CREATING CONSECUTIVE DATE COLUMN IN A TABLE...

[Donagh]

Hi Guys,

I'm creating a Neo text document which tracks monthly invoice payment. I've inserted a table that contains 3 columns. The first contains all of the month's dates, the second is job description, and the third payment.

I'm trying to format the first column so that the dates run consecutively from top to bottom. I tried entering the first two or three table fields and then went to 'drag' them down to the bottom (as in Excel) but with no results.

Is there a way to do this automatically, or do I have to enter each table field with each day of the month manually?

Thanks in advance,

Donagh

[Lorinda]

The select and drag option works in Calc; I don't know if it will in a Writer table. You could insert a Cacl OLE object into the Writer document (Insert>Object>OLE...). That would let you use Calc's features. But, manipulating OLE objects is one of the places that Neo is rather slow. To work within the OLE frame, you have to click the frame and then wait for it to redraw and the appropriate toolbars to appear. When you return to the writer environment you must wait as well.

It's also important to remember to resize the OLE only when the OLE environment is activated; if you resize while in the "outer" document, the OLE content will be distorted.

Lorinda

[yoxi]

I have some good news for you if you're setting up a new table and want one column to have consecutive dates in it. This method is only useful where you want so many rows of consecutive dates (or numbers or whatever) that it would take longer to type them in than to do this, but as there's no Fill Down in writer tables, this is the way forward for long lists.

Let's suppose you want your table with 30 rows and 3 columns, and you want the 1st column to have the consecutive dates in:

• open a calc doc
• format the first column with your preferred date format
• enter the first date in A1
• drag the bottom-right corner of A1 down to A30 for a consecutive Fill Down of the date
• select the cell range A1 to C30*, and copy to the clipboard with cmd-C

• switch to your writer doc and put the cursor where you want the table to begin
• hit cmd-shift-V to call up the Paste Special dialogue, and choose Unformatted Text
• 30 'paragraphs' will be pasted in, with tabs
• select those 'paragraphs', then go to Table::Convert::Text to Table in the menu
• choose Tabs to separate text at, and click Okay, and there you have your 3-column, 30-row table with the dates in the 1st column

*Note: don't, whatever you do, try just selecting the whole columns in the calc doc (i.e. by clicking on the column headers), as when you try to special paste them, NeoOffice will spin in its grave forever...

- padmavyuha

[ovvldc]

Also note that writing the topic in all capitals is considered bad form. You are strongly discouraged from doing this again.

Best wishes,
Oscar

[Donagh]

Lorinda and Padmavyuha,

Thank for the help. You guys ought to write all the help files and tutorials. Wait a minute... You DO write tutorials, Lorinda! Any way you slice it, just what the doctor ordered! Much obliged.

Oh... and a STRONG THANKS to you too, Oscar. I'll make that adjustment on future posts. ;^) (sorry... couldn't resist)

Donagh

[sardisson]

Note that if you don't have your Writer table set up already, there's a way that'll save you all the text-to-table reformatting steps:

* Set up your data in Calc as desired
* Select your data; if you know you want some additional columns, go ahead and select the blank cells from those colums
* Copy
* In Writer, Paste Special and chose HTML or Formatted Text [RTF]

Ta-da, a table. You'll have to set the borders to your liking, and perhaps the positioning of the table, but I find that's a lot easier than text-to-table.

Smokey

[yoxi]

That's a good tip - I was going for the "don't trust apps to do sensible formatting for you" approach , hence the text2table. For me there's often just as much work in reformatting the html to look how I'd want it to as there is in the extra steps to make a text2table.

- padmavyuha

[jgd]

I wake up a bit late

Why not choose a DDE link in Paste Special? It works fine. You can edit the table in Writer, or you may activate the links when you reopen the Writer deocument, if you want and only if you want.

Jacqueline

[yoxi]

So many options! I still prefer the "keep things native" approach - so the writer table is just that, and has no connexion needed with any other docs. Unless you want it to, and then of course...

[sardisson]

[jgd]