Welcome to NeoOffice developer notes and announcements
NeoOffice
Developer notes and announcements
 
 

This website is an archive and is no longer active
NeoOffice announcements have moved to the NeoOffice News website


Support
· Forums
· NeoOffice Support
· NeoWiki


Announcements
· Twitter @NeoOffice


Downloads
· Download NeoOffice


  
NeoOffice :: View topic - Creating a list using a combo box.
Creating a list using a combo box.
 
   NeoOffice Forum Index -> NeoOffice Releases
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:13 pm    Post subject: Re: Creating a list using a combo box.

bryoman wrote:
What isn't working yet though is autocomplete. No idea why. I followed James' hints, and of course my dropdown cells ARE in the same column as the name list. So not certain - nothing else needs activating, does it?


pluby wrote:
Open the Tools :: Cell Contents and see if the AutoInput menu item is checked. If not, select that menu item to enable autocompletion. Does that enable autocompletion?

Patrick


Magic: that does it! Very Happy (I should have found that one for myself!)

All up-and-running now... (There is still a lot of clicking the target: a lot of plants share the same (often longish) initial genus names (e.g. Geranium...) and one would have to type the whole genus name and into the specific name before it gave the full name - but that's just the way of things).

Grateful thanks again for all your help. I guess we've gone as far as we can or indeed need at the moment... (I'm pretty certain I'll be back again "within the year" for more advice...) Wink

Jeremy.
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:20 pm    Post subject: Re: Creating a list using a combo box.

bryoman wrote:
All up-and-running now... (There is still a lot of clicking the target: a lot of plants share the same (often longish) initial genus names (e.g. Geranium...) and one would have to type the whole genus name and into the specific name before it gave the full name - but that's just the way of things).


I don't know if you know this, autocompletion displays the first match but you can then press the Tab key to display the next match without having to click on the combobox arrow button.

Hope that helps,

Patrick

Edit by pluby: correct wrong key in original post


Last edited by pluby on Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:36 pm    Post subject: Re: Creating a list using a combo box.

pluby wrote:

I don't know if you know this, autocompletion displays the first match but you can then press the Down arrow key to display the next match without having to click on the combobox arrow button.

Hope that helps,

Patrick


Ah - well, I did try that... for me, down arrow just jumps me to the next cell down! Sad

Wonder if I've got some setting wrong...?

J

[I'm off to bed now - ninight!]
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Creating a list using a combo box.

bryoman wrote:
Ah - well, I did try that... for me, down arrow just jumps me to the next cell down! Sad


My mistake, the Tab key moves autocompletion to the next match and Shift-Tab moves to the previous match.

Patrick
Back to top
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:24 am    Post subject: Re: Creating a list using a combo box.

pluby wrote:
bryoman wrote:
Ah - well, I did try that... for me, down arrow just jumps me to the next cell down! Sad


My mistake, the Tab key moves autocompletion to the next match and Shift-Tab moves to the previous match.

Patrick


Ah yes - so it does! Thank you! Surprised

Now this is embarrassing.... With all the above (Approach 2 and all that), I now find that autocomplete only functions for the top ca. 200 names in my list. Booo. (Did it work for all 2000 names last night before I retired to bed?? Dunno, now.)

If I open the dropdown list from the target arrow and click a name in any position below the 200th name, that does select the name into the cell. But autocomplete just doesn't respond for anything typed in for a name below the 200th position (roughly 200th - seems to vary, curiously).

HOWEVER, if I have previously selected something from the bottom of the list - e.g. "Zostera marina" - THAT will be brought up when I type "Z", but it doesn't 'know' "Zostera angustifolia", the name above it. (That 'awareness' is retained over a save-and-close of the file.)

'I'm sure there's a good explanation'!

Jeremy.
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:24 am    Post subject:

I am unable to reproduce what you are seeing so can you attach a copy of your spreedsheet document? I can then see if I can reproduce what you see on my machine.

To attach a copy of your document to your next post, use the instructions in this post.

Patrick
Back to top
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:39 am    Post subject:

pluby wrote:
I am unable to reproduce what you are seeing so can you attach a copy of your spreedsheet document? I can then see if I can reproduce what you see on my machine.

To attach a copy of your document to your next post, use the instructions in this post.

Patrick


Thanks, Patrick - attached. The dropdown cells are between C2 and C60 (red bounding box) and the name list starts at C100.

[Hope you DO and hope you DON'T find a stupid blunder on my part! Laughing ]

Jeremy
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:12 am    Post subject:

Thank you for the spreadsheet document. I can reproduce the problem that you are seeing.

Unfortunately, I have bad news: the problem is caused by NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org Calc code. The OpenOffice.org code stops searching for autocompletion matches after only 200 rows.

Given this limitation, you may need to resort to using a more manual approaches when autocompletion fails. Other than writing a macro attached to a button and a combobox, my only other idea is to use the Find & Replace dialog using the following steps. These steps are not ideal, but hopefully they work better than having to guess at names:

1. Press the Command-F keys to open the Find & Replace dialog.

2. In the dialog that appears, enter a portion of the plant name that you are looking for and press the Return key.

3. The selected cell will jump to the first match and pressing the Return key again will jump to the next match. Once you find the name that you want, press the Command-C keys to copy the name.

4. Navigate back to the cell that you want to put the name into (I press the Command-up/down/left/right arrow keys to jump over a large number of cells) and press the Command-V keys to paste the name.

Over the next week, I will try increasing the limit but since Microsoft Excel has the same 200 row limit, I don't have too much hope that increasing the limit will be feasible as I suspect that raising the limit will cause typing speed in Calc to slow down significantly.

Patrick
Back to top
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:59 pm    Post subject:

pluby wrote:
Thank you for the spreadsheet document. I can reproduce the problem that you are seeing.

Unfortunately, I have bad news: the problem is caused by NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org Calc code. The OpenOffice.org code stops searching for autocompletion matches after only 200 rows.

Given this limitation, you may need to resort to using a more manual approaches when autocompletion fails. Other than writing a macro attached to a button and a combobox, my only other idea is to use the Find & Replace dialog using the following steps. These steps are not ideal, but hopefully they work better than having to guess at names:

1. Press the Command-F keys to open the Find & Replace dialog.

2. In the dialog that appears, enter a portion of the plant name that you are looking for and press the Return key.

3. The selected cell will jump to the first match and pressing the Return key again will jump to the next match. Once you find the name that you want, press the Command-C keys to copy the name.

4. Navigate back to the cell that you want to put the name into (I press the Command-up/down/left/right arrow keys to jump over a large number of cells) and press the Command-V keys to paste the name.

Over the next week, I will try increasing the limit but since Microsoft Excel has the same 200 row limit, I don't have too much hope that increasing the limit will be feasible as I suspect that raising the limit will cause typing speed in Calc to slow down significantly.

Patrick


OK, Patrick: many thanks yet again for chasing this up - and for the find-and-replace suggestion, which I've tried out.

Actually, I'm finding that opening the dropdown list and then scrolling down (with the trackpad - very fast) to any names below the 200 limit, selecting, then arrow down to go to the next cell, etc., is also pretty fast and provides an error-free as a way of creating a list perhaps with fewer steps.

You'll let me know if you find a way of extending the 200 name limit.. without it going slow.

Thanks again,

Jeremy.
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:24 am    Post subject:

I have some good news: I was able to raise the maximum number of rows that autocompletion searches through from 200 to 16,384 rows without any big drop in typing speed.

Raising the limit definitely does slow down typing, but my hope is that the slowdown is small enough that it won't be noticeable.

Can you install the following test patch and tell us if autocompletion is now finding matches in columns with more than 200 text cells?:

Intel:
http://sally.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.3-Patch-3-Test-1-Intel.dmg

Patrick
Back to top
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:02 pm    Post subject:

pluby wrote:
I have some good news: I was able to raise the maximum number of rows that autocompletion searches through from 200 to 16,384 rows without any big drop in typing speed.

Raising the limit definitely does slow down typing, but my hope is that the slowdown is small enough that it won't be noticeable.

Can you install the following test patch and tell us if autocompletion is now finding matches in columns with more than 200 text cells?:

Intel:
http://sally.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.3-Patch-3-Test-1-Intel.dmg

Patrick


Gee, Patrick!

The mind boggles! [as they say round here - whose catchphrase was that??? 'The Perishers'??])

That DOES autocomplete roght down to 'Zostera' Wink as you say, and I can't see ANY slow-down in response (with my 2000 names list)... Amazing!

So now with unlimited access to long lists, and Tab or Shift-tab to go back and forth through the 'neighbours' in the list, that really does sort it. (*)

Very grateful thanks! - I do hope this is useful to other folks also...

All the best,

Jeremy.

(* - well, until NEXT time, anyway! Wink )
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:49 pm    Post subject:

FYI. I have included the increase in rows that autocompletion searches through that was in the previous test patch in NeoOffice 3.3 Patch 4. The patch can be downloaded from the NeoOffice patch download page.

Patrick
Back to top
bryoman
Sentinel


Joined: Jan 07, 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Carlisle, England

PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:13 am    Post subject:

pluby wrote:
FYI. I have included the increase in rows that autocompletion searches through that was in the previous test patch in NeoOffice 3.3 Patch 4. The patch can be downloaded from the NeoOffice patch download page.

Patrick


OK - excellent - thanks, Patrick. All working well now.

J. Very Happy
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
   NeoOffice Forum Index -> NeoOffice Releases All times are GMT - 7 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest © Planamesa Inc.
NeoOffice is a registered trademark of Planamesa Inc. and may not be used without permission.
PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.