re.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!laura.pcug.co.uk!alpha3!casfaq
Subject: comp.apps.spreadsheets FAQ
Summary: FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about spreadsheets
Date: 09 Sep 1997 01:00:00 +0100
X-Posted-By: trivdb

Archive-name: spreadsheets/faq
Author: casfaq@locutus.ofB.ORG (Russell Schulz)
Comp-apps-spreadsheets-archive-name: faq
Posting-Frequency: biweekly

comp.apps.spreadsheets     == cas
Frequently Asked Questions == FAQ

========================================================================

Contents:

   1. Disclaimer
   2. Spam
   3. Can you answer my spreadsheet question?
   4. How can I add a FAQ and its answer to the FAQ list?
   5. Where can I learn about spreadsheets?
   6. General spreadsheet issues
   7. For the masses: Lotus 1-2-3
   8. For the masses: Quattro
   9. For the masses: Excel
  10. Spreadsheet runtimes/compilers
  11. Obscure: File formats
  12. Obscure: Free spreadsheets, and source code
  13. Obscure: Commercial spreadsheets for UNIX
  14. Obscure: Legal issues
  15. Miscellaneous
  99. Credits

========================================================================


1. Disclaimer

Read at your own risk.  The current, previous, or original authors
make no claim as to fitness for any purpose or absence of any errors,
and offer no warranty.  Do not eat.


========================================================================

2. Spam

you wouldn't believe how much spam I get to this address.


========================================================================

3. Can you answer my spreadsheet question?

Probably not.  Please don't mail it to me.  There is no reason to assume
I, personally, have ever even USED the spreadsheet you're wondering about.

Of course, if you're going to be like John Torquato <results@pacbell.net>
and send me insulting mail after I answer your question for free, but
offended you because I suggested you look in the manuals first, don't
bother mailing me at all.  (Yes, this really happened.)

Read the manuals, and the FAQ, and the materials pointed to by it.  If
you can't find an answer there, by all means post to the newsgroup.

A FAQ list is intended to reduce traffic on a newsgroup, not eliminate it.

If you can
  - clearly ask your question
  - show you've put in effort beforehand, and aren't just
      abusing the newsgroup
the newsgroup readers can be very helpful.  Don't be shy.

My personal interest is in obscure, technical and/or historical trivia,
like source code, free spreadsheets, and file formats, but not with how
to do things which are documented in the manuals.  I assume that future
maintainers will rectify this imbalance.

In the mean time, the whole of section 5 lists pointers to other places
you can look which will probably have what you want.


========================================================================

4. How can I add a FAQ and its answer to the FAQ list?

Mail BOTH of them to me.  Then I can add them to the FAQ and it should
help people who have that same question later, as well as everyone who
reads the group, because they won't see it asked and answered so often.

Do not just post the message and hope that I will see it -- I don't
read every message in the group.

I do not work on this FAQ every day, but I will try to get updates
incorporated in a timely manner.

  
========================================================================

5. Where can I learn about spreadsheets?

                                 More entries are always helpful!
                                 Have any moved?  Please let me know.

Here are some places to look on the Internet I've seen suggested:

  History of Spreadsheets
    http://manuel.lit.tas.edu.au/buss/sssw/history3.htm [error 1997/Jun/01]
    http://libwww.stfx.ca/cs130/lectures/spreadsheets/intro.html

  John Walkenbach's "The Spreadsheet Page"
    http://www.cts.com/browse/jwalk/
    http://www.j-walk.com/ss/

  Baarns Publishing's web site
    http://www.baarns.com/

  IUPUI's web site with FAQs for many spreadsheets
    http://www-lib.iupui.edu/toolbox/spreadsheets.html

  Unofficial Microsoft Excel Page
    http://www.vex.net/~negandhi/excel/

  Excel Homepage
    http://www.100folhas.pt/software/excel.html

  Finding and Removing Excel links
    http://www2.kalanit.co.il/nachum/

  Rick Desrosiers's page
    http://homepages.together.net/~rickd/

  DIF file format information
    http://hcl.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa573/convert.txt

  DIF file format problems seen [not responding 1997/May/01]
    http://www.wco.com/~3d5d1wsw/Apple.III.info/DIF.txt

  spreadsheets in mathematics, statistics, and science education
    http://sunsite.univie.ac.at/Spreadsite/

  spreadsheets and statistics
    http://www.cm.deakin.edu.au/~rodneyc/xlstats.html

  spreadsheets and differential equations
    http://www.sci.usq.edu.au/staff/robertsa/home.html
    (look for spreadsheet.sea.hqx)

  Richard Warr's spreadsheet page
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rdw/

  xlSTAT (a data analysis toolbox for Excel) home page
    http://seine.inapg.inra.fr/~fahmy/

  the Cobb Group (newsletters)
    http://www.cobb.com/
    http://www.cobb.com/ime/index.htm

  Village Software - commerical spreadsheets for Excel, Lotus, Quattro
    http://www.villagesoft.com/

  John Lacher - spreadsheet application development
    http://www.lacher.com/

  Bob Flanagan's VBA page
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bobf/vbhelp.htm

  German Excel Page
    http://www.vwa.ba-stuttgart.de/~mballweg/Excel/inhalt.htm

  BygWyg's Excel page
    http://members.aol.com/bygwyg/bygsoft/

  Raymond Panko's Spreadsheet Research page
    http://www.cba.hawaii.edu/panko/ssr/ssr.htm

  Arun Ubale's spreadsheet written in Java
    http://sunrise.cs.olemiss.edu/~cmubale/

  KMT Software; developers of templates, add-ons and developer tools
    http://www.kmt.com


Official product web pages:

  Official Lotus web site
    http://www.lotus.com/123/
    http://www.lotus.com/csswww/
    http://www.lotus.com/csswww/123.htm
    http://www.lotus.com/csswww/FAQWIN.htm
    http://support.lotus.com/

  Lotus information
    ftp://ftp.support.lotus.com/pub/desktop/
    ... Improv/technotes/next/technotes.zip
    ... Improv/technotes/windows/technotes.zip
    ... Symphony/technotes/standalone/technotes.zip
    ... Symphony/technotes/server_edition/technotes.zip
    ... SmartSuite/technotes/windows/standalone/technotes.zip
    ... SmartSuite/technotes/windows/server_edition/technotes.zip
    ... 123/technotes/dos/standalone/technotes.zip
    ... 123/technotes/dos/server_edition/technotes.zip
    ... 123/technotes/windows/server_edition/technotes.zip
    ... 123/technotes/windows/standalone/technotes.zip

  Lotus 123 User Discussion area at 
    http://198.114.68.13/123free/date.htm

  Lotus 123 Release 5.01 Support on the Web
    http://198.114.68.13/css/12396.htm

  Lotus Demos and Free Software
    http://www.lotus.com/home/free.htm

  Official Quattro web site
    http://www.corel.ca/products/wordperfect/cqp/index.htm
    http://www.corel.ca/products/wordperfect/cqp7/index.htm

  Quattro Pro Manual
    http://206.116.221.5/products/wordperfect/qpr/manual/ [error 1997/Jun/01]
    http://205.227.112.10/search/QP.htm [error 1997/Jun/01]

  Quattro Knowledge Base
    http://205.227.112.10/search/QP.htm [error 1997/Jun/01]

  Quattro Pro Discussion Board
    http://www.corelnet.com/corelnet/hyper/quattalk/index.html
      [error 1997/Jun/01]

  Official Excel web site
    http://www.microsoft.com/excel/
    http://www.microsoft.com/msexcel/
    http://www.microsoft.com/msexcel/FreeStuff/fs_xl_mstools.htm
    http://www.microsoft.com/excel/work_visit.htm
    http://www.microsoft.com/officedev/

  Official Excel FAQ
    http://www.microsoft.com/MSExcelSupport/content/faq/

  Microsoft Knowledge Base
    http://www.microsoft.com/kb/

  Official Wingz web site
    http://www.wingz.com/

  Official Xess web site
    http://www.ais.com/

  Official NExS web site
    http://www.xess.com/

  Official Applixware web site
    http://www.applix.com/
    http://www.redhat.com/products/apx.html

  Official Star Division web site
    http://www.stardiv.de/
    http://www.caldera.com/ [more precise URL desired]

  Official Spreadsheet 2000 (formerly Let's Keep It Simple) web site
    http://www.emer.com/s2k/
    http://www.casadyg.com/

  Official Improv web site
    ftp://ftp.support.lotus.com/pub/desktop/Improv/technotes/next/index.html

  Official Mesa web site
    http://www.plsys.co.uk/products/Mesa/

  Official Mesa for OS/2 web site
    http://www.sundialsystems.com/

  Official Quantrix web site
    http://www.lighthouse.com/ProductInfo/Quantrix.html [error 1997/Jun/01]
    http://www.lighthouse.com/ftp.html
    http://ftp.lighthouse.com/pub/products/Quantrix/

  Official ParaSheet web site
    http://www.lighthouse.com/ProductInfo/ParaSheet.html [error 1997/Jun/01]
    http://www.lighthouse.com/ftp.html
    http://ftp.lighthouse.com/pub/products/ParaSheet/

  Official As Easy As and Alite web site
    http://www.triusinc.com/
    http://www.triusinc.com/spread.htm

  Official @Risk web site
    http://www.palisade.com/products/risk/

  Official GS-Calc web site
    http://www.jps-development.com/gs-calc.htm

  Official `The File Formats Handbook' web site
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Guenter_Born/
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Guenter_Born/file1.htm

  Byte review of Improv on the NeXT
    http://www.byte.com/ART/9401/SEC6/ART1.HTM [not correct anymore?!]

Other:

  Mailing list: Excel General
    EXCEL-G

    for information, send mail with the line
    INFO EXCEL-G
    to LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM

    to subscribe to the list, send mail with the line
    SUB EXCEL-G user@host.domain.edu Firstname Lastname
    to LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM

  Mailing list: Excel Developer
    EXCEL-L

    for information, send mail with the line
    INFO EXCEL-L
    to LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM

    to subscribe to the list, send mail with the line
    SUB EXCEL-L user@host.domain.edu Firstname Lastname
    to LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM

  Newsgroups: Microsoft Excel
    access via NNTP at news://msnews.microsoft.com

    note that many of these are not legitimate RFC-1036-bis names, so
     they may not work with your particular newsreader

    microsoft.public.excel.123quattro
      Support for converting 1-2-3 or Quattro sheets
       into Microsoft Excel sheets.

    microsoft.public.excel.charting
      Support for building charts with Microsoft Excel

    microsoft.public.excel.crashesGPFs
      Post here for help with crashes or General Protection Faults. 

    microsoft.public.excel.datamap
      Support for the Data Map feature 

    microsoft.public.excel.interopoledde
      Assistance with OLE - DDE and other cross application issues.

    microsoft.public.excel.links 
      Support for using links in Excel. 

    microsoft.public.excel.macintosh
      Support for Excel issues on the Macintosh Operating System Platform 

    microsoft.public.excel.misc
      Post general questions or questions that do not fit
       one of the other categores.  

    microsoft.public.excel.printing
      Support for printing spreadsheets with Microsoft Excel

    microsoft.public.excel.programming
      Programming Excel using VBA or XLM.

    microsoft.public.excel.queryDAO
      Support of the Microsoft Query Tool and
       using Data Access Objects (DAO) in Excel.

    microsoft.public.excel.setup 
      Setup and Installing Microsoft Excel.

    microsoft.public.excel.templates
      Assistance with the Village templates and other XLT files.

    microsoft.public.excel.worksheetfunctions
      Support for Worksheet functions only like =Lookup(), or =Linest().

    microsoft.public.de.excel
      Deutsche Newsgroup fuer EXCEL


========================================================================

6. General spreadsheet issues

6.1 Why does my spreadsheet say 0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1-0.5 isn't 0?

  if any computer package uses binary floating point numbers (and
  the vast majority do), then it can not represent the value 1/10
  exactly (just like it can't represent the value 1/3 exactly).

  so, in each 0.1 there's a little roundoff error, and when you get
  enough of those errors together, you can sometimes see them.

  this is why you cannot reliably use simple equality tests on a
  binary-arithmetic computer (including in a spreadsheet) unless it
  is designed to represent such quantities exactly (for instance,
  by using integer hundredths, or using Binary Coded Decimal form).

  so, instead of testing for equality like
    =IF(Credits=Debits)
  you have to do it something like
    =IF(ABS(Credits-Debits)<0.0000001)

  because the first method may FAIL when you encounter this type
  of roundoff error.  the numbers will LOOK the same, but they
  won't BE the same, as far as the computer can tell.

  frustratingly, Microsoft Excel _does_ store values as integer
  hundredths to make the files smaller, but it does _not_ use these
  precise values in its calculations, as that perfect accuracy
  would make it slower!

  even though later versions of Microsoft Excel do have an option
  `use values as displayed', it does not internally work around this
  problem, as the calculations are still done internally in binary.

6.2 How can I save-as HTML?

6.2.1 built-in save-as HTML

  some spreadsheets have this built-in now.  contact your vendor
  to see if there is a patch or add-on which will work for you.

6.2.2 dbQuickPage (HTML)

  dbQuickPage supports the following [...]

    Lotus 1-2-3 wk1, wk3, wk4 
    Excel 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 8.0 

  http://www.voicenet.com/~apd230/quickpage.html

6.3 How many columns or rows does my spreadsheet allow?

  look in your manual!  why do so many people post this question
  world-wide?

6.3.1 Can I get more columns or rows than that?

  no -- did you think the manual was joking?

  a. perhaps there is another spreadsheet package which has
     enough columns or rows for your needs.
  b. if you cannot switch packages, try to rotate the data
     (since most spreadsheets allow many more rows than columns).
  c. if none of these work, split the data over multiple sheets,
     if your package has this capability.


========================================================================
7. For the masses: Lotus 1-2-3

7.0 1-2-3 history

  [
    I've been mailed a as-I-remember-it history, but I'd love to have
    an official one to point to here
  ]


========================================================================

8. For the masses: Quattro

8.0 Quattro history

  1-2-3 was the dominant spreadsheet on PCs for a long, long time.
  `quattro' is similar to the Latin and Spanish for `4'.  get it?


========================================================================

9. For the masses: Excel

9.0 Excel history

    http://www.microsoft.com/msexcel/productinfo/macintosh/xlhistry.htm
    http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q66/9/13.htm
    http://info.lut.ac.uk/departments/ps/Exceldir/ExcelHist.html

9.1 Why would anyone want to convert Excel 4 macros to VBA?

    - so they are easier to understand
    - so they are easier to modify
    - so you can learn VBA

9.1.1 Is there a tool which will convert Excel 4 macros to VBA?

    not that anyone knows of -- if you find one, tell us all

9.2 How can I do a Save-As or Exit without prompting the user?

    VBA:

      You can suppress the messages with:
        Application.DisplayAlerts = False

      Don't forget to turn them back on when you are finished with:
        Application.DisplayAlerts = True

9.3 How do I put long, multiline text string in a message box?

    VBA:

      Sub msg()
        MsgBox "This will print on line one" & Chr(13) & _
           "this will print on line two"
      End Sub

9.4 Why do I get "File format no longer supported"?

    If some other application overwrites the OLE DLLs, you will get
    this error at odd times.

    One fix posted by scotfos@rosemount.com (Scot Foss) follows:

      Move these files to a different directory and then Uninstall
      Excel. If you reinstall Excel every thing should work. After
      reading through the related articles in dejanews one person
      said that Microsoft Video was the culprit that overwrote the
      DLLs. The only thing that I can think of that I installed
      in the last month was Microsoft Encarta, I haven't
      experimented to see if it was Encarta that messed up the
      DLLs, so I can't be sure.

      Here's the list of the files:

      I deleted Excel and backed up and deleted the following
      files, and reinstalled Excel from the MS-Office disks.

             OLE2.DLL
             OLE2.REG
             OLE2CONV.DLL
             OLE2DISP.DLL
             OLE2NLS.DLL
             OLE2PROX.DLL
             VBA.DLL
             VBAEN.DLL
             VBAEN.OLB
             STDOLE.TLB
             STORAGE.DLL
             TYPELIB.DLL

9.5 What's the deal with the 15 digit numbers that return 0.64 or 1.28?

  according to Microsoft, the problem numbers are:

> 140737488355328   = 2^47
> 281474976710656   = 2^48
> 562949953421312   = 2^49

> multiples of ten also cause problems, such as 1.40737488355328

  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q128/6/50.htm
  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q128/3/32.htm

9.6 How can I view Excel files without Excel?

  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q141/2/24.htm

9.7 What's this about an Excel virus?

  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q154/1/31.htm

9.8 When I start up Excel, it tries to open a lot of files; some of
  them are non-Excel files (sometimes my AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS,
  sometimes all my Windows files) that it tries to open as Excel
  workbooks.  What happened?

  it is opening all the files in the Alternative Startup File Location.
  delete the setting via:

  Excel 4:
    load the AltStart addin and clear the entry

  Later:
    Tools|Options|General|Alternate Startup File Location

9.9 Any number I type in gets divided by a power of 10.  Why?

  Excel has an option `Fixed Decimal Places', which divides all
  constants entered directly in the cell by a power of 10 (e.g.,
  entering 622 would change to 6.22).

  change the setting to `0' via:

  Tools|Options|Edit|Fixed Decimal Places

9.10 Excel complains about TIMER.DRV on startup.  What can I do?

  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q109/7/78.htm

9.11 I get odd (square?) characters where I expect commas (thousands)
  or slashes (dates).  What happened?

  check your International settings in Control Panel.  when these get
  corrupted, Excel will still use them, with painful results.

9.12 How can I add 14:00 to 14:00 and get the cell to say 28:00
  instead of 04:00?

> For Excel 5, 7, 8
>   format the cell:           [h]:mm
>
> Excel 97 makes it easier now, by including the format among the pull
> down choices for a time format.

9.13 Why is =-1^2 positive and =0-1^2 negative?

  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q132/6/86.htm

  nonstandard operator precedence -- the `unary minus' has a high
  precedence, as normal, but the `exponentiation operator' has a
  higher one, which is NOT normal.

  Excel treats it as (-1)^2, while most languages would as -(1^2).
  (you can ALWAYS use parentheses to force either interpretation.)

  note that Excel formulas and VBA formulas disagree on the order.

  I had thought it might have been there for Lotus 1-2-3
  compatibility; however:

Bill Clark tested it and reported:
> Qbasic produces -1
> DOS Quatro Pro V5 produces -1
> Lotus 123r5w produces -1
> Excel 5 VBA produces -1
> dBase 4 produces 1
> GNU G77 Fortran (OS/2) produces -1
> Base32 (OS/2 Dbase clone) produces 1

John Whittington reported:
> SAS produces -1
> Minitab produces -1
> MS BASIC produces -1
> MS Word for Windows Table Formula produces 1

Anthony Berglas pointed out an odd problem with ordering between
/ (division) and \ (integer division) in VBA:
> ? 60 \ 5 * 2
> 6
> ? 60 / 5 * 2
> 24

9.14 How can I save a chart as a GIF file?

  see http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q168/6/61.htm


========================================================================

10. Spreadsheet runtimes/compilers

10.0 References

10.1 Baler and Visual Baler

  http://www.techtools.com/vbaler.htm
  http://nyweb.com/lotus/visbaler.htm

10.2 xlsexe

   Compuserve:      71031,1123
   America Online:  RobertL469
               Centerline Software
               3351 Turner Plaza #108
               Abilene, TX  79606

  ftp://ftp.zdnet.com/pccomp/1001/xlsexe.zip

10.3 Formula One (available from Programmer's Paradise)

  http://www.visualcomp.com/f1net/download.htm


========================================================================

11. Obscure: File formats

11.0 General References

  File Formats for Popular PC Software
    by Jeff Walden
    ISBN 0-471-83671-0
    John Wiley & Sons
    Copyright 1986

    Spreadsheet file formats for:
      Lotus 1-2-3 1, 1A, 2.0
      Symphony 1, 1.1
      Ability
      DIF (Data Interchange Format)
      Multiplan (SYLK) 1.2
      IBM Plans+ 1.0
      Supercalc 3 Release 2
      SDI (Super Data Interchange) 2.0
      Visicalc 177Y2

  More File Formats for Popular PC Software
    by Jeff Walden
    ISBN 0-471-85077-2
    John Wiley & Sons
    Copyright 1987

    Spreadsheet file formats for:
      Framework II
      Supercalc 4

  The File Formats Handbook
    by Guenter Born
    ISBN 1-85032-117-5
    International Thomson Publishing, London
    1274 pages
    Copyright 1995 (I think)

    Spreadsheet file formats for:

      LOTUS 1-2-3 WKS/WK1 file format
      LOTUS 1-2-3 WK3 file format
      LOTUS 1-2-3 FRM file format
      LOTUS 1-2-3 PIC format
      LOTUS Symphony format
      Data Interchange Format (DIF)
      Super Data Interchange format (SDI)
      Standard Interface format (SIF)
      Symbolic Link Format (SYLK)
      Excel binary interchange format (BIFF)

  Dr. Dobb's Essential Books on File Formats
    6 books on one CD
      Born: The File Formats Handbook
      Walden: More File Formats for Popular PC Software
      Kay: Graphics File Formats
      Kientzie: Internet File Formats
      Swan: Inside Windows File Formats
      Taylor: File Formats

    orders@mfi.com
    http://www.ddj.com/cdrom/

11.1 Tab-delimited format

  Stores:  Values

  Each column is separated by ASCII tabs (9).  Each row is separated
  by local end-of-line, be it ASCII LF (10) or ASCII CRLF (13,10).

  e.g.,
    First<tab>Second<tab>3<tab>Fourth, and Second-Last<tab>Fifth

11.2 CSV (Comma-Separated Values) format

  Stores:  Values

  Each column is separated by commas.  Each row is separated by local
  end-of-line, be it ASCII LF (10) or ASCII CRLF (13,10).

  Usually, if a comma is needed, the entire field will be surrounded
  by quotation marks.  Some packages enclose any string value (and some
  numeric values) in quotation marks.  I don't know of any standard
  way to represent a quotation mark, but doubling ("a ""quote"" char")
  is likely.

  e.g.,
    First,Second,3,"Fourth, and Second-Last",Fifth
    "First","Second",3,"Fourth, and Second-Last","Fifth"

11.3 DIF (Data Interchange Format)

  [ if ANYONE has a pointer to this format on the web, PLEASE tell me ]

  Stores:  Values, Equations

  This file format requires more explanation than just a simple example.

  _File Formats..._ says:

    And special thanks to Lotus Development Corporation for the foresight
    and kindness to place the information about their file format in the
    public domain.

    [ is this WKS only or DIF only or both or what? ]

11.4 Lotus-based formats

    11.4.1 WKS format

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Simple formatting

      File format descriptions can be found via the following anonymous
      ftp sites

      SITE: ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/lotus123/wksffmt.zip
        OR: ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/simtelnet/msdos/spredsht/

      http://www.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/lotus123.html

      FILE: wksffmt.zip  SIZE: 22,575  DATE: 900626
      DESCRIPTION:
        Description of Lotus .WKS & .WK1 file formats

      Lotus File Formats For 1-2-3, Symphony and Jazz
        by ...
        ISBN 0-201-16824-3
        Lotus Books
        Addison-Wesley
        Published 1987

    11.4.2 WK1 format

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Formatting, Named Regions [?]

      Also See WKS format

    11.4.3 WQ1 format

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Formatting, Named Regions [?]

      [is this the same as any Lotus format?]

11.5 SYLK format

  [ if ANYONE has a pointer to this format on the web, PLEASE tell me ]

    11.5.1 documented SYLK

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Formatting, Named Regions, Charts [?]

      used by Excel 4 and earlier, and all other SYLK software

      documented in Multimate manuals (and Walden's and later books)

    11.5.2 Excel SYLK

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Formatting, Named Regions, Charts [?]

      used by Excel 5 and later

      Born's book documents some (all?) extensions, but I am still looking
      for documention for them from Microsoft -- what good is having two
      file formats (Excel XLS and Excel SYLK) that only you can read?

      in particular, the `M'atrix modifier has caused me problems with
      software expecting to read a documented SYLK file.

11.6 Excel formats

    11.6.1 Excel 1.0 format

    11.6.2 Excel 1.5 format

    11.6.3 Excel 2.1 format

    11.6.4 Excel 3 format

    11.6.5 Excel 4 format

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Formatting, Named Regions, Charts, ...

      Try to find the Excel 4 SDK (out of print) from Microsoft.

    11.6.6 Excel 5/7 format

      Stores:  Values, Equations, Formatting, Named Regions, Charts, ...

      Buy the Excel 5 SDK from Microsoft -- your bookstore can order
      it from Microsoft Press (1-800-MS-PRESS).

        Microsoft Excel Developer's Kit:
        Version 5
        MS Press:
        ISBN 1-55615-632-4

      Rumor has it that, because they are OLE compound documents,
      there are NO libraries to create them, except those provided
      by Microsoft on the MS-Windows platform.

      The 'LAOLA' package is an OLE wrapper library for
      non-windows platforms. See:
      <http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~schwartz/pmh/laola.html>

      (this non-API method is not guaranteed to work for
      future versions of OLE -- it only replicates the
      binary file formats.)


========================================================================

12. Obscure: Free spreadsheets, and source code

12.1 sc

  Spreadsheet Calculator

  SimTel: sc621.zip
  http://www.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/spredsht.html
  ftp://ftp.coast.net/Coast/msdos/spredsht/sc621.zip

12.1.1 ss

  interface additions to sc 6.2.1
  by: Art Mulder  (email: art.mulder@ualberta.ca)
  latest version: 1.3.3
  ftp://ftp.cs.ualberta.ca/pub/spreadsheet/

12.1.2 xspread

  xspread was based on sc.

  The program xspread is a public domain spreadsheet which runs under X
  Windows or ascii terminals.  Xspread uses the X Window system if available
  or curses and term[cap/info] for ascii displays.  A manual is included.

  They are available from the usual X ftp places, and locally at  
  ftp://ftp.cs.uwm.edu/pub/soft-eng/         129.89.9.18

  soft-eng@cs.uwm.edu

12.2 oleo

  GNU spreadsheet
  ftp.prep.ai.mit.edu
  ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/oleo-1.6.tar.gz

12.3 teapot

  Teapot (Table Editor And Planner, Or: Teapot!)
  http://cantor.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/~michael/projects/teapot-en.html

12.4 Borland MicroCalc

  Borland's Turbo Pascal and Turbo C and Turbo C++ compiler packages
  have often included source code to a small spreadsheet.

12.5 Herb Schildt's sparse array code

  Herb Schildt's book C: The Complete Reference has a section on sparse
  arrays. His main example of where you'd use them is in a spreadsheet.

  ISBN 0-07-881263-1 (McGraw-Hill 1987)

12.6 SIAG

  http://www.edu.stockholm.se/~ulric/siag/


========================================================================

13. Obscure: Commercial spreadsheets for UNIX

13.0 Section criteria

  I will happily include a pointer to any Internet resource (in
  Section 4) for any spreadsheet manufacturer.

  In this section, I will also put email addresses and a few
  telephone numbers (toll-free wherever you are, and
  internationally-accessible for the rest of the world) for ones
  which run natively on Unix.

13.1 WingZ

  wingz-sales@wingz.com

13.2 Xess

  info@ais.com, support@ais.com
  1-919-942-7801
  1-800-334-5510

13.3 NeXS

  nexs-info@xess.com
  1-919-387-0076


========================================================================

14. Obscure: Legal issues

14.1 Patents

  14.1.1 Natural Order Recalc

    see http://www.lpf.org/Patents/against-software-patents.html
    see http://www.lpf.org/Links/prep.ai.mit.edu/techrev.patent
    see http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/bull/12/bull12.txt
    see http://www.hotwired.com/wired/2.07/features/patents.html

14.2 Interface Copyright

  14.2.1 Lotus vs. Borland and Paperback Software

    see http://www.lotus.com/corpcomm/27b2.htm
    see http://www.borland.com/ProgServ/US/legal/lawsuits.html
      [error 1997/Jun/01]
    see http://www.lpf.org/Copyright/look-and-feel.html


========================================================================

15. Miscellaneous


========================================================================

99. Credits

I expect most of the information in this FAQ to be supplied by people
other than myself -- it's just going to work better that way.  The
newsgroup readers have a LOT more spreadsheet experience than I ever
will (unless I multiply myself by a few thousand, which is not legal
with today's tax laws).


These people have contributed to the well-being of the FAQ:

  jwalk [at] cts.com (John Walkenbach)
  RussTiller [at] aol.com
  jolliffe [at] bbsrc.ac.uk (Lyn Jolliffe)
  negandhi [at] vex.net (Neil Negandhi)
  cingram [at] gtri.gatech.edu (Chris Ingram)
  arthur [at] ais.com
  BaarnsDon [at] msn.com (Donald Baarns)
  nachum [at] netvision.net.il (Nachum Ginat)
  dtsmith [at] mindspring.com (Dale Smith)
  neuwirth [at] smc.univie.ac.at (Erich Neuwirth)
  hans [at] usit.net (Ed Hansberry)
  tkm [at] xess.com (Tom Miller)
  helberg [at] maddog.fammed.wisc.edu (Clay Helberg)
  booter [at] fea.com (Elaine Richards)
  76712.626 [at] compuserve.com (Richard Warr)
  100322.1465 [at] compuserve.com (Born Guenter)
  vlod [at] iisc.co.uk (vlod kalicun)
  steve [at] emer.com (Steve Wilson)
  fahmy [at] ulb.ac.be (FAHMY Thierry)
  steelera [at] pilot.msu.edu (Ray M. Steele)
  pjraval [at] ix.netcom.com (P. Raval)
  dsherman [at] iwaynet.net (David Sherman)
  Dave_Weintraub [at] jhuapl.edu (Dave Weintraub)
  michael [at] cantor.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Michael Haardt)
  aroberts [at] usq.edu.au (Tony Roberts)
  eonsol [at] cix.compulink.co.uk (Jeff Hall)
  softbase [at] mercury.interpath.com (Scott McMahan - Softbase Systems)
  nlunger [at] epix.net (Norman Lunger)
  phillip [at] pm.cse.rmit.edu.au (Phillip Musumeci)
  bygwyg [at] aol.com
  the_mrs [at] geocities.com
  abarr [at] onramp.net (Allen F. Barr)
  scotfos [at] rosemount.com (Scot Foss)
  billo [at] hermes.bc.edu (E. J. Billo)
  gharmer [at] vitgcrp1.telecom.com.au (Greg Harmer)
  G.Dunn [at] Queens-Belfast.ac.uk (George Dunn)
  lyn.jolliffe [at] bbsrc.ac.uk (Lyn Jolliffe)
  ma [at] informatik.uni-kiel.de (Martin Ameskamp)
  peter.allan [at] aeat.co.uk (Peter Allan)
  Rsclient [at] aol.com (Peter Smith)
  T.Harden [at] tu-bs.de (Torsten Harden)
  eschner [at] w-4.de (Hanfred Eschner)
  goinssouth [at] worldnet.att.net (Steven Goins)
  gswebstr [at] budget.com.au (Graham Webster)
  panko [at] hawaii.edu (Ray Panko)
  arun [at] fsc.fujitsu.com (Arun Ubale)
  dcromley [at] wyoming.com (Dave Cromley)
  apd230 [at] voicenet.com (Maciej Gorny)
  october [at] direct.ca (Kris Plasun)
  wclark [at] worldnet.att.net (Bill Clark)
  berglas [at] it.uq.edu.au (Anthony Berglas)
  johnw [at] MAG-NET.CO.UK (John Whittington)
  stimpy [at] maas.net (Jon Dalberg)
  anonymous (Brian Ewins)
  hidronet [at] mail.telepac.pt (R. Carvalho)
  jrlatour [at] SPAMARAMA.perigee.net (John)
  n.youngman [at] videonetworks.com (Neil Youngman)
  paul-lemay [at] home.com (Paul Lemay)
  breiter [at] mathematik.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE (Bernhard Reiter)
  jkinlan [at] kmt.com (Jim Kinlan)
  mbetz [at] bellatlantic.net (Mark Betz)

Thanks.

========================================================================

thus endeth the cas FAQ.
