LDW POWER SPREADSHEET Version 1.1 Update Version 1.1 of the LDW POWER Spreadsheet contains several changes and improvements over version 1.03 and previous versions. The main changes were directed at improving the compatibility between LDW POWER and Lotus 1-2-3, especially in the area of macros. I. CONTENTS OF THE DISKETTES Version 1.1 of LDW POWER is provided on the two DOUBLE SIDED, non copy-protected diskettes. If you have only a single-sided drive, please contact our Customer Support department, tel: (408) 435-1445. 1. The PROGRAM diskette contains the following folders and files: - folder AUTO - GDOS.PRG - GDOS program - folder GDOS.FNT - FX80.SYS - driver for Epson 9-pin dot-matrix printer - fonts for the Epson printer - META.SYS - metafile driver - fonts for metafiles - ASSIGN.SYS - contains names of drivers and fonts stored in GDOS.FNT - ASSIGN.SMM - contains names of drivers and fonts for the SMM804 printer and metafiles - ASSIGN.NB - contains names of drivers and fonts for the STAR NB15 printer and metafiles - LDW.HLP - contains help messages displayed when HELP function is invoked - LDWPOWER.PRG - LDW POWER main program - READ.ME - the file you are reading now - LDWSIDEW.DOC - document on how to use the LDWSIDEW program 2. The UTILITIES diskette contains the following folders: - folder EXAMPLES - contains samples of worksheets - folder LDWCNVRT - contains the conversion program and accessory to convert LDW POWER files into 1-2-3 formats; to install LDWCNVRT.ACC, copy this file into the root directory of your boot disk - folder LDWSIDEW - contains the program for sideways printing of ASCII file - folder NBFONTS - contains the driver and fonts for STAR NB15 printer - folder SMMFONTS - contains the driver and fonts for SMM804 printer II. CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN VERSION 1.1 1. Some enhancements in the processing of 1-2-3 files have been implemented. For example, commands from the FILE COMBINE root (COPY, ADD, SUBTRACT - ENTIRE FILE, NAMED/SPECIFIED RANGE) now work properly (they worked as FILE RETRIEVE in 1.03). Also, if the screen has been split under 1-2-3, two windows will appear when the file is loaded into LDW POWER (always one window in 1.03). The placement of the windows depends on the way, in which the screen was split under 1-2-3 (horizontally or vertically). 2. There are two macro execution modes: LDW POWER mode and 1-2-3 mode. They are selected using the WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT OTHER MACRO LDW_POWER-MODE (1-2-3-MODE) command. The differences are: a) In the 1-2-3 mode, the WORKSHEET WINDOW menu is different: HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL, SYNC, UNSYNC, CLEAR, (vs. OPEN, CLOSE, VIEW, GRID, and TOP in the LDW POWER mode). These commands are not fully executed but some effects are emulated. The HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL commands open window B. Cursor position in both windows changes, as it would in 1-2-3. The CLEAR command closes window B. SYNC causes no synchronic window scrolling, but, after {Window} has been encountered in a macro, the cursor goes where it should. UNSYNC is the normal mode. b) The commands WORKSHEET COLUMN SET-WIDTH, WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT PRINTER SETUP, and PRINT PRINTER (or FILE) OPTIONS SETUP have only 1 parameter in 1-2-3 mode (vs. 2, 5 and 5 in LDW POWER mode). c) The keyname {Window} is recognized and processed in 1-2-3 mode (it is ignored in LDW POWER mode). The cursor moves to window B, if A was active, or to window A, if B was active. All above commands work only on windows A and B (1-2-3 allows the screen to be split into only 2 parts. They are named window A and window B after a 1-2-3 file is retrieved). d) In the 1-2-3 mode, when you press RETURN to confirm a cell entry, the cell cursor will remain on the current cell and will not automatically move. 3. Other changes are related to the compatibility of 1-2-3 macros (some of those changes may affect compatibility with LDW POWER v.1.00 - 1.03): a) Parameters of FILE eXTRACT FORMULAS (VALUES) are reversed. b) Expressions of the type: numeric argument numeric operator string argument do not necessarily give an ERR value. "String argument" has the value 0 in this case. c) The keyname {Compose} is recognized and ignored (in both macro execution modes). d) After the /ri (RANGE INPUT) command is executed in a macro, the user input mode is entered automatically. e) Macro \0 is invoked after loading a 1-2-3 file. f) The last used file extension is stored (separately for worksheet, graph and print files) and used in subsequent file operations. g) After the /gv (GRAPH VIEW) or {Graph} commands are issued in a macro, macro execution stops, until the user presses a key or a mouse button (left or right). h) DATA QUERY DELETE can be executed in a macro. A menu (CANCEL, DELETE) appears instead of an alert box. i) A left brace ("{") can appear in a macro ({{}). j) When creating a backup file, an extension .BAK is used, not .LD. k) Pressing RETURN in EDIT mode, if the edited line is empty, does not erase the current cell. l) The column width can be changed from 1 to 126 (vs. 2 to 72 in 1.03). m) In FILE SAVE and FILE eXTRACT, a "P" following the file name causes a prompt for a password to appear. A password protec- ted file is stored. (Consistent with 1-2-3. This feature is available only in macros). n) The recalculation mode is not changed to manual after starting macro execution. o) In the /XIcondition~ macro command, values ERR and NA of the condition are equivalent to 1. The macro does not stop with an error message in this case. p) A /X command can be invoked from MENU mode (it cancels the menu selection and causes a return to READY mode - it is consistent with 1-2-3). q) /XR (return from subroutine) command, if there was no /XC (call subroutine), works as /XQ (Quit). No error message appears. r) Any error (except for CANNOT FIND HELP FILE and READ ERROR ON HELP FILE) terminates the macro execution. s) Range names can start with characters other than letters (for example with a number). t) The way of entering numeric command parameters (and some string parameters) is consistent with 1-2-3. Pressing a key different than RETURN cancels the default. u) After retrieving a worksheet with name extension .WKS or .WK1, the default extension for imported or printed ASCII files is .PRN. v) RANGE INPUT works independently from the global protection of the worksheet. 4. Other changes in version 1.1: a) The limit on data points in graphs is now about 32,767 (vs. about 128 in 1.03). b) LDWSIDEW supports all characters (from space up to code 255; only up to code 127 in previous version). c) After a range name has been redefined (assigned to another cell or range), all formulas are updated appropriately. d) The INSERT key activates the END button in READY and POINT mode. e) If the printer is not connected or off-line, a message: PRINTER NOT READY, with CANCEL and RETRY buttons, appears (it did not in 1.03). f) Print options FORMATTED, UNFORMATTED, AS DISPLAYED and CELL FORMULA affect other options (margins, borders, setup string, control codes etc.) in a way consistent with 1-2-3. g) The way of specifying print borders is consistent with 1-2-3 h) Control strings for select/cancel, bold/underlined, and the current macro execution mode are listed in the DEFAULT STATUS window. i) WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT parameters are not stored in worksheet files, but are found only in the LDW.CNF file (consistent with 1-2-3). j) BACKUP option in GRAPH SAVE METAFILE. k) In the CANCEL-REPLACE-BACKUP alert REPLACE is the default (not CANCEL). l) Macro \0 appears (and can be selected) in the window displayed after mACRO PLAY. m) mACRO RECORD and mACRO ABORT are separate commands. n) Version 1.1 is compatible with German and French keyboards. o) When importing 1-2-3 files, character codes are converted from LICS/ASCII to the extended ASCII character set used on the ATARI ST. (This affects characters with codes greater than 127). LDWCNVRT converts the extended ASCII set back into the 1-2-3 compatible LICS/ASCII set. p) LDW POWER v.1.1 can work with MEGAVISION (French monitor with big screen). q) A new command, GRAPH SAVE dEGAS, allows you to save a graph in DEGAS Elite (graphics and drawing program) formats. 5. New error messages in version 1.1: TOO MANY HIDDEN COLUMNS instead of CANNOT HIDE ALL COLUMNS. UNRECOGNIZED KEYNAME IN MACRO Version 1.03 passed mistyped key names as a string of characters and proceeded, v.1.1 displays an error message and stops the macro (as 1-2-3 does). PROTECTED DISK In 1.03 "Drive not ready" appeared. WRITE ERROR OR DISK FULL instead of "Write error". In addition, the unusable file is being deleted. III. MAIN CHANGES IN VERSION 1.03 1. The WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT PRINETR FFEED command is used to control whether LDW POWER sends a form feed to the printer while exiting the print menu. This command is useful, when using the laser printer, to flush any pages that do not measure a full page in length. Like other GLOBAL DEFAULT commands, you can save this setting by using the WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT UPDATE command. You may check the status of this setting by using the WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT STATUS command. For the current session in LDW POWER, you may change the form feed setting using the PRINT OPTION AUTO-FFEED commmand. 2. When you access a file within a macro, you can include its name in the macro and the file selector will not appear on the screen. IV. INSTALLING GDOS In order to print/save graphs, you have to install GDOS pro- viding all information about drivers and fonts in the ASCII file named ASSIGN.SYS (located in the root directory). On the PROGRAM DISK you will find the AUTO folder containing GDOS v. 1.1, and the file ASSIGN.SYS containing the following information: - the path defining the directory where all the fonts and drivers are located; the current directory indicates A:\GDOS.FNT. If you want to load the drivers and fonts from other drives (eg. drive C:), you have to change this line using any text editor that can edit a standard text (ASCII) file, - four names of screen drivers (located permanently in ROM), - the name of the printer driver (fx80.sys) and the names of its fonts, - the name of the metafile driver (meta.sys) and the names of its fonts. Font files and device drivers must be located in the directory indicated by the path statement. When you attempt to save or print the graph and the system cannot find this directory, you will get a message: "Cannot open workstation". To check how GDOS works, perform the following steps: - boot your ATARI ST computer with the PROGRAM DISK in drive A: (in order to install GDOS), - load LDWPOWER.PRG along with your spreadsheet, - print or save your graph. On the PROGRAM DISK you will also find ASSIGN.NB and ASSIGN.SMM files that contain names of drivers and fonts for STAR NB15 and ATARI SMM804 printers, respectively. If you want to use one of these printers, rename the appropriate file to ASSIGN.SYS, copy all files from SMMFONTS or NBFONTS folders (UTILITIES DISK) into GDOS.FNT folder, and boot the PROGRAM DISK from drive A:. V. WORKING WITH ATARI SLM804 LASER PRINTER 1. Steps required to get output from LDW POWER to the SLM804 printer: - Install the printer emulator supplied with the SLM804 (DIAB630). - Install the proper fonts (i.e., if you want to print in bold type, the bold type of the main font must be present in slot #2; see Printer Emulator Manual page 30). - Change the printer control codes in the worksheet using the WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT PRINTER SETUP command: \027\079 for bold \027\038 for cancel bold \027\069 for underlined \027\082 for cancel underlined - Choose the WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT UPDATE command to save selected codes on disk for future use. 2. Due to the specifics of the laser printer, the actual printing process starts after completion of the whole page. To flush the page use one of the following methods: a) If only one font is used, be sure that the page length is set to 66 lines, and use the PRINT PAGE command. b) Add a final row to the print range, and in the first column of that final row, enter the following control code: ||\012. c) Activate the automatic form feed option using the WORKSHEET GLOBAL DEFAULT PRINTER FFEED or PRINTER OPTION AUTO-FFEED (for the current session) commands. When active, this option automatically sends a form feed to the printer when you exit the print menu. The PRINTER PAGE command issues only a certain number of line feed characters and not a form feed character, so if your printer is not aligned, this command will not help. It is necessary to use method b or c. VI. APPENDICES 1. How to create a new range/macro name. During execution of the RANGE NAME CREATE and MACRO END commands, you will be asked for the range or macro name (the macro name is in effect a range name). If there is no range name in your current worksheet, LDWPOWER displays a prompt in the input line. If there is at least one range in your worksheet, the program displays all range names to choose from. (If there are more than four names, use the right and left cursor keys to scroll the list.) If you want to enter a new name, just press the first character from the name. The program will display the prompt line. 2. Different names for the same macro. Avoid having two different names for the same macro. If you have assigned two names to any range, and then you changed the range to which one of the names applies, the range of the other name will change also. For example, suppose cell A1 has been named as X and Y. If you change (using the RANGE NAME CREATE command) the range for name Y to cell B1, the range described by name X will also change to B1. To resolove this problem, first delete one of the range names (using the RANGE NAME DELETE command), and then create the range with the same name but different cell coordinates. 3. Macro names longer than one character. Each macro, as a range, can have a name composed of up to 14 characters (preceded by a backslash \). However, when you are planning to invoke your macros using an Alt-letter combination, the first letters in macro names should be different. You can have different macro names that begin with the same letter, if you are going to invoke them using the MACRO PLAY command, or if they are invoked as subroutines from other macros (although you don't need to name the macro subroutines in order to run them). Copyright (c) 1988,1989 by Logical Design Works, Inc. LDW POWER is a trademark of Logical Design Works, Inc. LOTUS 1-2-3 is a registered trademark of Lotus Development Corporation. DEGAS Elite is a trademark of Batteries Included.