tips on using Lotus products

More Tips on Using Lotus Products

1-2-3

User's choice

I have found a neat way to use the {MENUBRANCH} macro command. I have created a menu macro that gives users in my department immediate access to the worksheets in their subdirectories on our computer's hard disk.

The macro is in a file named AUTO123.WK1. When a user loads 1-2-3 from DOS, this file is automatically retrieved. I named the macro \0 (backslash zero) so that it would execute automatically when AUTO123.WK1 is loaded. The macro displays a menu of users' subdirectories. Each subdirectory is assigned a different letter, so users can access their files with a single keystroke. The menu can display up to eight options, A through H. Four are shown below.

To create the macro, enter the labels as shown in the figure. Begin the labels in cell A21 and range B25..E26 with a label prefix. When you enter each of the labels in range B23..E23, add several spaces after each single letter to separate the letters when they are displayed in the control panel. Substitute the subdirectories on your system for those shown in range B25..E25. Use the Worksheet Column Set-Width command to set the width of column A to 5 and columns B through E to 16. Select/Range Name Labels Right and specify range A21..A23.

To test the macro, you may also want to give cell B21 a manually executable range name, like \a. Select / Range Name Create, enter \a, and specify cell B21. Save the file as AUTO123.WK1. The file should be in the directory that 1-2-3 recognizes as the default directory.

If you need more than eight options, make the eighth option More Options and add another {MENUBRANCH} command.

3-line messages in

Releases 2.2/3

The following macro provides a useful way to communicate messages from a 1-2-3 Release 2.2 or Release 3 application. It lets you display up to three lines of text at the top of the screen.

You can use this macro in conjunction with your own macro to inform users about something that has just happened or is about to happen.

The macro \a calls the subroutine panelshow. {LET linel,+line1&@REPEAT (" ",80)} adds spaces to the label in line1 so that it appears left-justified. The mode indicator defaults to right justification. {INDICATE line1} changes the mode indicator to display the label in line1. {MENUCALL line2} displays the message in line2 and the label below line2 as the third line of the message. The {MENUCALL} command was designed to display a customized menu in the control panel. This macro uses it to display a message. {INDICATE} without an argument restores the mode indicator to standard operation.

Computer locks up

in translation

In 1-2-3 Release 3, right margins can range from 0 to 1,000, but in Release 2.2 they can't extend beyond 240. Therefore, when you translate a Release 3 file into Release 2.2, remember to set the right margin to 240 or less. If you don't, the keyboard will lock and unexpected characters will appear on the screen.

This problem occurs in step 2 of the following:

1. Create a file in Release 3.

2. Select /Worksheet Global Default Printer Right or /Print Printer Options Margins Right. Enter a right margin setting greater than 240 and save the file.

3. Translate the Release 3 file to Release 2 format.

4. Retrieve the file in Release 2.2.

5. Set the Print range.

6. Select /Print Printer Options Other Formatted Quit Align Go.

At this point, your keyboard locks up and unexpected characters appear on the screen. To correct the problem, select Quit or Escape, restart the computer, load 1-2-3 Release 2.2, then retrieve the file.

Select/Worksheet Global Default Printer Right, and enter a right margin from 0 to 240.

In 1-2-3 Release 2.01, if you set the right margin to a value greater than 240, the message Printer error will appear on the screen.

Saving with

modified file names

When I update a worksheet, I like to save the new file by editing the existing file name. But at first I couldn't find a way to edit the file name. For example, when I wanted to change the file name LAB1COST to LAB2COST, I tried to move the cursor to the left to change the 1 to a 2. But when I pressed the Backspace key, the system beeped. When I pressed an alphanumeric key, the existing file name was erased. When I pressed the Escape key, the file name and the path were erased.

Eventually, I discovered that by pressing the Spacebar once, I could move the cursor and edit the file name. Use the File Save command, press the Spacebar once, and press the Backspace key to delete that extra space. Then use the LeftArrow and RightArrow keys to move around in the file name.

HLCO help screen

inaccurate

In Release 3 when you select /Graph Type and then press the HELP key, the help screen states that the high-low-close-open (HLCO) graph uses the fifth set of data as a line and the sixth set of data as bars. However, the help screen that appears when you select HLCO states that the graph uses the E data range (the fifth data set) as a set of bars below the HLCO area of the graph and the F data range (the sixth data set) as a line in the HLCO area.

The first help screen is incorrect. The second is correct in stating that the HLCO graph displays the fifth (E) set of data as a series of bars and the sixth (F) set as a line. Page 2-164 of the 1-2-3 Release 3 reference manual is also correct.

Differences in the Range

Transpose command

When you issue the Range Transpose command in 1-2-3 Release 2/2.01, formulas you specify in the From range are copied to the To range. Unless the formulas contain absolute cell references, they will not return the same values because the cell references in the formulas change relative to their new location.

In 1-2-3 Releases 2.2 and 3, the Range Transpose command first converts the formulas to values before transposing them. The resulting values are the same in the To range as they were in the From range.

Allways

Quick fonts

You can assign a font in Allways by using the Format Font Use command or one of the accelerator keys. The following list of characters allows you to assign a font even faster.

{ Font 1 } Font 2 ~ Font 3 * Font 4 # Font 5 < Font 6 \ Font 7 ' Font 8

To assign a font to a single cell, move the cell pointer to the cell you wish to format and type the appropriate character. To assign a font to a range, move the cell pointer to the first cell of the range, press the period key to anchor the cell pointer, and highlight the range. Then type the appropriate character.

1-2-3/Symphony

Searching for a

string

Here's a way to search a database field for a specific string. In the following figure, range A1..B6 is the Input range (in Symphony, Database range) and range E1..E2 is the Criterion range.

To locate the records that contain the lowercase string ana in the Title field, enter the following formula in cell E2:

#NOT#@ISERR(@FIND("ana",B2,0))

The @FIND function is case-sensitive, so this formula returns a 0 because the title in the first database record does not contain the lowercase string ana.

If you want to ignore the case of the search string, enter the following formula in cell E5 and use range E4..E5 as the Criterion range:

#NOT#@ISERR(@FIND(@LOWER

("ana"),@LOWER(B2),0))

This formula returns a 0 if the first title doesn't contain the string ana and a 1 if the first title does contain the string, regardless of case.

When you press slash and select Find, the program highlights the first record that contains the string. Press the UpArrow or DownArrow key to move the pointer to the previous or next occurrence of the string.

Variable ranges for

@functions

To use a variable range in a statistical @function, include the @@ function as part of the argument. The syntax of the @@ function is @@(cell address). It returns the contents of the cell referenced by cell address. For example, if cell A1 contains the value 2 and cell B1 contains the label A1, the formula @@ (B1) entered into cell C1 returns 2.

To create an @SUM formula that has a variable range as its argument, enter the values in range A1..A4 and the labels in range B1..B2, as shown.

Then enter the following formula in cell C1:

@SUM(@@(B1&".."&B2))

The formula evaluates to 20, the result of the sum of the values in range A1..A4. To modify the range to sum, change the entry in cell B1 or B2. For example, when you enter the label A3 in cell, B1, the formula in cell C1 evaluates to 14.

Automatically

invoke DOS

DOS is automatically available in 1-2-3 (/System) but not in Symphony. However, you can change Symphony's configuration settings sheet so that the DOS command interpreter automatically attaches at the beginning of each work session.

Select SERVICES Configuration Other Application Set, select the first available number, and specify DOS.APP as the application to attach automatically. Select No so that DOS isn't automatically invoked when you load Symphony. Then select Quit Update Quit to save this setting in the configuration file.



Source Citation:Revesz, Joseph A., Joel Weiss, Eddie English, Abbas A. Fadol, Joseph Sharon, Brian K. Griffith, Chris Allaire, and Satyanarayana Rao Penta. "More tips on using Lotus products." Lotus 6.n9 (Sept 1990): 94(3). Computer Database. Gale. BROWARD COUNTY LIBRARY. 8 July 2009
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Sincerely,
leonard.wilson2008@hotmail.com
Len Wilson