I am finding the SuperRom manuals very hard to follow. I understand other people are having the same experience. At Al Goldman's suggestion, in hopes of saving other people some time and frustration, here are my notes on the Lucid and Lucid Database manuals to date. (NOTE: this does NOT include anything about the Report Specifier Blocks, so if you're looking for information about that, it's not here.) I'm preparing a simpler description of Lucid's +TBL function than found in the Lucid manual, and hope to upload that soon. GATHER TOGETHER ALL THE UPDATES: ====== ======== === === ======= Before trying to understand the material, or going through the tutorials, browse through all the manuals, quick reference sheets, etc. to get an overall idea of what information is where. Make special note of UPDATES. I found it helpful to make a list of topics covered in the updates, keeping it handy while working with the manuals. If something doesn't work as expected, check what you've done AND refer to your list of updates. This is especially important if you have the 1984 version of the Lucid manual and the 1986 version of the Superrom manual. (The copyright date is on the first page). The way the manuals are written, it makes more sense to go through most of the Lucid manual before going on to Lucid Database. The version of Lucid on Superrom, however, is different than that described in the 1984 manual. Here's a list of topics and updatesto the Lucid manual that's accurate for the SUPEROM package I got in July, 1986 (version 1.8 of Superrom, 1986 Superrom manual, 1984 Lucid manual): topic updates ----- ------- cursor movement S3-3, S3-4 find S3-4, S3-9 sort S3-4, S3-10 to 20 accessing Text S3-5 cut and paste S3-6, S3-7 global formatting S3-7a,S3-7b sort v.1.8 update(a single sheet of paper in the front pocket of the SROM manual.) AMBIGUITIES IN LUCID DATABASE MANUAL. =========== == ===== ======== ====== Database tutorial:Page D 1-3 - A Simple Mailing List When creating the view screen, enter blank spaces by using the space bar only! DO NOT USE TAB!! (If TAB is used, it will count as only one space in the entry screen, and you'll wonder what's wrong.) Database tutorial: Page D2-3 Tutorial - An Easier Mailing List. The "CODE-O" referred to in the manual is actually CODE-0 (the numeral zero, not the letter "capital-O"). The symbol that you get when holding down code, pressing 0, and releasing both together looks like the top of a Greek column. Look on pg. 214 of your model 100 manual at the symbol shown for decimal 175 to see what it should look like. SOME ELUCIDATIONS OF THE LUCID MANUAL: ==== ============ == ================ These are attempts to clarify some of the incorrect and more confusing sections of the Lucid manual. FORMATTING CELLS: ---------- ----- Read the section in the Lucid manual on formatting (pp.19-29), but ignore the references to "select range of A1:DV254" or"A1:DV253" in making global format changes for present and future entries. The information is wrong for the Superrom version of Lucid. User-accessible cells only go down as far as #250 in this version. To change the display format of ALL present entries, specify range as A1:DV249. Here are the specific steps: 1. Press F7(Sel) 2. Screen will show "Range C#:C#"[column letter, row number:column letter, row number] 3. Hit F1 (Edit) (this allows you to edit the range specification) 4. Hit key five times to erase "C#:C#" 5. Type in A1:DV249 6. Hit 7. Function key labels will show what you can do with these cells: Disp: selects display options Wdth: selects width options (4-35) Ptct: entries can't be edited or typed into Unpt: allows input into protected cells Copy, cut: as in text 8. Hitting F1 (Disp) allows you to select how numbers entered are formatted( pp. 25-26, ignoring list on top of p.25, which is incorrect) NOTE that changing the display format by specifying Range A1:DV249 will affect ONLY already-existing entries. It will NOT affect FUTURE entries. To set the format of FUTURE entries in AN ENTIRE COLUMN, go to cell 250 of that column as described in the manual. Make a "dummy entry," e.g., 0. (The number, not the letter.) It will show as 0.00 . THEN choose your display format: (this is described on pp. S3-7a, S3-7b of the Superrom manual) 1. Press F7(select). 2. Screen will show Range [column letter]250:[column letter]250 3. Press . 4. Screen will show labels as on p.22 of the Lucid manual. Hit F1 (Disp) 5. Follow instructions on pp. 25, 26 (ignoring the list on the top of p.25, which is wrong) to select the display format you want, or follow instructions on pp. S3-7a, S3-7b of the Superrom manual). 6. NOTE that it HAS to be done in that order, dummy entry, then display formatting. Formatting first, then making an entry will have NO EFFECT. 7. NOTE also that this does NOT change EXISTING entries in that column. It will affect ONLY FUTURE ENTRIES. Cells can also be individually formatted. Formatting an individual cell will ALWAYS change the existing entry. The 1984 Lucid manual says that formatting an individual cell affects only the present entry in that cell. I've found that sometimes it affects future entries to that cell, and sometimes doesn't. I haven't yet been able to detect a pattern of formatting steps that determines whether or not it affects future entries. It seems to be random. (This may be a problem with my chip or a bug in the program.) ACCESSING TEXT FROM LUCID. --------- ---- ---- ----- You can get into a TEXT.DO file from a spreadsheet by typing in the FILENM.DO in a blank cell. Press F6(Data), then F6(Text). You'll be in the .DO file, ready to edit. Pressing F8 (Exit) while you're still in that .DO file will take you back to the cell in the spreadsheet that contains the FILENM.DO. Pretty handy! (I typed in the name of this text file in my TEST.CA spreadsheet to be able to go back and forth more easily.) THE SORT FUNCTION. --- ---- -------- The description of the SORT function on pp. S3-10 to SR3-20 of the Superrom manual is fairly decent, as long as you remember that version 1.8 of Superrom also has a Ky2 function key choice for a secondary sort. Here's a simple example of how that can be used: Let's say a spreadsheet is used to record invoice information as invoices are sent out: A B C D E client inv# inv.date amt. pd.date Sorting using E1 as the key cell reference (or any other cell in the E column - it doesn't matter) would bring unpaid invoices, which have blanks in the pd.date column, to the top of the list. This is because a blank is considered as coming before any number. Sorting using E1 as the key cell reference and A1 as the key 2 cell reference would bring unpaid invoices to the top, and would further alphabetize clients within each payment date. Since every blank cell in the paid date column is treated as one payment date, doing these two sorts together using the key and ky2 function keys would bring together at the top of the list all unpaid invoices, with all the unpaid invoices of each client together. (This example assumes use of the default choices in the sort function of sorting ROW [rearranging the rows] in an ASC[ending order]. See SR3-10 to SR3- 20 for information about other options.) If this is unclear to you, just enter a lot of names and numbers into a spreadsheet similar to the one above, write down the original order, and try various primary and secondary sorts. It will become clear to you. Try it! Experiment!