro) which you want ProQube Lite to execute. Keystrokes which are printable ASCII characters (letters, numbers, symbols, etc.) are displayed in their printable form. Keystrokes which are NOT printable ASCII characters (such as function keys, Ctrl and Alt key sequences, cursor movement keys, etc.) are displayed as the name of the key enclosed in angle brackets <>. For example, the <Enter> key is displayed as <Enter>. Example: '/cfcn2<Enter> This line causes the current cell to be formatted as currency 156 with 2 decimal places and no commas. This is done because ProQube Lite processes each keystroke in the line just as if you typed it in yourself. The / key is processed, which summons the main menu The C key is processed, which selects the "Cell" option The F key is processed, which selects the "Format" option The C key is processed, which selects the "Currency" option The N key is processed, which selects the "NoComma" option The number "2" is processed, which types 2 in as the number of decimal places The <Enter> causes the <Enter> key to be processed (this is one of the special keys), which enters the number 2 as the number of decimal places. Keystroke macros can even be read from cells. Simply follow the apostrophe with the cell name enclosed in square brackets. For example, if you want the keystrokes to be read from cell B5;3, simply use the line: '[B5;3] Commands A line which begins with a pound sign (#) is a ProQube Command Language (PCL) command. It is these commands which provide the muscle for sophisticated application development. These commands are described in the next section. ProQube Lite makes the assumption that you want to create easy to read and well commented programs. Since ProQube Lite ignores blank lines and leading spaces, you may use indentation to show various levels in your programs. You can also feel free to comment your program as heavily as you like, because ProQube Lite does not load your comments into memory when running an application. 157 SPECIAL KEY NAMES Although the letter, number, and symbol keys can be directly referenced by their character, several keys cannot be referred to using a single character. ProQube Lite gives each of these keys its own name. When one of these keystrokes is encountered in a keystroke macro, the name of the key is surrounded by angle brackets <> so that ProQube Lite can tell it apart from regular characters. When the keystroke is used as the name of an application file, then the angle brackets (and certain other characters are not used because DOS will not allow them. Below is a list of special keystrokes, and the name of the keystrokes when used both in a macro and as a file name. KEY SEQUENCE KEYSTROKE NAME FILE NAME <BkSp> <BkSp> N/A <^BkSp> <^BkSp> N/A <Esc> <Esc> N/A <Enter> <Enter> N/A <Tab> <Tab> N/A <^Alt> - <Ctrl>Z * <CtrlA> - <CtrlZ> CTRLA.PQM-CTRLZ.PQM <Alt>A - <Alt>Z <AltA> - <AltZ> ALTA.PQM-ALTZ.PQM <Home> <Home> N/A <End> <End> N/A <Left> <Left> N/A <Right> <Right> N/A <Up> <Up> N/A <Down> <Down> N/A <PgUp> <PgUp> N/A <PgDn> <PgDn> N/A <Ins> <Ins> N/A <Del> <Del> N/A <F1> - <F10> <F1> - <F10> N/A <Shift><F1> - <Shift><F10> <ShF1> - <ShF10> SHF1.PQM-SHF10.PQM <^F1> - <^F10> <^F1> - <^F10> N/A <Alt><F1> - <Alt><F10> <AltF1> - <AltF10> ALTF1.PQM-ALTF10.PQM <^Left> <^Left> N/A <^Right> <^Right> N/A <^Home> <^Home> N/A <^End> <^End> N/A <^PgUp> <^PgUp> N/A <^PgDn> <^PgDn> N/A * <^H>, <^I>, and <^M> are not available as file names. 158 THE PROQUBE COMMAND LANGUAGE The ProQube Command Language (PCL) is a set of powerful commands which you can use in your application programs to create menus, pop up windows, access files, and even run other programs. Each PCL command is a single word prefixed with the # character (for example #OUTPUT). Most of these PCL commands require additional information on the same line. These additional pieces of information are known as arguments. If you have more than one argument on a line, you must separate them from each other with either a space or a comma. Also, if any of your arguments are text strings which have a space or comma in it, then you must surround the text string with quotes so that ProQube Lite knows to keep the text together. Example The command #OUTPUT (which writes text onto the screen) requires 3 arguments; the column and row on the screen to write to, as well as the text to write, like this: #OUTPUT 5,10 "This is some text" The PCL command is #OUTPUT, and the three arguments are 5, 10, and "This is some text". The arguments for each of the PCL commands is considered by default to be either a constant numeric or text value. There are many times, however, when it is desirable (or necessary) to use the result of a formula instead. ProQube Lite allows you provide a formula for an argument by simply enclosing the argument in square brackets [] (you don't need to add the leading equal sign). Example The format for the #OUTPUT command is: #OUTPUT x,y line By default, ProQube Lite expects something like: #OUTPUT 5,10 "This is some text" This line in an application tells ProQube Lite to write the string This is some text starting in the 5th column and 10th row of the screen. Suppose, however, that you wanted to output the value of cell A1;1 instead of the constant "This is some text". Then you would simply use the line: #OUTPUT 5,10 [A1;1] Or if you wanted to output the contents of cell A1;1 in all upper case you would use: 159 #OUTPUT 5,10 [@upper(A1;1)] This method works just as well for numeric arguments as for text arguments. Suppose you wanted to output the string "This is some text" starting in the 5th column, but you wanted the row to be the value in cell A1;1. You would use: #OUTPUT 5,[A1;1] "This is some text" 160 INPUT/OUTPUT The I/O commands provide a variety of ways to read data from the keyboard, output to the screen and printer. There are also commands to create customized help and error systems. You may also generate delays and audible tones. #BOX Displays a box on the screen. #CLEARBOX Clears the most recent box placed on the screen. #EDIT Displays a prompt and allows editing of a cell's contents. #INPUT Prompts for and accepts input from the keyboard. #KEY Prompts for and reads a keystroke. #MENU Creates and displays a menu on the screen. #MENUITEM Defines an item and its help line for a menu. #OUTPUT Displays text on the screen. #PRINT/#PRINTLN Sends data to your printer. #RESTORE Restores the ProQube Lite screen. #UPDATE Enables or disables screen updating. #WAIT Prompt and wait for a key press. #WINDOW Displays a window on the screen. #WINTEXT Displays text in a window. DATA The data commands allow your application to move to or manipulate data in cells of the worksheet. #ASSIGN Assigns a value to a cell. #DEC Decrements a cell's value. #INC Increments a cell's value. #LOCATE Moves the cell pointer relatively. CONTROL The control commands provide the ability to loop, perform conditional or unconditional branching, and call subroutines. #BREAK Enables/disables breaking out of a program. #CALL Calls a subroutine. #EXIT Ends the application program. #FOR/#NEXT Repeats commands a fixed number of times. #GOTO Branches to another part of the program. #IF/#ELSE/#ENDIF Executes a set of commands if a condition is true. #REPEAT/#UNTIL Repeats some commands until a condition is true. #WHILE/#ENDWHILE Repeats some commands while a condition is true. 161 DEBUGGING The debugging commands allow you to single step, set conditional or unconditional breakpoints, and evaluate and change cells while an application is running. #EDITERR Enables or disables automatic editing of errors. #STEP Enables or disables single stepping. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #ASSIGN Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Assigns a value to a cell. Syntax #ASSIGN cellname value Remarks This command allows you to assign a value to a cell without having to move to it first. cellname can be either a cell address or a named block. value can be either a number or text. Example #ASSIGN B5;3 123.45 #ASSIGN C6;7 "January" #ASSIGN interest .1 #ASSIGN A1;1 [@SIN(A1;1)] 162 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #BOX Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Displays a box on the screen. Syntax #BOX x1,y1,x2,y2 save title Remarks This command displays a box on the screen. The upper left corner of the box is located at screen position x1, y1, and the lower right corner of the box is located at position x2, y2. save determines whether ProQube Lite saves the contents of the screen under the box before displaying it. If save=0, then the screen contents are not saved. If save=1, then the screen contents are saved, and can be restored using the #CLEARBOX command. Saving the screen contents requires extra memory, so if it isn't necessary to restore the contents, it is best to set save to 0. The #RESTORE command will restore the ProQube Lite screen even if it wasn't saved, so you can use #BOX with save=0 to clear the screen to begin your application. See Also #WINDOW, #CLEARBOX, #RESTORE Example #BOX 1,1,80,25 0 "Main Screen" this command clears the screen with the title Main Screen. #BOX 10,10,40,15 1 "Dialog Box" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #BREAK Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Enables/disables breaking out of programs. Syntax #BREAK 0/1 Remarks This command allows you to enable or disable the ability to break out of an application program while it is running by pressing <^F3>. By default, an application will exit when <^F3> is pressed. This command provides the capability to prevent a user from breaking out of your application. It is best to leave breaking enabled when creating your application. Example #BREAK 0 causes your program to ignore <^F3> when it is pressed. #BREAK 1 causes your program to exit when <^F3> is pressed. 163 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #CALL Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Calls a subroutine. Syntax #CALL label / #RETURN Remarks This command causes execution of the program to continue at label. When the #RETURN statement is encountered, the program branches back to the line immediately following the original #CALL command. This command allows you to create program segments which can be called from several places. See Also #GOTO Example #CALL MyLabel #OUTPUT 10,11 "Print this second" #EXIT :MyLabel #OUTPUT 10,10 "Print this first" #RETURN The #CALL statement branches to MyLabel and executes lines until the #RETURN command, then returns back to the line following the #CALL statement. 164 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #CLEARBOX Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Clears the most recent box placed on the screen. Syntax #CLEARBOX Remarks This command clears the last box placed on the screen (by #BOX or #WINDOW) and replaces the data which was under it. This command only has an effect if #BOX or #WINDOW set the save option to 1 (meaning to save the screen contents). See Also #BOX, #WINDOW, #RESTORE Example !This line draws a box on the screen #BOX 10,10,40,15 1 "My Box" !This line clears the box off the screen #CLEARBOX -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #DEC Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Decrements a cell's value. Syntax #DEC cellname x Remarks This command decrements (reduces) the value in cellname by x. If you don't supply x, then a value of 1 is assumed. See Also #INC, #ASSIGN Example #DEC B5;3 6.05 decrements the value in B5;3 by 6.05 #DEC B5;3 decrements the value in B5;3 by 1 165 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #EDIT Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Prompts and allows editing of a cell's contents. Syntax #EDIT x,y cellname len prompt Remarks This command displays prompt at position x,y on the screen, followed by the contents of cellname. You are then allowed to edit the contents of cellname. len is the maximum number of characters which is displayed and which you are allowed to enter or edit. See Also #INPUT Example #EDIT 40,4 a1;1 6 "Invoice #" displays Invoice # at position 40,4 on the screen, followed by the contents of cell A1;1. You will only be allowed to enter 6 characters (or less). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #EDITERR Debugging -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Enables or disables automatic editing of errors. Syntax #EDITERR 0/1 Remarks When ProQube Lite encounters an error in an application, it displays an error message, then calls up the macro in the macro editor. The cursor is placed on the line where the error occurred so that you can fix the problem. There may be times when you do not want ProQube Lite to call up the application for editing. #EDITERR allows you to disable this feature. Example #EDITERR 0 disables automatic error editing #EDITERR 1 enables automatic error editing 166 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #EXIT Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Ends the application program. Syntax #EXIT Remarks This command terminates the current application program. If the current program was called by another program using the #RUN command, then control is returned to the calling program. Example #IF A1;1>0 #EXIT #ENDIF These lines cause an application to exit if the value of cell A1;1 is greater than zero. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #FOR / #NEXT Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Repeat commands a fixed number of times. Syntax #FOR cellname start end step {some commands} #NEXT Remarks This command creates a loop which can perform a set of commands a certain number of times. The value of start is placed in cellname. and as long as the value of cellname does not exceed the value of end, the set of commands between the #FOR and #NEXT command will be executed. Each time the #NEXT command branches back to the #FOR command, the value in cellname will be incremented by step and compared with end. It is also legal for step to be a negative value, in which case the #FOR loop will continue until start is less than end. The value in cellname may be used anywhere within the loop. See Also #REPEAT, #WHILE Example #FOR a1;1 1 10 2 #OUTPUT 1,[a1;1] "Hello World" #NEXT Writes the string "Hello World" on the screen on lines 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. 167 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #GOTO Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Branches to another part of the program. Syntax #GOTO label Remarks This command causes the program to continue execution at the given label. The label may be either before or after the #GOTO, but it must be in the same program file. See Also #CALL Example #GOTO MyLabel #OUTPUT 10,10 "Don't print this" :MyLabel #OUTPUT 10,10 "Print this instead" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #IF / #ELSE / #ENDIF Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Executes a set of commands if a condition is true. Syntax #IF boolean formula {some commands} #ELSE {some commands} #ENDIF Remarks This command evaluates boolean formula, and if it is true, continues executing commands until #ELSE or #ENDIF is reached. All commands between the #ELSE and #ENDIF will be ignored. If boolean formula is false, then the program branches from the #IF to the #ELSE command (if there is one) and executes the commands between #ELSE and #ENDIF. Example #IF a1;1=1 #OUTPUT 10,10 "It's equal to one" #ELSE #OUTPUT 10,10 "It's not equal to one" #ENDIF If the value of cell A1;1 equals one, then the line It's equal to one will be output, otherwise the line It's not equal to one will be output. 168 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #INC Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Increments a cell's value. Syntax #INC cellname x Remarks This command increments (increases) the value of cellname by x. If you do not specify x, then a value of 1 is assumed. See Also #DEC, #ASSIGN Example #INC B5;3 6.05 increments the value in B5;3 by 6.05 #INC B5;3 increments the value in B5;3 by 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #INPUT Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Prompts for and accepts input from the keyboard. Syntax #INPUT x,y cellname len prompt Remarks This command displays prompt at position x,y on the screen. You are then allowed to enter some text which will be entered into cellname. len is the maximum number of characters which you are allowed to enter. See Also #EDIT Example #INPUT 40,4 a1;1 6 "Enter the sales for May " displays Enter the sales for May at position 40,4 on the screen. You will only be allowed to enter 6 characters (or less). Whatever you type will be entered into cell A1;1. 169 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #KEY Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Prompts for and reads a keystroke. Syntax #KEY x,y cellname prompt maskchars Remarks This command displays prompt at position x,y, and waits for you to press a key. The #KEY command will automatically place the keystroke pressed into cellname. The returned keystroke will be a letter, number, or symbol if it is regular ASCII. If it is a special key like a control or alternate sequence, cursor key, or function key, it will be in angle brackets like this: <Enter>, <PgUp>, <F1> or <^S>. maskchars is an optional argument which allows you to force #KEY to accept only certain characters. If you leave maskchars blank, then #KEY will accept any key pressed. If maskchars is a character (or list of characters), then #KEY will only accept those characters (upper and lower case letters are treated as the same character). See Also #WAIT Example #KEY 10,10 a1;1 "Continue?:" y n displays Continue?: at screen position 10,10, waits for y or n to be pressed, and then places the name of the key pressed in cell A1;1. 170 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #LOCATE Data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Moves the cell pointer relatively. Syntax #LOCATE column row page Remarks This command allows you to move the cell pointer by several rows, columns, and pages at a time. This saves having to use multiple <Up>'s, etc. column is the number of columns you want to move to the right, row is the number of rows you want to move down, and page is the number of pages you want to move in. You may set row, column, or page to a negative value to move in the opposite direction, or to 0 if you don't want to move either direction. Example #LOCATE 1 -2 3 moves the cell pointer right 1 column, up 2 rows, and in 3 pages. #LOCATE 0 20 0 moves the cell pointer down 20 rows. 171 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #MENU Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Creates and displays a menu on the screen. Syntax #MENU x,y cellname helpline title Remarks This command (along with the #MENUITEM command) allows you to create and display customized menus from your application programs. The menu will be placed on the screen at position x,y, and title will be placed at the top of the menu. Each item to be displayed in the menu are defined by #MENUITEM commands following the #MENU command. The help line for each item will be placed on the screen on line number helpline. When the user selects an item from the menu, ProQube Lite will enter the item number into cellname. For example, if the user selects the 3rd item from the menu, ProQube Lite will enter the value 3 into cellname. If the user escapes from the menu by pressing the <Esc> key, ProQube Lite will enter the value 0 into cellname. See Also #HMENU, #MENUITEM Example #MENU 20,10 A1;1 1 "My Menu" #MENUITEM "Add" "Add a record" #MENUITEM "Delete" "Delete a record" #MENUITEM "Quit" "Exit from menu" These lines create and display a menu with 3 items; Add, Delete, and Quit. If Delete is selected, then the value 2 is entered into cell A1;1. 172 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #MENUITEM Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Defines an item and its help line in a menu. Syntax #MENUITEM item help Remarks This command defines one of the items in a menu. item and help are both text strings enclosed in quotes. item and help can also be cell references or text formulas enclosed in square brackets to allow you to build menu selection items on the fly. See Also #HMENU, #MENU Example #MENU 40,4 A1;1 1 "Title" #MENUITEM "Add" "Add a record" #MENUITEM "Delete" [A2;1] #MENUITEM [A3;1] "Modify a record" #MENUITEM [A4;1] [A5;1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #OUTPUT Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Displays text on the screen. Syntax #OUTPUT x,y line Remarks This command allows your application program to write text to the screen. #OUTPUT will display line at column x and row y on the screen. x must be in the range 1 to 80, and y must be in the range 1 to 25. Example #OUTPUT 40,4 "Hi there" #OUTPUT 40,4 [A1;1] #OUTPUT [A2;3],10 "Another line" 173 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #PRINT / #PRINTLN Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Sends data to your printer. Syntax #PRINT line #PRINTLN line Remarks These two commands allow your program to send line to your printer. The only difference between the #PRINT and #PRINTLN commands is that the #PRINTLN command sends a CR/LF command to the printer after it has sent line. This means that you can use #PRINT several times in a row to print data on the same line. If you want to just send a blank line to the printer, you can simply use the command #PRINTLN without any argument. If you want to print numbers, they must be converted to a string first. The best way to do this is with the @FORMAT function, which allows you to format the number in any of ProQube Lite's formats. Example #PRINT "Hi there" #PRINT [A1;1] #PRINTLN "Hi there" #PRINTLN [A1;1] #PRINT [@FORMAT(A1;1,2,3)] 174 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #REPEAT / #UNTIL Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Repeat some commands until a condition exists. Syntax #REPEAT {some commands} #UNTIL boolean formula Remarks This command repeats a command or set of commands until a condition becomes true. ProQube Lite executes the commands after the #REPEAT until the #UNTIL command is reached. ProQube Lite then evaluates boolean formula, and branches back to the #REPEAT command if it is false. boolean formula may be any legal ProQube Lite formula which returns a TRUE or FALSE value. See Also #FOR, #WHILE Example #REPEAT #INC a1;1 #UNTIL a1;1>30 The contents of cell A1;1 is incremented until the contents of A1;1 is greater than 30. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #RESTORE Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Restores the ProQube Lite screen. Syntax #RESTORE Remarks This command erases all boxes and restores the ProQube Lite screen. This command should be used by all application programs before exiting. See Also #WINDOW, #BOX Example #BOX 1,1,80,25 0 "Main Title" #WAIT 10,10 "Press any key to continue" #RESTORE These lines draw a full screen box, wait for you to press a key, then restores the ProQube Lite screen. 175 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #STEP Debugging -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Enables or disables single stepping. Syntax #STEP 0/1 Remarks This single command allows you to single step through an application, set conditional breakpoints, and inspect and edit cells while your application is running. When the command #STEP 1 is encountered in a program, single stepping is enabled. When you are in single step mode, the bottom line of the screen will display the prompt "SS:", along with the next line of the application to be executed. You must press a key (the space bar is good for this) to execute each line of the program. This allows you to view the operation of your program one line at a time rather than have it whiz through at breakneck speed. At any point while you are single stepping through your application you may press <^F2>. This key will bring up a menu of options which allow you to view or change values of cells which your application might be using. When the command #STEP 0 is encountered in a program, single stepping is disabled and execution of the program will continue normally. Since single stepping can be turned on or off at any point in your program, #STEP can be used to set breakpoints in your application. Simply put a #STEP 1 command at any point of your program where you want to break from your program. If you want to set a conditional break point (where the program will stop only when a certain condition exists), then use a formula argument for #STEP instead of just 1. Example #STEP 1 turns on single stepping at any point in the program. #STEP [A5;1>3] turns on single stepping only if the value in A5;1 is greater than 3. 176 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #UPDATE Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Enables or disables screen updating. Syntax #UPDATE 0/1 Remarks This command toggles ProQube Lite screen updating on and off. This command is useful to keep screen updating from overwriting boxes and windows which your application has placed on screen. #UPDATE 0 disables screen updating, and #UPDATE 1 enables screen updating. #UPDATE can be used at any point in the application to turn updating on or off. Example #UPDATE 0 disables screen updating. #UPDATE [A1;1>1] enables screen updating if A1;1 is greater than one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #WAIT Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Prompt and wait for a key press. Syntax #WAIT x,y prompt Remarks This command displays prompt at screen position x,y, and then waits for you to press a key. This command is similar to the #KEY command, except that the keystroke is not saved for processing. See Also #KEY Example #WAIT 10,10 "Press a key to continue" displays Press a key to continue and waits for you to press a key. 177 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #WHILE / #ENDWHILE Control -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Repeat some commands while a condition exists. Syntax #WHILE boolean formula {some commands} #ENDWHILE Remarks This command repeat a command or set of commands as long as boolean formula is TRUE. If boolean formula is FALSE when the #WHILE is first reached, the commands will not be executed at all. The #ENDWHILE command will cause execution to branch back to #WHILE so that boolean formula may be tested again. See Also #FOR, #REPEAT Example #WHILE a1;1<10 #INC a1;1 1.3 #ENDWHILE While the value in cell a1;1 is less than 10, ProQube Lite will increment the value of cell a1;1 by 1.3. 178 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #WINDOW Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Displays a window on the screen. Syntax #WINDOW x1,y1 save title Remarks This command is a special version of the #BOX command. This command, along with the #WINTEXT command, allows you to easily create text windows without having to calculate how wide and tall the box should be, or what screen coordinates to use to display text in the box. This command displays a box on the screen. The upper left corner of the box is located at screen position x1,y1, and the position of the lower right corner of the box is calculated by ProQube Lite based on the number and length of the following #WINTEXT commands. save determines whether ProQube Lite saves the contents of the screen under the box before displaying it. If save equals 0, then the screen contents are not saved. If save equals 1, then the screen contents are saved, and can be restored using the #CLEARBOX command. See Also #WINTEXT, #BOX, #CLEARBOX, #RESTORE Example #WINDOW 10,5 1 "My Window" #WINTEXT "Here is some text" #WINTEXT ["Name: "+a1;1] #WINTEXT "Some more text" These lines will create a box with the title My Window at position 10,5 on the screen. The box will be large enough to hold 3 lines of text, and wide enough to hold the widest of the 3 lines. 179 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #WINTEXT Input/Output -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Function Displays text in a window. Syntax #WINTEXT line Remarks This command displays line in the currently defined window. #WINDOW will automatically adjust the size of the window to hold the width of line. See Also #WINDOW Example #WINDOW 10,5 1 "My Window" #WINTEXT "Here is some text" #WINTEXT ["Name: "+a1;1] #WINTEXT "Some more text" These lines will create a box with the title My Window at position 10,5 on the screen. The box will be large enough to hold 3 lines of text, and wide enough to hold the widest of the 3 lines. 180 APPENDIX A SUPPLEMENT PROGRAMS ProQube Lite provides a QubeCalc conversion program, and a setup program which allows you to customize ProQube Lite's appearance and functionality. QUBECALC CONVERSION PROGRAM ProQube Lite provides a conversion program to translate your QubeCalc data files into the ProQube Lite format. To run the conversion program, type: CONVERT filename<Enter> at the DOS prompt, where filename is the name of the QubeCalc file you want converted. The convert program will read the QubeCalc file into memory, and write a ProQube Lite file back out to disk (your original QubeCalc file is not modified in any way). The convert program will create the ProQube file in the same directory that the QubeCalc file is in, so you may want to copy the QubeCalc files into your ProQube Lite directory before running the convert program. Since QubeCalc and ProQube Lite are not just different versions of the same program, there are several limitations to the conversion which this program can do: 1) The @cell, @index, and @cgr functions in QubeCalc do not work exactly the same way in ProQube Lite. When one of these @functions is encountered during the conversion, a message is displayed that the convert program could not translate that formula. You need to reenter these particular formulas in by hand in ProQube Lite. 2) Linking to other spreadsheets on disk is performed differently in ProQube Lite than it was in QubeCalc. If your QubeCalc worksheets use the /Block Link command, then you need to re-establish those links in ProQube Lite using the /File Link command. 3) Column widths are not transfered in the conversion. 181 THE SETUP PROGRAM ProQube Lite includes a setup program which allows you to customize the functionality and appearance of ProQube Lite on your system. To run the setup program, simply type: SETUP<Enter> at the DOS prompt. The setup program will display the following menu at the top of the screen: Colors Defaults Update Quit Colors This option allows you to select which colors ProQube Lite should use for the different parts of the display. When you select this option you will see a menu listing the various parts of the screen which may be changed, as well as a sample display showing the current colors. You may then select an item you want to change the color of (for example, the axes and cell pointer). A window will pop up which displays all of the colors available. You select the color you want by moving the cursor to that color with the arrow keys and pressing <Enter>. The sample display will be updated to show the new color you just selected. When you are satisfied with the screen colors, simply press <Esc> to return to the main menu. Make sure you use the Update command from the main menu to make your changes permanent. Defaults This option allows you to set various options which affect how ProQube Lite operates. All full screen menu will appear which shows the options as well as their current values. You can select an item to modify by pressing the first letter of the item, or by highlighting the item using the <Up> and <Down> key and pressing <Enter>. 43 Row Mode This option allows ProQube Lite to start up in 43 line mode if you have an EGA or VGA card. Insert Mode This option allows you to set ProQube Lite to default to either insert mode or overwrite mode. Black & White Setting this option to YES causes ProQube Lite to use black and white whether a color card is detected or not. This is useful when your system has a color card but a monochrome monitor. This particular combination of hardware often causes problems with colors 182 which are not visible on screen. Menu Style This option allows you to select whether ProQube Lite uses BackTrack menus or Lotus style menus. With BackTrack menus, the previous menu levels remain on screen so that you can see how you got to the current menu level. Lotus style menus write over previous menu levels. Currency/Number This option allows you to select the format to use for numbers and currency. Normally ProQube Lite uses a period for the decimal point, and a comma as the separator between thousands, millions, etc. Many countries use these characters in the opposite manner. If you choose to use the comma for the decimal point, then you must use the colon to separate arguments in @functions. This option also allows you to select which character (or characters) to use for your currency symbol. You may replace the $ symbol with any other available symbol. You may also set the currency symbol to follow (suffix) the value rather than prefix the value. Page changing This option allows to to swap the functions of the <PgUp>/<PgDn> keys with those of the <^PgUp> / <^PgDn> keys. By default ProQube Lite uses <PgUp> and <PgDn> to move from page to page within the 3D worksheet, and <^PgUp> and <^PgDn> to move up and down one screen of data. Update This option updates ProQube Lite's configuration file PQLITE.CFG with the changes you have made from the Colors and Defaults menus, and then exits from the setup program. Quit This option allows you to exit from the setup program without updating ProQube Lite's configuration file PQLITE.CFG. This command should be used when you want to ignore changes you have just made to the defaults or colors. 183 APPENDIX B DESIGN HINTS There are a number of considerations when designing a 3 dimensional spreadsheet, such as page layout and memory usage. Page Layout It may take a little practice to get the hang of creating 3D spreadsheets which look elegant from any perspective. Here are a few hints to help make things go a little bit smoother. Although ProQube Lite will allow each page in the WorkQube to be completely different, your template should be consistent from page to page if you want to rotate your worksheet. For example, if January 1985 data is in column D in one page, January data for other years should also be in column D in their respective pages. And if Joe's sales in one time period are in row 25 in one page, his sales in other time periods should be in row 25 in the other pages. This will ensure that similar data will be together when the WorkQube is viewed from other perspectives. You will also want to leave the first couple of pages in the front face available for use as row headings in the right face. Memory Usage ProQube Lite's memory allocation scheme is optimized for 3 dimensional data. This means that you will be able to enter less data into a single large page than into a number of smaller pages. The more cubic the structure of your worksheet (rows = columns = pages), the more cells you will be able to fill with data. For example, if you find yourself running out of memory with a one page worksheet which is 10 columns by 500 rows, breaking your worksheet into ten 10 column by 50 row pages will solve your problem (and give you memory to spare). 184 INDEX @functions 93 1-2-3 71, 73 Absolute cell reference 15 Addition 12 Anchor 16 And 12 Application 153 breaking from 41, 163 debugging 40, 166, 176 editor 34, 89 running 91, 155 Arguments 93, 159 Arrow keys 8 ASCII 71, 74 Asterisk 22, 25 Back 28, 61 Block name 14, 16, 39, 51 Blocks, defining 16 Borders 77, 78 Bottom 28 Branching commands 161 Break point 176 CALC 63 Cell 4, 15 Cell pointer 8 CIRC 14 Circular reference 14 Colors 182 Column width 5, 25, 44, 48, 59 Combining files 68 Comma 23 Commands 43 Comparison 12 Configuration 182 Consolidation 26, 75 Converting QubeCalc files 181 Copying blocks 50 cell 46 columns 54 pages 58 rows 56 Currency format 23 Customize 182 Cut 35 Data entry 10, 42 Data functions 97 Date entry 24 Date formats 24 Date functions 96 185 DBase 71, 73 Decimal places 23 Defaults 182 Defining blocks 16 Deleting columns 53 pages 57 rows 55 DIF 71, 74 Directory 22, 65 Division 12 Dollar format 23 Editing 11, 38 Editor 34 EGA 42 End key 8 Erasing blocks 49 cells 45 columns 53 pages 57 rows 55 worksheet 60 Exiting 92 Exponentiation 12 Exporting 1-2-3 73 ASCII 74 dBase 73 DIF 74 Extract 70 Faces 28, 61 File Manager 22, 64, 66 Financial functions 95 Fixed format 23 Fonts 83 Footer 81 Formatting cells 23, 44, 48, 59 Formulas 12, 26 Front 28, 61 Function keys 38 Functions 93 General format 23 GoTo 39 Header 81 Help 7, 38 Hidden cells 25 columns 44 Highlighting blocks 16 Importing 1-2-3 71 186 ASCII 71 dBase 71 DIF 71 Info 40 Inserting columns 53 pages 57 rows 55 Installing ProQube Lite 2 Justify 10 Left 28, 61 Linking 26, 75 Locking cells 62 titles 61 Logical functions 96 Lookup tables 115, 150 Looping commands 161 Lotus 71, 73 Macro 153 breaking from 41, 163 debugging 40, 166, 176 editor 34, 89 recorder 33, 42 running 91, 155 Margins 80, 85 Mark 41 Mask 22, 41, 66 Math functions 93 Memory 42, 184 Menu 43 Mouse 7, 9, 19, 38 Movement 8 Moving blocks 50 cell 46 columns 54 pages 58 rows 56 Multiplication 12 Named blocks 51 Not 12 Numbers 10 Operating system 92 Operators 12 Or 12 Page 4, 26, 28 Page number 81, 82 Paste 35 PCL 153, 159 Percent format 24 187 Perspective 28 Point mode 13 PQLITE.CFG 183 Precedence 13 Printing text 32, 77-82, 85 Programming 159 ProQube Command Language 153, 159 Protection 47, 52, 62 QubeCalc 181 Quitting 92 REC 33, 42 Recalculation 63 Recording macros 33, 42 References 15 Relative cell reference 15 Replaying macros 33 Retrieving files 64, 68 Right 28, 61 Rotating 28, 61 Saving files 64, 70 Scientific format 24 Search & replace 39 Setup strings 47, 52, 62, 83 Shell to DOS 92 Single step 176 Sort 86 Statistical functions 94 Status 42 String functions 97 Subroutines 161 Subtraction 12 Text 10 Text editor 34 Text functions 97 Time formats 24 Time functions 96 Title locking 61 ToMark 41 Top 28, 61 Transpose 31 Trigonometry functions 94 Under 28, 61 VGA 42 Views 28, 61 Window 179 WK1 71, 73 WKS 71, 73 WorkQube 4, 5 Xtract 70 Zero suppression 63 188