SUPER ROM TIP 13

                              by Mark Lutton

                        Importing Data into Lucid




        The version of Lucid in Portable Computer Support Group's Super
ROM has an advantage over the old Lucid ROM in that you can paste data
from any application program into a Lucid worksheet.  Previously you could
only paste data which you had cut from another worksheet.  Once you
understand how the new feature works, you can take advantage of it to save
time when setting up a worksheet.

        The Model 100 has always had a "paste buffer" which is actually an
invisible file named "Hayas.hi".  When you use the text editor and cut or
copy a region of text, that region is copied into this file.  The
difference between "cut" and "copy" is that when you "cut", that text is
also deleted from the file you are editing.

        (Try this experiment:  edit a test file and hit F7 followed by F6.
This makes the paste buffer empty.  Go to the main menu and see how much
free space is left.  Let's say you have 11368 bytes.  Go into text, select
a 10-character word and copy it with F5.  Exit to the main menu and you
have 11358 bytes left, because those 10 characters are in the paste buffer
and in the file.  Go back to the file and cut those 10 characters; now you
have 11368 left because the file is 10 characters shorter.)

        Lucid uses this paste buffer but it also sets up another buffer in
another invisible file called "4 PCS.G".  (Invisible files don't show up
in the main menu, but you can find them with the program CHANGE.BA.)
Whenever you cut or paste an area of a worksheet, a printable version of
the contents goes into the text paste buffer (for pasting into documents)
and a formula version goes into the Lucid paste buffer (for pasting into
spreadsheets).  The version in the text paste buffer will not contain
formulas but will contain whatever values are visible in the cells.  The
columns will be exactly as wide as you have set them in the spreadsheet,
and the appearance will be the same as when you look at the spreadsheet.
The Lucid paste buffer will contain not the values but the underlying
formulas.  When you paste it back into a spreadsheet, all cell references
not preceded by a dollar sign will be relocated and all the ones with a
dollar sign will stay the same.

        For example, suppose you have the following formula in cell B5:
"+A6+$C7".  You cut this and then paste it into cell C8 (in either the
same spreadsheet or a different one).  It will be pasted in as "+B9+$C7".

        When you paste into Lucid you have the choice of pasting from
either buffer.  F1, labeled "Fmla", pastes from the Lucid buffer and F2,
labeled "Text", pastes from the text buffer.  If you cut a range from a
worksheet and paste it back in from the text buffer, you won't get the
same result, because the format Lucid uses to copy into the buffer is
different from the format for reading from the buffer.

        The "paste from text" feature is useful for doing data entry into
Lucid.  Suppose you have a large table (like an income tax table) to put
into Lucid.  You can quickly key the values in using the text editor and
then copy it and paste it into Lucid.  A comma, tab, or two spaces makes
Lucid go to the next column (like hitting Enter and right-arrow when
typing into Lucid) and a carriage return makes it go to the next row.  You
can type in any literal data that doesn't contain commas and you can
precede this with a single quote, double quote or ^ to left justify, right
justify or center.  I have not found any way to get anything containing
commas to work; you can't quote them.  They are always taken as
delimiters.

You can type in any formula that doesn't contain commas; just precede it
with a plus sign to mark it as a formula.  A formula containing commas
(for instance, one that uses the TBL function) won't work right; the part
up to the first comma will be taken as an incomplete formula and thrown
out leaving the cell blank; what follows the comma will be put into the
next cells.  Cell references will never be relocated whether you used a
dollar sign or not.

Here is an example:

,1,2,3
15,3,4,5
20,a,"b,^c
+sum(a1:$a2),"Hello, Roy," he said.
Input goes here,15,b2,+b2
The answer is,+tbl(B5,C5,A1:C3)

If you paste this into A1 you will see this:

             1.00     2.00     3.00
   15.00     3.00     4.00     5.00
   20.00 a                b    c
   15.00     HelloRoy       he said.
Input goe   15.00 b2           3.00
The answer is     C5       A1:C3)

Note that the SUM formula is OK but the TBL formula is all wrong because
of the commas.  Also note that the contents of the fields may be wider
than they appear; if you move the cursor to cell A5 and hit the LABEL key
you will see that the cell contains "Input goes here".

If you paste the same stuff into cell A2 of an empty spreadsheet you will
see this:

 
             1.00     2.00     3.00
   15.00     3.00     4.00     5.00
   20.00 a                b    c
    0.00     HelloRoy       he said.
Input goe   15.00 b2           1.00
The answer is     C5       A1:C3)

The formulas with cell references have different results now.

        If you then cut that from the spreadsheet and paste it back into
the spreadsheet from the text buffer, you will get the following:

 
    1.00     2.00     3.00
   15.00     3.00     4.00     5.00
         b        c
    0.00 HelloRoy he said.
Input goe             1.00
The answeC5       A1:C3)

This illustrates that cutting to the text buffer and then pasting from it
doesn't always give you what you originally started with!

        When selecting a range to paste into, you can select multiple rows
and columns.  The effect will be the same as if you pasted into the first
cell, then the next, and so on through the range.  In this way you can
replicate rows or colums; however, copying a rectangle into a rectangle
may give you results you didn't intend.

        END OF SUPERROM TIP 13