TrimPath Forum

Wow, the Visible Calculator!  (bows head in deference)

Unlike VisiCalc, where you use the /R command to replicate some cells, in Num Sum, use your mouse to drag out a range selection of cells that you want to copy.

Then hit Control-C (or Edit->Copy on your browser's menu), then click on the cell where you want to paste the range, then Control-V (or Edit->Paste), AND, an extra step, finally hit Enter to complete the copy and paste.  The "range" of cells, of course, might just be one cell.  Only data is copied (data and formulas), by the way, not formatting/styling info.  And, the copied formulas are not rewritten to make sense in the new position, so don't forget to fix up your cell references in your formulas (unless you used absolute cell refs, like $A$1).

Also, you can paste the range into your favorite text editor, too.  It'll be just tab-delimited text.  This is like a poor man's export.

For now, too, clicking on a row or column header doesn't work with copy-and-paste.  You actually have to drag out a range of cells.

How do you do relative cell references? All my references seem to be absolute (even without using dollar signs)... what am I missing?

Last edited by msjacoby23 (2005-10-26 02:42:00)

Just so I'm clear, relative cell references will get adjusted if a column is added, but won't (currently) get adjusted when a column is copied? 
If that's right, then one way to replicate (copy with formulas adjusted for the new locations) might be to set up the first column, with all its formulas and references, and then insert columns before it.  Haven't tried it yet.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm still not getting relative references using the '=A1' format. I cleared my Firefox cache, restarted the browser, and tried again. No go. So, I moved from my Mac to my PC and tried the same process on my Windows Firefox. Still no go. Finally, I tried opening up the page in Windows IE6 (in which I have never gone to numsum) and that didn't work either. What might it be? I've also been reloading pages as part of the process...

Also, my understanding is that '=A1' will reference a cell one to the right and one down from the active cell. Is that correct? If so, how do I go left and up? Do I use negative alpha values, as in, '=-A-1'?

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I also viewed source and manually reloaded all the js and css files - trying to be thorough before posting another question...

Last edited by msjacoby23 (2005-10-28 22:49:35)

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/relative.htm

FYI: Excel stores data in a relative "R1C1" style, but default display is an absolute "A1" style. This means that when a field B1 containing "=A1" (equivalent to "=R0C-1") is copied to B2, it automagically changes it's display to "=A2" (behind the scenes: "=R0C-1" still). If B1 was "=A$1" aka "=$R0C-1" (I think), copying B1 to B2 would produce "=A$1" or "=$R-1C-1"

You get familiar with working with R1C1 style if you start working with Macros in Excel

With the new additions to NumSum, I'm wondering what the status of relative cell references is. Do we have R1C1 yet? Do we have an equivalent? Man, it would be nice to be able to propagate all my calcs with ease...