CREATING A SPREADSHEET
Creating a spreadsheet is done from an Information Center in several stages; you will first select create
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spreadsheet from its middle mouse button popup menu. Immediately, an "Add Spreadsheet" Q-Boxappears, into which you will key in the spreadsheet's name, any key words, and so on. After selecting accept, the new spreadsheet name will appear in the same Information Center from which it was created.
Now you must select the spreadsheet name with the left mouse button and select open from the middle mouse button popup. The resulting Q-Box, called "Enter Spreadsheet Dimensions," has a default of 5 horizontal rows and 3 vertical columns; you may keep or change either number.
Selecting accept from the Q-Box will cause the Origin cursor to appear, with which you can now frame and open the newly-made spreadsheet window.
Golden Tiger Reference Manual Section !II: The Spreadsheet
WHAT MAKES A SPREADSHEET
You will notice several things about a spreadsheet:
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There is a set of four arrows in the upper left comer. This is the scroll button.155
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There is a sequential set of numbers with heavy boundaries on the top and left sides. These are the row and column indices.*
There are the cells (which are probably blank at this point) immediately under and to the right of the index bars.*
Under the cells there are a trio of boxes that are set at the default words "value," "absolute," and "auto update."- The one with "value" in it is the value/rule button.
- The one with "absolute" in it is the address mode button.
- The one with the phrase "auto update" in it is the update mode button.
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Finally, at the very bottom, there's a long bar that says "nil" in it This is the command bar. Each of these attributes is discussed next:The Scroll Button
The scroll button is used to get a scrolling map onto the screen. When you click the mouse in the arrowhead area, a rectangle will appear to the left side of the window. This is the scrolling map. It will probably be white in the beginning, but as you enter data into the spreadsheet, areas of it will become black or gray to signify that there is data in the sheet This rectangle is a one-fifteenth scale map of how the entire sheet looks.
There will also be a light gray area that shows what part of the entire sheet you are seeing right now. To make the scrolling map disappear, click in the center or outside of it.
The Rowand Column Indices
These areas are used mainly for changing the shape of a given row or column of cells. Cells can be made very tall, wide, or small. The means to do this are discussed in the "Changing Row/Column Size" section.
The indices give you a convenient reference to where you are in the sheet They start at Row 1 and Column 1, and grow larger numerically as you go towards the right and the bottom.
The Cells
This is where most things happen in a spreadsheet, as you point at cells and change their rules and values.
This is also where you can copy, cut, and paste cells and rules from one place to another. The cell popup menu is described in "The Cell Menu" section.
Cells can contain almost any object, from simple numbers to charts, graphs, vectors, and matrices. Entire personal databases can be kept in cells, allowing you to both query and analyze them from within a spreadsheet
The Rule/Value Button
This area is a button that toggles back and forth between the words "rule" and "value" each time you click the left mouse button.
Every cell has two parts: a value (the information it ho~ds), and a rule (how it relates to other cells). The rule/value button lets you tell the spreadsheet which part to show you in the command bar. Since all changes are made through the command bar, this button also tells the sheet which part of the cell you are trying to change--the rule or the value.
Goiden Tiger Reference Manual Section III: The Spreadsheet
The Address Mode Button
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This is a simple area to deal with. but it controls a function that can be difficult to grasp at first To start, this area is a button that toggles back and forth. between the words "absolute" and "relative" each time you click the left mouse button.
To better understand the address mode button, you will need to read about what cell rules are, and how the cells refer to each other. Basically, cells can talk about one another in two different ways; that is, "absolute"
and "relative." This button tells the system which way to do it when it is asked to name ... a cell.
The Update Mode Button
The update mode tells the system whether you want everything to update as soon as any value is entered.
This is handy. since the Golden Tiger software cannot update everything on a spreadsheet instantly, especially if it is complicated. It is an advantage to be able to save all your updates until you have made the desired changes in your spreadsheet
The update mode button toggles the state of the system between "auto update" and "no updates." If the system is currently on "no updates," it will save information until you set the system back to "auto update,"
then it will update everything at that point.
The Command Bar
The command bar gives a helping hand to the cells, letting you edit the value or rule of the cell you have selected. It is very much like a typical text window in that you can do all of the usual text editing things with the middle mouse button popup menu, which consists of the following options:
back in.
Again
Repeats the last replace, copy, or cut edits that you do.
Undo
Reverses the effects of the last command. For instance, if you have deleted text, undo will put it Copy
Puts a copy of the current selected text into the copy buffer.
Cut
Deletes the current selected text and puts it into the copy buffer.
Paste
Places, at the insertion mark, whatever information is currently in the copy buffer.
Accept
Puts the value or rule into the cell, depending upon how the RulelV alue button is currently set Cancel
Sets the contents of the window to where they were after the last accept was used.
USING THE SPREADSHEET
After learning the basic terms associated with a spreadsheet, the next step is to become familiar with its workings.
Golden Tiger Reference Manual Section III: The Spreadsheet SELECTING A CELL
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One of the most basic things to know is how to select a cell or group of cells. You must first select an individual cell or a group before you can do anything to it, such as adding values or rules, or moving it around.
To select a single cell, place the mouse within the cell and click the left button. The cell will tum from gray to a darker gray to signify that it has been selected. In the command bar below, the word "nil" will appear (if the cell was empty), or some value will appear (if the cell had contents).
You can also select a group (a rectangular block) of cells. To do this, find the upper left comer of the group to be selected, press the left mouse button, and drag the cursor to the bottom right comer before you release the mouse button. It's much like framing a window, but instead you're framing a group. You may also select a group vertically from top to bottom.
THE CELL MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON MENU
The ,cell popup menu is a collection of useful things to do to cells. Its operation is very similar to other system middle mouse button menus:
aear
Sets the contents to "nil" and blanks the rule for every selected cell.
Update
Tells a selected cell to evaluate its rule and display the result Copy Cut Paste
You probably noticed the familiar coPy, cut, and paste in the cell menu.
These menu items work the way they do in other areas of Golden Tiger software;
however, there are a few differences when they are used with spreadsheets:
You may copy or cut groups of cells, as well as single cells. The main differences apply to pasting cells.
If you copy a single cell and paste to a selected group of cells, the cell will be duplicated in each. If you copy a group of cells and paste them into a smaller group, then the selected first group will be "clipped." If the second group is larger than the selected group, no cells will be clipped, and the cells left over will be unaffected.
If you copy a group and paste it into a single cell, the single cell will be set to the cell at the top left comer of the copied group.
Copy IPaste rule