Pamela
Robert

    pamroberts@blueyonder.co.uk

# Advanced &kspread;

## Series

When constructing a spreadsheet you often need to include a series of values, such as 10, 11, 12..., in a row or column. There are several ways you can do this in &kspread;.

For a simple short series such as 5, 6, 7, 8... the Drag and Copy method is the simplest. Enter the starting value into the starting cell and the next value of the series into an adjacent cell. Then select both cells and move the mouse pointer so that it is over the small square at the bottom right corner; the cursor will change to a diagonal double headed arrow. Then hold the left mouse button down while you drag the cells down or across as needed.

The step size is calculated as the difference between the two starting values that you have entered. For example if you enter `4` into cell A1 and `3.5` into A2 then select both cells and Drag and Copy them down, the step size will be the value in A2 minus the value in A1, -0.5 in this case so you will get the series 4, 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2...

The Drag and Copy method will even cope with series where the step value is not a constant value but is itself a series. So that if you start with 1, 3, 4, 6 Drag and Copy will extend it to 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12..., the step value in this example being the series 2, 1, 2, 1...

&kspread; also recognizes some special series such as the days of the week. Try entering `Friday` into a cell (note the capitalization) then Drag and Copy it down. To see what special series are available, and perhaps create your own, select Tools Custom Lists... .

If you select a cell and choose Series... from the Insert menu you will see the Series dialog box. This is useful for creating series that are too long to be conveniently constructed using the Drag and Copy method, or for creating geometric series such as 1, 1.5, 2.25, 3.375... where the step value, 1.5 in this case, is used as a multiplier.

If the type of series that you want is too complicated for any of the previous methods, consider using a formula and Drag and Copying that. For example to create a series with the values 2, 4, 16, 256... enter `2` into A1, `=A1*A1` into A2, and Drag and Copy cell A2 down.

## Formulae

### Built in Functions

&kspread; has a huge range of built in mathematical and other functions that can be used in a formula cell. They can be seen and accessed by selecting a cell then choosing Function... from the Insert menu. This brings up the Function dialog box.

Select the expression you want to use from the listbox at the left of the dialog box then press the button with the down arrow key symbol on it to paste the expression into the text edit box at the bottom of the Math Expression dialog.

The Parameters tab page will then be displayed to let you enter the parameter(s) for the expression you have just chosen. If you want to enter an actual value for a parameter, just type it into the appropriate text box in the Parameters page. To enter a cell reference rather than a value, left click on the appropriate text box in the Parameters page then left click on the target cell in the spreadsheet.

Instead of using the Parameters page, cell references such as `B6` can be entered by typing them directly into the edit box at the bottom of the Function dialog. If an expression has more than one parameter separate them with a semi-colon (;).

Pressing the OK button will transfer the expression to the main &kspread; window's Formula toolbar edit box and close the Function dialog. Press the Formula toolbar button marked with a large green tick to put the expression into the selected cell.

You can of course do without the Function dialog and simply type the complete expression into the Formula toolbar's main edit box. Function names are not case sensitive. Do not forget that all expressions must start with an = symbol.

### Logical Comparisons

Logical functions such as IF(), AND(), OR() take parameters which have the logical (boolean) values True or False. This type of value can be produced by other logical functions such as ISEVEN() or by the comparison of values in spreadsheet cells using the comparison expressions given in the following table.

Expression | Description | Example
--- | --- | ---
== | Is equal to | `A2==B3` is True if the value in A2 is equal to the value in B3
!= | Is not equal to | `A2!=B3` is True if the value in A2 is not equal to the value in B3
<> | Is not equal to | Same as `A2!=B3`
< | Is less than | `A2<B3` is True if the value in A2 is less than the value in B3
<= | Is less than or equal to | `A2<=B3` is True if the value in A2 is less than or equal to the value in B3
> | Is greater than | `A2>B3` is True if the value in A2 is greater than the value in B3
>= | Is greater than or equal to | `A2>=B3` is True if the value A2 is greater than or equal to the value in B3

Thus if you enter `=IF(B3>B1;"BIGGER";"")` into a cell it will display BIGGER if the value in B3 is greater than that in B1, otherwise the cell will show nothing.

### Absolute Cell References

If a formula contains a cell reference that reference will normally be changed when the cell is copied to another part of the worksheet. To prevent this behavior put a $ symbol before the column letter, row number or both.

- If A1 contains the formula `=D5` then on copying the cell to B2 it will become `=E6` (the normal behavior).

- If A1 contains the formula `=$D5` then on copying the cell to B2 it will become `=D6` (column letter not changed).

- If A1 contains the formula `=D$5` then on copying the cell to B2 it will become `=E5` (row number not changed).

- If A1 contains the formula `=$D$5` then on copying the cell to B2 it will remain as `=D5` (neither the column letter nor the row number are changed).

When you are entering or editing a cell reference in a formula the shortcut key F4 can be used to step through these four possibilities.

Named cells can be used in a similar way to include a unchanging cell reference in a formula.

## Arithmetic using Special Paste

Sometimes you may want to add a single value to a number of cells, or subtract a value from them, or multiply or divide them all by a single value. The Special Paste... option lets you do this quickly and easily.

First, enter the modifier value into any spare cell on your spreadsheet and Copy it. Then select the area of cells you want to change, choose Special Paste... from the Edit or right mouse button menu and select Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication or Division from the Operation section of the dialog box.

You can also apply different modifier values to different rows or columns of the target area by copying an area containing the wanted modifiers before selecting the target area and doing Special Paste... . For example, if you enter `5` into cell A1, `10` into B1, select both cells and do a Copy then Special Paste... Addition into cells A10 to D15, 5 will be added to A10:A15 and C10:C15, and 10 to B10:B15 and D10:D15.

Note that a modifier value can be a formula as well as a simple numeric value. If it is a formula then &kspread; will adjust the cell references as for a normal Paste operation.

## Goal Seeking

&kspread; can be used to solve algebraic expressions such as x + x^2 = 4 or For what value of x does x + x squared equal 4 ?.

For this example you could enter `=A2+A2*A2` into A1 then either try different values in A2 until the result in A1 is as close as you wish to 4 or, preferably, use &kspread;'s Goal Seek feature which automatically adjusts the value in one cell to try to make the value in another cell as close as possible to a target value.

It is invoked by selecting Goal Seek from the Data menu. This brings up a dialog box in which you should enter the reference of the target value cell (`A1` in this case) into the Set cell box, the target value itself (`4`) into the to value box and the reference of the cell that is to be changed (`A2`) into the by changing cell box. Note that you need to have entered some initial value into the cell that is to be changed before starting Goal Seek.

Pressing the Start button in the Goal Seek menu will start the calculation. When it finishes and if it has found a solution press the OK button to accept the result or Cancel to keep the original value.

## Using more than one Worksheet

When you start a new, empty, document with &kspread; it will create a number of blank worksheets. The number of sheets it creates is determined by the Number of pages open at the beginning setting in the Interface page of &kspread;'s configuration dialog box.

Insert Sheet will add another sheet to the workbook.

If the Show tabs box in the Interface page of &kspread;'s configuration dialog box is checked a small tab will be shown near the bottom left of &kspread;'s window for each sheet. Left click on one of these tabs to see that sheet.

You can also switch between worksheets by using the &Ctrl;PageDown to move to the next sheet, &Ctrl;PageUp to move to the previous one.

Worksheets are given the default names of Sheet1, Sheet2... You can give a sheet a different name by right clicking on the tab and selecting Rename Sheet....

To remove a sheet from the workbook use the Remove Sheet option in the Format Sheet submenu or in the little menu that pops up when you right click on the tab for the sheet you want to remove.

Other entries in the Format Sheet submenu allow you to show or hide a sheet in much the same way as rows and columns can be hidden.

If you want a formula in one sheet to refer to a cell in another sheet, the cell reference must start with the table name followed by an exclamation mark (!). For example if you enter `=Sheet2!A2` into a cell in Sheet 1, that cell will take the value from A2 of Sheet2. Note that sheet names are case sensitive.

### Consolidating Data

You may have constructed a workbook containing several worksheets containing similar data but for, say, different months of the year, and wish to have summary sheet containing the consolidated (&eg;, sum or average) values of the corresponding data items in the other sheets.

This task can be made slightly easier by using the Consolidate... item from the Data menu.

Selecting this option brings up the Consolidate dialog box.

For each of the source sheets, enter a reference to the wanted data area in the Reference box in the Consolidate dialog then press Add which should transfer it to the Entered References box. The reference should include the name of the sheet containing the source data, such as `January!A1:A10`, and can be entered automatically by selecting the area in the appropriate table.

When you have entered the references for all of the source data sheets select the cell in the target sheet where you want the top left corner of the consolidated results to appear, choose the appropriate function from the Function combo box then press the OK button.

If you check the Copy data box in the Consolidate dialog the values resulting from the consolidation will be placed into the target cells rather than the formulae to calculate them.

## Inserting a Chart

You can insert a chart into a sheet to give a graphical view of your data.

First select the area of cells containing the data and choose Insert Chart . The cursor will change to a small cross shape which you should drag across the sheet while holding the left mouse button down to define the area where you want the chart to appear, there is no need to be too accurate at this stage as the chart size can easily be changed at any time. When you release the mouse button a chart wizard dialog box will appear.

The wizard allows you to define the type of chart, labels and legend that you need. You may wish to refer to the &kchart; Handbook at this stage, but again if you make a wrong choice you can correct it later. When you press the Finish button the wizard will vanish and you will see the chart embedded into the worksheet.

Screenshot of embedded chart

To move, resize or even delete the embedded chart click anywhere within the chart area. It should now appear with a diagonal hatch border and with a small black square at each corner and in the middle of each edge.

If you move the cursor over any of the black squares it should change to a double headed arrow. You can resize the chart by dragging one of these squares with the left mouse button pressed. To delete the chart right click on one of the squares and select Delete embedded document.

To move the chart move the cursor so that it is over one of the hatched borders. The cursor should then change to a hand, press the left mouse button and you will be able to drag the chart to where you want it to be.

To restore the chart to its normal appearance simply click anywhere outside of the chart area.

To change the format of the chart itself left click twice within the chart area. It should then appear with a diagonal hatch border without any small black squares and &kchart;'s Chart Toolbar should appear in &kspread;'s window. You can then use these &kchart; tools or a selection from the menu that pops up when you right click in the chart area to change the chart.

## Inserting External Data

You can insert data from a text file or from the clipboard into a worksheet by first selecting the cell where you want the top left item of the inserted data to appear, then choosing From Text File... or From Clipboard... from the Insert External Data sub menu.

In both cases &kspread; will assume that the data is in CSV form and will open a dialog box allowing you to control how the data is extracted from the file or clipboard and placed into the worksheet cells.

If support for it has been included in your system, &kspread; can also insert data from a SQL database into a worksheet. This is done by using the Insert External Data From Database... option.

## Link Cells

A spreadsheet cell can be linked to an action so that left clicking on the cell will, for example, open your browser. To make a cell act in this way select it and choose Insert Link... . This will bring up the Insert Link dialog box, which lets you choose between four types of link:

- An Internet link cell will try to open your default browser at the &URL; entered in the Internet address: text box of the Insert Link dialog when it is clicked. This could be, for example, `http://www.koffice.org`.

- Clicking on a cell containing a Mail link will open your email composer using the address entered in the Email: text box as the To: address. For example `anon@example.com`.

- A File link cell holds the path to a file or folder, as entered into the File location: text box, and will try to open that file or folder with a suitable application when clicked on.

- The Cell type of link cell holds a &kspread; cell reference, entered in the Cell: text box. Left clicking on this type of link cell causes &kspread;'s focus to move to the target cell.

All four types of link cell need some suitable text to be entered into the Comment: field of the Insert Link dialog. This is the text that appears in the cell, you can set its style to Bold or Italic if you wish.

## Validity Checking

&kspread; can automatically check the validity of entered data against a number of criteria, and pop up a message box if the data is invalid.

To enable this feature, select the cell(s) to be monitored and choose Edit Validity... . This will bring up &kspread;'s Validity dialog box which has two tabbed pages.

In the Values page select what type of data is to be considered valid from the Allow: combo box list then define the valid range of values by choosing one of the options in the Data: combo box and entering suitable value(s) into one or both of the edit box(es).

When you have done this change to the Error Alert tab page. Here you can choose the type of message box (Stop, Warning or Information) that will appear when an invalid value is entered, and define the message box title and message text.

Note that this feature only checks data that you enter into the cell, for a way of checking the results from formulae cells see the Conditional Cell Attributes section of this Handbook.

## Other Features

### Splitting the View

If your spreadsheet is so large that you cannot see all of it at once, splitting &kspread;'s window into two or more views can help you work on it. This is done by selecting View Split View which will split the current view into two parts. View Splitter Orientation lets you choose between horizontal and vertical splitting.

This technique is particularly useful when you want to select an area of the spreadsheet that is larger than can be shown in one view, perhaps to paste a copied cell into it. Use the scrollbars to position the two views to show the top left and bottom right cells of the wanted area, select the top left cell in one view then hold the &Shift; key pressed while you select the bottom right cell with the left mouse button.

If there is more than one sheet in your workbook, you can show a different sheet in each of the split views.

The relative sizes of the views can be changed by dragging the thick bar separating the views.

To remove a view select View Remove View

### Named Cells and Areas

You can give a name such as `foo` to a cell or to any area of a sheet by selecting the cell or area then selecting Area Name... from the right mouse button menu. This will bring up the Area Name dialog box where you can enter any name you wish.

You can also name a cell or area by selecting it then typing the name into the small text box at the left end of the Formula toolbar, overwriting the cell reference that normally appears here.

If you enter a name that has already been used into this text box &kspread;'s selection will change to show the named cell(s).

The Data Show Area... option will give you a list of existing names and let you change &kspread;'s focus to any of them or let you remove a name.

Named cells are particularly useful in formulae as an alternative to absolute cell references as the names can be used in place of normal cell references and do not change when the cell containing the formula is copied. When a name is used in this way it should be enclosed in single quotation marks.

For example, if cell A1 has been given the name `fred` then you can enter a formula such as `='fred' + 2` into another cell which would always give the result of adding 2 to the value in A1 no matter where the formula cell was copied to.

Note that cell and area names are treated as being in lowercase.

### Cell Comments

A cell can contain a text comment that can be viewed when working on the spreadsheet but which is not printed and not normally seen.

To add a comment select the cell and choose Add/modify comment... from the right mouse button menu or from the Insert Comment menu and type your comment into the resulting Cell Comment dialog box.

To see the comment hover the mouse pointer over the top right corner of the cell. The comment will appear as if it were a Tooltip.

If you check the Show comment indicator box of the Misc page in the Settings Configure &kspread;... dialog, those cells containing comments will be highlighted by a small red triangle in the top right corner.

To remove a comment from a cell, select Remove Comment from the right mouse button menu or choose Edit Clear Comment.