[Graham:] Insert one row and copy and then insert another row and copy.
[speaker002:] You mean insert
[Graham:] Insert
[speaker002:] formulae?
[Graham:] That's right. Over on the other side, erm... you're given a range name. You got a formula. You see a range name, erm, average exchange let's say. So you [cough] same address divided by average exchange. If you copy that formula down to the cell below, what would you see?
[speaker002:] Erm. Then whatever cell was below average exchange. Erm, it would jump down one, unless you adding...
[Graham:] That cell address divided by average exchange. The cell below. You copy it down.
[speaker002:] It down erm, it would come down a different, the wrong figure.
[Graham:] So let's, suppose you had C twenty six divided by average exchange. Copy it down you see.
[speaker002:] E three divided by average exchange.
[Graham:] That's getting on to the right. Yes, not an absolute...
[speaker002:] No.
[Graham:] Okay, over to the other side. Erm,... erm how do you check whether... ho how do you check how much, how big your disk is? What do you type precisely?
[speaker002:] C H two B S blank
[Graham:] Right. Okay. How do you find out what memory you've got? To develop into your spreadsheet?
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[Graham:] Sorry? Where's your systems?
[speaker002:] Data
[Graham:] Data status? [cough]
[speaker002:] No.
[Graham:] Changed your mind on that. Right. Check disk.
[speaker002:] No, no that's on the disk. It's, you go into status...
[Graham:] Another unanimous What the unanimous... decision of the team?
[speaker002:] Worksheet status.
[Graham:] Worksheet status. Are you happy with that?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] Happy with that?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] Happy with that?
[speaker002:] Yeah,
[Graham:] Yeah, I'll give you that. Don't put you off.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER]
[Graham:] [cough] Right, erm... how does memory get used in One Two Three, Release Two?
[speaker002:] Rapidly. [LAUGHTER]
[Graham:] It, it may be true, not the answer we need.
[speaker002:] Is it column blocks? [cough]
[Graham:] Column blocks. Okay. [cough] Bit more.
[speaker002:] One...
[Graham:] What's the key thing about memory, how it's used?
[speaker002:] It uses up all the gaps in between the gaps.
[Graham:] The gaps in between. That's what I was after. Right. Okay, how does Release Three and want to check the Windows differ?
[speaker002:] It doesn't use the gap... it doesn't use up the gaps... between erm the distance working
[Graham:] Big distances. What defines, what's a big distance? That's right, is it? [cough] When he fills up the gaps within the five hundred and twelve row blocks he gets. Okay. Er, why can't you use all of your expanded memory?...
[speaker002:] Yeah. out the room. I think it's because it can't address it. I went out next.
[Graham:] No, you were all in here at the time.
[speaker002:] on the phone
[Graham:] Oh, were you? Oh, you might have been I but most of you were certainly here.
[speaker002:] Got as far as you could only use five hundred and forty odd or something was it
[Graham:] Saying you could probably only use practically only five hundred K Why?
[speaker002:] Because your main memory won't take all the expanded memory anyway. Will it? It will only expand, take something
[Graham:] Er, I'm not with you, sorry? I'll pass it across.
[speaker002:] Could you condense some
[Graham:] Yes. When your conventional memory runs up, you can't put more into expanded memory. What,wh wh feeling slightly bigger, you get three and a half, but er... what goes into conven what goes into conventional memory? What uses up the conventional memory?
[speaker002:] spreadsheet
[Graham:] Well, I can't deny that.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] like erm, all the extras. The additional things.
[Graham:] Er, it wasn't what I was after.
[speaker002:] certain things to go
[Graham:] Yes. Okay. Yes
[speaker002:] Like formulae and things
[Graham:] So what doesn't go into expanded memory, then?
[speaker002:] Data. It is the actual text the input bit...
[Graham:] That's supposed to go into the expanded memory.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[Graham:] What did I say, doesn't go into expanded memory?
[speaker002:] Numbers.
[Graham:] Well...
[speaker002:] Labels.
[Graham:] It's partly true, but...
[speaker002:] Labels.
[Graham:] No. No, I think you're on the wrong track.
[speaker002:] Is your conventional memory?
[Graham:] What does, what... what only goes into conventional memory... not into expanded? Erm, I'd better tell you. It's the sixteen bytes block. That's the minimum amount of memory that gets used. That is used solely out of conventional. [cough] I'll give you half, anyway. Right, er, same again. Erm. If you find yourself running out of memory, and you're working on a spreadsheet for a while, what should you do?
[speaker002:] Save it and retrieve it.
[Graham:] Save it and retrieve it, that's the one, yes. Right, why's that? The other side.. Why should, what does it do, if you save and retrieve? Or what I want to know is but the question is...
[speaker002:] You take anything that you've in that you've erased on it and then put it back in.
[Graham:] Yes, when you erase something, it doesn't free up the memory straight away. Okay. Erm, when you erm, erase a cell, with range erase. What do you get rid of?
[speaker002:] Everything. Just, just typing with any erm
[Graham:] You get rid of the format. You get rid of when you do range erase.
[speaker002:] No, you don't, no you don't. Range erase, you just get rid of what's in the cell. You don't get rid of the format. memory in.
[Graham:] Right. Yes, that's right. You don't get rid of the format. Okay, fine... very generous there. Er, erm, right. How do you get rid of, what's the best, what did I say was the best way of getting rid of everything out of the cell?
[speaker002:] Copy it all in to... Blank cell.
[Graham:] Copy a blank cell. That's blank... in what way is it blank?
[speaker002:] no formula
[Graham:] No, no formula and what else is not...
[speaker002:] Not protected.
[Graham:] No protect.
[speaker002:] No labels.
[Graham:] No. No protect, is that what you mean?
[speaker002:] Whatever. [LAUGHTER] top there.
[Graham:] There's no what at the top?
[speaker002:] No Us or...
[Graham:] No U that be unprotect. Right, and no format. Right, okay. I'll give you that. Erm. How do you get rid of deadwood?
[speaker002:] You chop [LAUGHTER]
[Graham:] What's that?
[speaker002:] I'll take a guess at you want [cough] and then it deadwood exact part of the spreadsheet,
[Graham:] Can do. That's one way. How, exactly do you do the extract? Or what menu options do you choose?
[speaker002:] slash range.
[Graham:] So the other question enter extract.
[speaker002:] File name extract it all in one go.
[Graham:] file name
[speaker002:] Formulae or... Oh, values or formula. Values...
[Graham:] Which of the two?
[speaker002:] Well, formulae will take the labels and everything. Values will just take the figures. There's no formulae I know that
[Graham:] So which one you want then?
[speaker002:] Formula.
[Graham:] Formula. Right. Okey-doke. Alright, I'll give you that. That's one way of doing it. Er, what's an another way. Getting rid of deadwood?
[speaker002:] Clearing columns and rows. If you've done a diagonal. You should be able to clear all columns the rows to the right of your
[Graham:] Oh, right, erase
[speaker002:] Coming down, yeah
[Graham:] all those different ranges...
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] would you say? Right. Okey-dokey. Erm, I can't think of any questions there.... Er, how can you have eight K more memory than most of you seem to have?
[speaker002:] rather than print the erm... Yeah. Without getting the print wrong.
[Graham:] How do you...
[speaker002:] One Two Three,
[Graham:] Right, that's it. Good. Right. Okey-doke. That's the end of the competition. Picked the right one on that one as well, didn't I? Most of them were wrong on this one Right. I missed some questions out Right. Linking files, copying data from one file to another in various ways. Erm [cough] so, there's various methods, we'll go into specific methods in a minute, but er, when you are passing data from one file to another, you ought to use passing and receiving areas. This is the same, in the same way that we had passing and receiving areas, of passing data from one part of a spreadsheet to another part of a spreadsheet. Erm, so you bring all the data down, passing over the simple formulae and then do one copy. So file combine is the method. You've had a look at that before. Combine at range, try and arrange all the files into another file. You only need to one file combine, that's one advantage, instead of three, so it's about three times quicker. But er, there's also an advantage of passing and receiving areas as there is before. Er, all to keep in clear order where information was going to and from. Erm, instead of you can combine directly a range from one file into another file. You can also er, another method, you could while you're working on this file, use extract to save that range of that file to a separate file, [cough] and then when you retrieve this file you can com you combine this file here. This small file to there. So you can either go that way or you go direct. Erm, the advantage of this way is it [cough] tends to confuse [cough] most of the time, but it's a lot quicker. It only takes half a second to save that relatively small range. That small file, and it only takes half a second to combine that relatively small file to there. But it might take half a minute to combine this range from this relatively large file. [writing on board] So in terms of overall computer speed, that method could be quicker, but I don't recommend you use it actually, because it's risky. It's risky in the sense that you change this file. You save it, but you forget to extract that range to a separate file. And then go to this file, and then you combine in this file here to there, and you don't realize it's an old copy. That's a risk, that's where you get the wrong answers.
[speaker002:] When you, when you expect that that that that takes the copy back in the old file.
[Graham:] Oh, it does. When you do file extract, just er, saving part, it's not removing it from this.
[speaker002:] Its copying it though.
[Graham:] Just copying it, yes. Like you do a file save. When you do a file save. Your file doesn't disappear. Right, now, the specific methods, file combine, is one method. Er, file combine has its problems, though. Anybody had any problems with file combine?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] What's the problem you had?
[speaker002:] the that, sometimes you can get combine figures with, with file display, but it doesn't combine correctly, or edit properly, or edit formulae
[Graham:] Formulae. Right that's the problem. Formulae. Er, let's look at this spreadsheet here. I've got an input number there. A number on the grid. In that cell I've got a formula, just multiply the number above by the number of the left. Then got a label and then got another formula in a cell. I want to copy those four numbers into another file. So you each give those four cells a range name, which I have already done. Range name, create data. It's not my normal name if you notice, but the name those four cells data, okey-doke. And er, I'll save the file, and er, I want to copy that data, let's say to here. Put the cell point in there. If I do a file combine and then copy and then just part of the file, so it's name you'll specify the range. What range? It's the range the range name data. So I'll type that in. Now what's the name of the file? Well, the file is called F C V. Press enter, and there's the hundred, that's fine, but this should have a... thirty in it, it's got a zero in it. The reason being is that it's copied for formula across, see at the top F eight time E nine, and that formula has gone and recalculated... straight away. It's multiplied a hundred above by a blank cell on the left and you get zero. So that's why, it's copied the formulas across. I didn't want the formulae. I was just wanted the numbers...
[speaker002:] menu.
[Graham:] There isn't an option unfortunately, erm, er, one potential solution er, which may well work, is to use file, combine add instead of copy, let's have a go with that one. Add main range data file F C V and ah, there we've got the right numbers, a hundred and a thirty. Look in the top left, there's no formulae. Not that we want it, just the number, that's fine. Er, what we haven't got though, is a label there. There was a label in that cell, er file combine add, doesn't copy labels. It doesn't copy formulae, it doesn't copy labels either. But if, if you don't need labels, then file combine add is an acceptable way of coping the data across.
[speaker002:] I just want to tell you, time I done that done that on a number of spreadsheets compared with the same label on one, on one
[Graham:] Yeah, that had a label in the cell, if I had A B C in that cell. If I was to do a file combine add again. File, combine add take range. Take F C V. It doesn't know I've written the A B C,
[speaker002:] Right.
[Graham:] so it, any, whenever I have a cell, put a label in
[speaker002:] Oh.
[Graham:] it or a formula in it. What it also does, as you see, is it adds what you combine combining two of what's on the spreadsheet. So it's got two hundred there now. So before you do a file combine add, you need to erase first, and then do the file combine add. So that it doesn't add the numbers to what's on the screen. Now, if you do want labels, as well as the numbers. What you doing to do? Well, this is the solution. You set recalculation to manual, first. You put a slash, worksheet, global recalculation... and manual... and then you do your file combine copy again. File. Combine. Copy. Name range. Data, and F C V then file. Right, so there's all the right numbers, and the label. Still copy the formulas across, you notice. But the formulas haven't calculated yet. sorted out in your calculator, as soon as you combine them. What I need to do therefore, is get rid of the formulae, just leave the numbers there. How do you do that? Er, how do I get rid of these formulae, that one and that one, but leave the numbers there?
[speaker002:] Or some... value.
[Graham:] Something value, yes.
[speaker002:] Erm. Range value.
[Graham:] Range value, yes, that's it. You do slash... range... value. It works just like copy does. With one difference. What's the difference? Exactly the same as copy, but there's one difference. The way copy works.
[speaker002:] copy
[Graham:] Anything said at the back. Yes, it is.
[speaker002:] It doesn't copy the formulae.
[Graham:] It doesn't copy the formulae. Yes, that's the difference between copy and range value. So, erm, highlight what you want to copy, which is that, and then ask where do you want to copy to. So where should I copy to?
[speaker002:] Same place.
[Graham:] The same place, that's it. Normally when you copy, you copy somewhere different, er, which I could do, but er, I'm gonna copy it to the same place. So I just press enter.
[speaker002:] If you copy it to a different place, does it leave the blank formulas...
[Graham:] In the original place, yes.
[speaker002:] somewhere else.
[Graham:] Use the second one just with the numbers, that's right, yes. But I've copied over to the same place, what it seems to be doing provided the cell pointed out, you're looking at the top left. You don't see the formulae any more, just the number if there's one there. [cough] So that's the solution. You set recalculation to manual, do the file from my own copy and then use range value to remove formulae... So that's the file combining method. Getting data across... We'll go on to another... another way of getting data across from one file to another is with a special type of formula. Like this one at the top. If I type that formula in a cell on a spreadsheet. What's the two the name of the file, two greater than the cell address and it er, gets to the data from that cell and that other file. Have you ever done, used these formulae. Anybody used them? By linking formulae. You've used them
[speaker002:] Linking files together.
[Graham:] For linking files together. Right, and there's various pros and cons to be aware of. So that's rather good. So let's demonstrate first of all how they work. I've got a file named sales one. Here it is, and erm, leave these er, on this row er twenty five, I've got a total sales figures, and it's that total sales figure there that I want to pass across into another file. Let me save this file. That's the cell C twenty five that bears the total. I've got a file called income two, and let me just erase what's here first of all. Right, so we'll type a formula into this cell, this is where I want the total sales figure to be. So type plus two less thans, the name of the file, which is sales one, two greater thans, and a cell address, C twenty five and then enter... and that number one five four is, you got from that file sales one, in cell C twenty five, and I can copy that formula to the right, just like any other formula, I can copy it. Erm, there we go, and er, we copy right C twenty five E twenty five, that's it.... Let me save this file. Letting me go back to the sales file. Have to change some of the numbers. Right, let's save the file. Let's retrieve the, the er, other file back again, and as soon as you retrieve it, updated it, data from the other file. So, as you retrieve it, it's updated the file. That sounds very good. You didn't have to press any buttons, it just did it.
[speaker002:] Shouldn't that be a range name instead of a cell address?
[Graham:] Er, well, yes, we'll come to that. Wh why might you want to do that?
[speaker002:] of spreadsheets are...
[Graham:] Sorry?
[speaker002:] Well, a group of spreadsheets
[Graham:] You put re you would want to put range names on the cell. Instead of C twenty five, you have a range name. Is that what you mean?
[speaker002:] Yeah, well I manually combine at the moment... the range names. A number of range names from a number of...
[Graham:] You file combine?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] Oh, I think what you're trying to say is can you combine a whole range and not just one cell. Right. Well, I'll come back to that. Let me go back to er the inco er the sales file. Let's say we're gonna research a number of products. The product er... F [writing on board]... write numbers. Here we go. Save it away. Let's retrieve the other one back again... the numbers...
[speaker002:] absolute type
[Graham:] That's right, erm, I can save it with the row on the other files, but the total is now on row twenty six, but this is still referring to the same cells, C twenty five.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[Graham:] The row twenty five is no now contains a dash blind. Erm, so that's not very good. Erm, at least I spotted it here, and I can rea realize what the problem is. Change that to a twenty six and then copy this er right. But, er, you might not have spotted it, and furthermore, you might have er, referred to another row that contains numbers. Here it was obvious that something was wrong, because you saw a dash. But you could have er, be er could now be referring to a different row that happens to have the same numbers in. Might not seen obviously wrong. So, therefore you get wrong answers. So, this is a big risk with these highlighted formulas, if you do it this way. Of course, we're always going to be inserting and deleting and moving things about, so, er, the risk of this happening will be very high. But there is a solution, and that's to use range names. [cough] So let's go back to the file again.... Er, I could name that cell with a range name, that cell there, the first cell. range name create, erm, in fact, I've already done it. Th this cell, erm, C twenty six, I've named cell zero one. That cell there. Name cell zero one. Cell zero two. Name that one. E twenty six, I've named zero three, and so on. That's my normal naming convention, my normal naming convention is use the first two letters W L. W I've explained, and L stands for linking. So you have to create a range name for each cell that you're going to link. Let's go back to the other file... er, I'm going to put a range name in, cell zero one on that one. Cell zero two on that one.... Right, so I, I've put, got the range names on the first two, but not on the others. Let's save this file... and then retrieve the er, other one back again. Let's insert yet another product. Type in the numbers... save it, retrieve the other one back again. So at least the first two cells are still picking up the right two numbers, because we used the range names, we've inserted a row on the other file, but er, we're still about range names found where those cells are. Whereas here and in that range name it's still referring to row twenty six.... So that's the solution. Use the range names when you file formulae.
[speaker002:] Sorry. I want to erm, go ahead and put files formulae information three files one point one down
[Graham:] Yes,
[speaker002:] Can I do that?
[Graham:] yes, you can have diff different opening formulae with a different part name in it. Yes, but no not into the one cell. You have to bring the two separate cells into fourth cell, total number.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] Erm. You can't link a whole range to a whole range, you can only have [cough] to one cell. So this a thing you won't like about it, is that if you've got er, thirteen columns and ten rows, that means you have to create hundred and thirty range names, which you won't enjoy doing. Erm, but you really need to do it, cos the risk of things going wrong are very high, you don't... Right, let's file I wanted to say a fe a few things about One Two Three Release Three, cos there are some differences on the Windows products. When you retrieve the linked file one two three, release three of four, it doesn't automatically update itself, and it does here. So what do you need to do in order to release three or four? One thing you can do, is do file admin link and that goes and gets the data from the file on the disk. It takes it then. But I don't use it, er, because it's incredibly slow. It can measure it and wait hours. If you've got a, if you're linked to a big file and you got a lot of linking formulae, you can wait hours for it to finish. So you want to avoid it at all costs in release three of four. So what should you do? Well, in release three of four you can have more than one file open at the same time. Let me... show you. Here's the first file that I've got, this is the sales file, and, to bring the second file into memory in this, this One Two Three Release Three, you do file open. That leaves this file in memory, but brings another one into memory. Er, might as well move the next one in... and that cell's got a file linking formulae which is updated cos of the files in the memory. Let's just create a window, so we can see both files on the screen at the same time. Right, so in the lower window, we've got the sales file, and the upper window we've got the income file. The linking formulae in that cell. If I change a number here, you'll notice,si since I change that number here it recalculates through... to the other file. The two files are in memory. When you change one, the other automatically recalculates through. So if you need to pass data across from one file to another in release three or four, they don't convert the files and then they, data transfers across virtually easy... Any questions... on that. Right, er, we got tea or coffee or a soft drink
[speaker002:] ... [everyone talking]
[Graham:] Ten, fifteen minutes. How long do you need? [fifteen minutes] Well, a little bit about managing your files. Is there a tape recorder in here somewhere?
[speaker002:] has got it By the wall here.
[Graham:] Oh, right. That's why you're quiet over there, is it? [LAUGHTER] So a bit about managing your files. Er, you shouldn't put too many files in one directory, cos then you can't find them, when you're looking for a file. You see a whole list of files you can't retrieve, you get a whole list of appearing. And, er, you probably retrieve half a dozen files before you find [crockery noise] the one that you want. Has this happened to you from time to time? You can't remember what you called a certain file, and...
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] it looks like it might be that one, got to try that one. Not the one. Er, is it this one? No. No, it's not that one. You can retrieve quite a few,wa waste a lot of time, anyway. [cough] Erm, what you want to do is to create lots of directories and put different sets of files in different directories. Are you familiar with directories?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] DOS. Making directories. Erm, the analogy is the filing cabinets. Er, you wouldn't have a great big stack of paper in the corner of the room. [LAUGHTER] Well, er, if you did, then if you were looking for something, you couldn't find where it was, you know, you'd have to delve in, and you take ages to find whatever you're looking for. But er, if you file everything away in filing cabinets, then er, you can go to the right filing cabinet, open the right drawer, maybe there's some folders in there. Pick out the right folder, if it's got a tab on it. Then maybe between various other pieces of paper, you find the one that you're after. And, find thing quickly. Erm. So. Erm, you want to put your own computer files in directories in the same way.... You ever created a directory? How do you do it? [cough]
[speaker002:] Erm, you have created a sub with DOS.
[Graham:] Created a sub-directory, right.
[speaker002:] In erm, DOS, do you do M D...
[Graham:] M D, that's right...
[speaker002:] space, back-slash...
[Graham:] What does M D stand for?
[speaker002:] Main directory...
[Graham:] You, if you get the C prompt. You've seen the C prompt, have you?
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[Graham:] And, you wanted to create a, a sub-directory off the root directories [cough] known as root directories you would type M D... space... suppose you wanted to create a directory named put, put your budgets in. Keep them in, press enter. So that creates... a sub-directory, off your root directory, called... put. You may have a list of directories as well, off the root directory, and then you've got a directory called One Two Three One Two Three programs in.
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[Graham:] And you may have some other directories. Then if you've got one called DOS. Put the DOS programs in there
[speaker002:] All that, all I can do is pick a file out of my come under One Two Three, but if you do that in Lotus you have to do the one two three first. No, you can create a separate sub-directory. I've got one two three and a black-slash But if you put two three and I put in in the sub-directory. Yeah, that's what I mean, you have to do it on one two three. No. No, when you do make directories, you just put you wouldn't save it into... Oh, I think it... Saving it into one two three Yes, but once you, once you [cough] automatically. Yeah.
[Graham:] How do you get into DOS? If you're in One Two Three of that suppose you wanted to make a directory.
[speaker002:] use it.
[Graham:] How do you get into DOS?
[speaker002:] We have to go out I'd exit out... Yeah.
[Graham:] You could quit. Yeah. You could do, but then you have to restart One Two Three and re-retrieve your spreadsheet and all the rest of it. [cough] If you choose system from the top menu, that puts you into DOS, but it leaves One Two Three there. So you quickly get back... so it's pointing at my one two three directory, so if I do M D...
[speaker002:] yeah.
[Graham:] if I do M D space put here, it will create a sub-directory, below the one two three directory, but if I want [cough] as a sub-directory from the roots directory, I have to type M D back-slash put. That would make it off the root directory. Erm. You can also point, well you start, you can point at the root directory, if you wanted to. Do you know how to do that? At the moment it's pointing at this one two three directory, back-slash P back-slash one two three Now you point at the root directory...
[speaker002:] You directory
[Graham:] You use You do C D [cough] sorry, I should have said M D [cough] If you want to make a directory off the root directory, [cough] you type M D to make directory. If you want to point at another directory, you do C D... change directory, and that's pointing at the root directory there. Er so, when I want to create a directory called put off the root directory. I can do M D space put. I've got a directory here, now. You may want to put further sub-directories below that, maybe for different years, ninety three, ninety four... ninety five. How do you how do you do that?
[speaker002:] back-slash one two...
[Graham:] Don't you do...
[speaker002:] Do the and then the back-slash and then the
[Graham:] Yes, you can do er, you can M D...
[speaker002:] Put.
[Graham:] Put... M D I can do back-slash got a lot of space put here back-slash ninety three. Or you could [cough] you could point to that directory called put first of all. You do C D space put, so you're pointing at that directory, and then if you do M D ninety three, M D space ninety three, and then I've created a sub-directory in ninety three, below this directory. You do M D space ninety four, and create that one, and so on. And you can go further down under the ninety three and you may want to create further sub-directories. So, the put is like your filing cabinets. And these directories are like drawers in your filing cabinets and then you've got further sub-directories still, below that, then er, they're like folders, within your er, filing cabinet drawer. So you put your files in these different directories and then, when you're looking for something, er, you'll find it more easily. If you're looking for a budget file, for a particular year, and you know where to look. How do you erm, well, to get back into Lotus, type exit, and then enter... Hang on right back to the spreadsheet. [cough] How do I erm, change it, so that when I do file retrieve, it lists directories in... put ninety three. It lists files. If I do file retrieve it, it lists the files in put ninety three. That's the directory here. How do you do that? Well, you could type it all.
[speaker002:] what I do and then I could
[Graham:] Sub-directories... Er, yes, you could type er, back-slash back-slash put and then press enter, and it lists the sub-directories and you highlight that and press enter [cough] and then it would list where the files are in that directory, of course, I haven't got any, we've just created those directories. Erm, but then ev every time I wanted to retrieve a file from that directory, I'd have to type in that put and the ninety three and all the rest of it. How can I set it so that, soon as I do file retrieve, it lists the files from that directory?
[speaker002:] Worksheet file directory. Put the name of the directory.
[Graham:] Erm...
[speaker002:] Not files, yeah the
[Graham:] Well,
[speaker002:] worksheet directory.
[Graham:] You're almost right
[speaker002:] Worksheet directory.
[Graham:] Erm. The file directory.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] You do file...
[speaker002:] Directory...
[Graham:] Directory...
[speaker002:] Yeah
[Graham:] Here. So the display'll change the current directories. The current directories, gotta be this one. If I wanted to point at the put directory. Put ninety three. I type that in, press enter. And then if I do file retrieve
[speaker002:] bring that up and
[Graham:] it's listing files from that directory...
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Graham:] straight away. Sorry?
[speaker002:] What I've done in the past, is erm, for file retrieve and then erm, on top of the original do a slash put and then enter, and that then gives me a sub-file.
[Graham:] Basically, it lists the files on that directory, yes. You have to type put every time. Not like saying, if you do this file directory, type the put in, then er, you wouldn't have to type put in every time you retrieve the file, from the directory.
[speaker002:] Mm.
[Graham:] Right. Let me just put the directory back to where it was. File... directory... right. Erm. So the advantage of pu putting your files in different directories, is you find things easily. One of the advantages. Probably some others as well here. As regards to various er other chores like deleting a set of files or copying a set of files, if you don't want the ninety three files any more... you just delete all the files in the directory. You don't have to pick out the ones that are ninety three, cos th they're all ninety three in that particular directory. Er, another thing that's useful to do, is to name your files in a particular way. Have a convention for how you name your files. So the maximum length of the file name is, is what?...
[speaker002:] Eight...
[Graham:] Eight characters, that's right. So you could use different characters of the file name to mean different things. Er, for example, the E A year as part of the file name, like eighty seven. Erm, you may well have got different directories, for the different years. It's not a good idea to include the year as part of the file name as well, because you might accidentally copy some files into the wrong directory. You might copy the ninety three file by accident into the ninety four directory. And if you've got the same file names, and you're doing a copy in DOS, you just overwrite them, and you overwrite the ninety four file with ninety three file there. But if each file has got a unique name, then that can't happen, so er, if you copy the all the files in that directory have got nine four as part of the file name, then if it's got nine three then, er, you won't be able to overwrite any files, you have two sets of files in there, and you can sort it out later on. Erm, in this particular spreadsheet system, there's a number of different files, for different departments. So I've got the department number. Just the two digit number in this example. There's the second and the third character of the file name. If it was a s single digit er, department, like department number six. I'd enter that as zero six. It always takes up the same number of positions in the file name, and that's useful as you shall see. Erm, I may have budget files, actual files, forecast files. There's a letter to indicate er, what that, er, is B for budget, A for actual, and F for forecasts. Er, the different types of files perhaps, there's a, maybe a payroll file, I have a P there, and I have a access file I have an A there. So, when you're looking for a file, you know you want, oh yes, it's for er department er thirty six er it's er payroll file, it's for nineteen ninety four and it's budget. Before you start looking for the file, you know what the file name is. So when yo you get a list of the file, you do a file retrieve, they're all listed in alphabetical order. You can, you alre can very quickly focus in on the one you're after, and you'd be sure that was the one, and you retrieve it and it's there. Very quickly. You don't have to retrieve any different files. Go searching through long lists of file names to find what you're after. So that's one advantage of having a naming convention. You find what you're looking for quickly. Erm, another advantage is erm, with various er chores, which is copying or deleting files. If I wanted to copy all of the department twenty two files to the, the A disk, the floppy disk. In DOS I could type copy space D twenty two star dot star to A. You familiar with these er the asterisks? What these mean? What does an asterisk mean?
[speaker002:] The whole file. The whole, whatever's on that erm. Would be all D twenty two.
[Graham:] It would have to begin D twenty two, and anything that follows erm... suppose you wanted to delete all the nineteen eighty seven files. What would you type in? In DOS. You type del, I'll give you that? Then what?
[speaker002:] Star dot, Eighty seven. Eighty seven. Eighty seven.
[Graham:] Sorry. Wh what eighty-seven?
[speaker002:] Whatever it is, the department number, whatever.
[Graham:] Well, it's all dif all different departments. Erm, eighty seven, then what?
[speaker002:] Dot star dot star
[Graham:] Star dot star.
[speaker002:] you've delete your column eighty seven.
[Graham:] Erm. Well, it says are you sure. What do you say?
[speaker002:] No.
[Graham:] [LAUGHTER] That's an honest answer. It's not what you normally do, is it? Er, most people, when they see a question like are you sure, they say, course I'm sure, yes. And er, that does delete all the nineteen eighty seven files, that's true. In fact, though, it deletes everything. It's the same as typing star dot star. Which you probably recognize as being everything. Says are you sure.
[speaker002:] Mm.
[Graham:] Say yes, it deletes everything. So save yourself a bit of time like that. [LAUGHTER] And, so that's not quite right...
[speaker002:] It deletes star dot eighty seven.
[Graham:] Star dot eighty seven. Now as soon as you put the dot, what you're saying is erm, that's the extension. These are the last three characters and then into the extension,the they're probably going to be W K one.
[speaker002:] Ta take the asterisk out.
[Graham:] Er, in erm... you need to use another wildcard. Do you know any other wildcards other than an asterisk?
[speaker002:] Question mark.
[Graham:] Question mark. That's the one. Now what would you type then. Down
[speaker002:] One, two, three, four, four questions marks eighty seven.
[Graham:] Four question marks... eighty seven
[speaker002:] Question mark.
[Graham:] Can do a question mark, I suppose. I suppose in the year I needn't do a star, a star if you wanted to. Er, so what that question mark means is...