date:20140810


On Aug 10, 2014, at 7:10 AM, Pat Brown mistyha...@gmail.com wrote:

 Nino, I am creating a geological time-line in Calc. Working across the
 sheet I am dividing the cells into periods. There are five different sets
 of periods. I find, after I have started, that I need to create smaller
 units than one cell. If I could split this cell it would work for me.
 Otherwise I need to evaluate the whole time line and provisionally merge
 columns in the right place in order to be able to merge the ones I need at
 a later stage.

Why are you using Calc for this? Are you doing calculations on the data  about 
each period or epoch or other subdivision? 

Might you be better served by looking at a package designed to handle duration 
and timelines? I know of one for Macintosh and Windows (Aeon Timeline) but not 
sure about other operating systems. 

Aeon allows you to define and subdivide your time with arcs and is great for 
managing what happened concurrently or sequence operations. I've used it for 
genealogy, plotting mystery novels, planning for software development, planning 
breeding schedules for a sheep flock and more. 

As to splitting a cell, I do not know of any way to do that, you would have to 
insert another column and then merge all but the split cell. 

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire 
Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/  
LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
Paonia, CO USA


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Split cells in Calc

2014-08-10 Thread Robert Funnell


On Sun, 10 Aug 2014, Brian Barker wrote:


At 11:49 10/08/2014 -0400, Robert Funnell wrote:

On Sun, 10 Aug 2014, Brian Barker wrote:

At 13:25 10/08/2014 +0200, Pat Brown wrote:
Is there any way to split a primary (one that has not been 'merged' 
previously) cell? I can't seem to find such an option. If there is no 
current option then is it technically possible to do so?


This wouldn't really make sense. One of the principal functions of a 
spreadsheet is to be able to refer to individual cells in formulae. If you 
split a single cell, how would you refer to each part of it separately? 
What would D7 now mean? D7RB for the right, bottom sub-cell of what was 
originally D7? What when you divide those cells further?


It should in principle be possible to just renumber everything. After that, 
it doesn't seem to be different in principle from what happens when cells 
are merged.


That sounds impressive, but it's just magic! If you explained what you meant, 
you might see why it makes little sense.


If you divide D7 horizontally, do the two parts become D7 and E7? In that 
case, do columns E onward get relabelled to F and so on? And formulae 
adjusted? Since column E now has only one cell, what does a reference to E6 
mean? Is the column now labelled D or E or D/E?


If you now happen to divide F9, does it become F9 and G9 or does it take 
advantage of the ghost of column E and label itself E9 and F9? Are the 
columns now labelled D/E and E/F?


As also mentioned by another poster, if you want to effectively split 
a single cell, you can add a row or column and then merge cells that 
you don't want to be split. (Perhaps a macro could be developed to do 
this.) Would your concerns not then be resolved?


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

I havne't used Base, but I have taken a very complex spreadsheet and designed 
an SQL database from it when it became unwieldy. Key things I'd suggest, more 
tables is not bad, in fact the more the better if it clearly separates data 
into one table. Do not duplicate data. If you have a field whose contents are 
duplicated then that really probably needs to be a separate table. 

2 books I found invaluable for helping me design my system are

Beginning Database Design by Clare Churcher and Beginning SQL Queries also by 
Clare Churcher. They were the most readable and understandable of the lot. 

If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
Book table
Title
number of pages
Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see below
Authors
Name
Series
Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
Read status
started
finished
wanted

Linking should be by query. 

On Aug 8, 2014, at 10:29 AM, Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com wrote:

 Just wanted to bump this to see if anyone has thoughts. Worst case I'm
 going to just dive into Database and see what I can learn but I'm hoping to
 get a little feedback before spending time which might be totally pointless
 as I really don't have the time to just throw away ;) Thanks again in
 advance!
 
 

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire 
Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/  
LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
Paonia, CO USA


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

Really good suggestions!


On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 10:50:48 -0600
Oogie McGuire oog...@desertweyr.com wrote:

 Do not duplicate data. If you have a field whose contents are
 duplicated then that really probably needs to be a separate table. 

Yes, true. Note that if a field is duplicated, is suggests
consolidating into one table, but if the contents of a field are
duplicated, it suggests splitting it off into its own table.


 If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
 Book table
   Title
   number of pages
   Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
   boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see
 below 
 Authors
   Name
 Series
   Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
 Read status
   started
   finished
   wanted

Having a separate table for Authors and Series is a good idea. I didn't
want to confuse the OP with a whole bunch of tables straight off the
bat, but you're dead right, it is probably best to get to grips with
this now, rather than need it later and not have it designed in.

And a status table allowing more than just read or unread is a good
idea too. It adds flexibility to the system.

This does make the system a little more complicated. You will have
more forms, more dropdowns on the book entry form, and will have to
remember to do things like add the authors before you add their books,
but this added complexity will pay off in terms of extra flexibility
later.

This is also really the big conceptual difference between a spreadsheet
and a database. In a spreadsheet you start just capturing a few books,
and just retype things like author names, and then you end up with lots
of books, and things start getting harder and harder to keep track of.
In a database you start off by separating everything out into different
bits, then combine them in the different ways you need them, and
everything is slightly more complicated (especially to begin with), but
actually easier to work with in the long run.

To Joel (the OP):
You'll need to read up on one-to-many and many-to-many relationships if
you aren't already familiar with them.

Some of the less used columns in you spreadsheet, like Loc, I'm not
clear on what they're used for and where they should go, and rating
has been used in different ways, so again I'm not sure how you intend
to use that. You do kind of need to decide on one way and stick to it
throughout. An advantage of spreadsheets is that you can just do stuff
in that sort of ad-hoc manner as it seems appropriate to the individual
instance, but in databases, because of the extra structure, you need to
stick to one way of doing things. But that does make it more
consistant, and therefore easier to work with in the long run.


Paul

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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

So - I've started with the previous suggestions and am hesitant to 
change now (put in about 5 hours over the past couple days to learn by 
doing).


Attached is what I have so far. It's pretty basic but just two tables 
(as you can see) and a form which I made to my likings.



Suggestions welcome :)

Not having built in easy to use switchboard functionality is a bummer :-/


Best,
Joel

P.S. Keep in mind that this is just a hobby project not a professional 
db, I'm not in the computer administration field so I'll never need to 
use db for professional use. Basically I want to balance functionality 
with the stress on my time (I literally have about 70-80 hour work weeks 
along with a family and other duties within LibreOffice). So it's always 
a balance of time against functionality. That being said, I'm always 
open and happy to take suggestions :)





On 08/10/2014 10:39 AM, Paul wrote:

Really good suggestions!


On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 10:50:48 -0600
Oogie McGuire oog...@desertweyr.com wrote:


Do not duplicate data. If you have a field whose contents are
duplicated then that really probably needs to be a separate table.

Yes, true. Note that if a field is duplicated, is suggests
consolidating into one table, but if the contents of a field are
duplicated, it suggests splitting it off into its own table.



If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
Book table
Title
number of pages
Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see
below
Authors
Name
Series
Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
Read status
started
finished
wanted

Having a separate table for Authors and Series is a good idea. I didn't
want to confuse the OP with a whole bunch of tables straight off the
bat, but you're dead right, it is probably best to get to grips with
this now, rather than need it later and not have it designed in.

And a status table allowing more than just read or unread is a good
idea too. It adds flexibility to the system.

This does make the system a little more complicated. You will have
more forms, more dropdowns on the book entry form, and will have to
remember to do things like add the authors before you add their books,
but this added complexity will pay off in terms of extra flexibility
later.

This is also really the big conceptual difference between a spreadsheet
and a database. In a spreadsheet you start just capturing a few books,
and just retype things like author names, and then you end up with lots
of books, and things start getting harder and harder to keep track of.
In a database you start off by separating everything out into different
bits, then combine them in the different ways you need them, and
everything is slightly more complicated (especially to begin with), but
actually easier to work with in the long run.

To Joel (the OP):
You'll need to read up on one-to-many and many-to-many relationships if
you aren't already familiar with them.

Some of the less used columns in you spreadsheet, like Loc, I'm not
clear on what they're used for and where they should go, and rating
has been used in different ways, so again I'm not sure how you intend
to use that. You do kind of need to decide on one way and stick to it
throughout. An advantage of spreadsheets is that you can just do stuff
in that sort of ad-hoc manner as it seems appropriate to the individual
instance, but in databases, because of the extra structure, you need to
stick to one way of doing things. But that does make it more
consistant, and therefore easier to work with in the long run.


Paul




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Re: [libreoffice-users] Split cells in Calc

2014-08-10 Thread Brian Barker


At 12:41 10/08/2014 -0400, Robert Funnell wrote:

On Sun, 10 Aug 2014, Brian Barker wrote:

At 11:49 10/08/2014 -0400, Robert Funnell wrote:

On Sun, 10 Aug 2014, Brian Barker wrote:

At 13:25 10/08/2014 +0200, Pat Brown wrote:
Is there any way to split a primary (one that has not been 
'merged' previously) cell? I can't seem to find such an option. 
If there is no current option then is it technically possible to do so?


This wouldn't really make sense. One of the principal functions 
of a spreadsheet is to be able to refer to individual cells in 
formulae. If you split a single cell, how would you refer to each 
part of it separately? What would D7 now mean? D7RB for the 
right, bottom sub-cell of what was originally D7? What when you 
divide those cells further?


It should in principle be possible to just renumber everything. 
After that, it doesn't seem to be different in principle from what 
happens when cells are merged.


That sounds impressive, but it's just magic! If you explained what 
you meant, you might see why it makes little sense.


If you divide D7 horizontally, do the two parts become D7 and E7? 
In that case, do columns E onward get relabelled to F and so on? 
And formulae adjusted? Since column E now has only one cell, what 
does a reference to E6 mean? Is the column now labelled D or E or D/E?


If you now happen to divide F9, does it become F9 and G9 or does it 
take advantage of the ghost of column E and label itself E9 and F9? 
Are the columns now labelled D/E and E/F?


As also mentioned by another poster, if you want to effectively 
split a single cell, you can add a row or column and then merge 
cells that you don't want to be split. (Perhaps a macro could be 
developed to do this.) Would your concerns not then be resolved?


There are no concerns to be resolved: that quite different technique 
is the right way to do this!


Brian Barker 



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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database


Hi All,

So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work - 
hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually 
putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time for me 
to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/edit?usp=sharing

Best,
Joel


I havne't used Base, but I have taken a very complex spreadsheet and designed 
an SQL database from it when it became unwieldy. Key things I'd suggest, more 
tables is not bad, in fact the more the better if it clearly separates data 
into one table. Do not duplicate data. If you have a field whose contents are 
duplicated then that really probably needs to be a separate table.

2 books I found invaluable for helping me design my system are

Beginning Database Design by Clare Churcher and Beginning SQL Queries also by 
Clare Churcher. They were the most readable and understandable of the lot.

If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
Book table
Title
number of pages
Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see below
Authors
Name
Series
Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
Read status
started
finished
wanted

Linking should be by query.

On Aug 8, 2014, at 10:29 AM, Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com wrote:


Just wanted to bump this to see if anyone has thoughts. Worst case I'm
going to just dive into Database and see what I can learn but I'm hoping to
get a little feedback before spending time which might be totally pointless
as I really don't have the time to just throw away ;) Thanks again in
advance!



Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/
LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
Paonia, CO USA




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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

2014-08-10 Thread jomali

Joel,

The NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor fields are unnecessary.
They can be derived from a simple query for a report.

Since there has to be a one-to-one relation between the ReadStatus table
and the BookInformation table, you might as well merge them. When you do
merge them, a NotRead field is superfluous. If the Read field is binary,
when it is true the book has been read and when it is false it is not read.
Also, you left out a DateRead field, corresponding to the Year, Month, Day
fields of your original spread sheet.

Similarly, since there has to be a one-to-one relation between the
BookInformation table and the Rankings table, you might as well merge them
as well.

The NumberOfBooksInSeries, the ReadInSeries and the RemainingInSeries
fields are unnecessary. Such information is readily obtained through
queries for reports.

By the way, carefully consider how you intend to import the data from your
original spreadsheet to the database. There are various ways to do it, and
how you structure your database will impact how you import your data.




On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 2:48 PM, Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi All,

 So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work - hoping
 to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually putting
 together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time for me to get the
 basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/
 edit?usp=sharing

 Best,
 Joel


  I havne't used Base, but I have taken a very complex spreadsheet and
 designed an SQL database from it when it became unwieldy. Key things I'd
 suggest, more tables is not bad, in fact the more the better if it clearly
 separates data into one table. Do not duplicate data. If you have a field
 whose contents are duplicated then that really probably needs to be a
 separate table.

 2 books I found invaluable for helping me design my system are

 Beginning Database Design by Clare Churcher and Beginning SQL Queries
 also by Clare Churcher. They were the most readable and understandable of
 the lot.

 If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
 Book table
 Title
 number of pages
 Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
 boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see
 below
 Authors
 Name
 Series
 Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
 Read status
 started
 finished
 wanted

 Linking should be by query.

 On Aug 8, 2014, at 10:29 AM, Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com wrote:

  Just wanted to bump this to see if anyone has thoughts. Worst case I'm
 going to just dive into Database and see what I can learn but I'm hoping
 to
 get a little feedback before spending time which might be totally
 pointless
 as I really don't have the time to just throw away ;) Thanks again in
 advance!


  Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
 Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/
 LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
 Paonia, CO USA



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 unsubscribe/
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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

2014-08-10 Thread Mark Bourne

It looks like each book should only have one of the ReadStatus flags 
set, so I'd make that an enum field on the BookInformation table, with 
possible values of Not Read, Reading and Read. You can set the 
default value for the field to Not Read so a new record will be set to 
that status if no value is specified for that field.


NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor are not needed on the 
AuthorInfo table - you can get those by querying the database. I may 
have the syntax slightly wrong here, but along the lines of:
  SELECT `ai`.`AuthorID`, `ai`.`AuthorName`, COUNT(`bi`.`BookID`) from 
`AuthorInfo` `ai` LEFT JOIN `BookInformation` `bi` ON `bi`.`AuthorID` = 
`ai`.`AuthorID` GROUP BY `ai`.`AuthorID`

should give the number of books by each author. Add:
  AND `bi`.`ReadStatus` = Read
to the ON condition and you can get the number of read books by each author.

That's the kind of thing a database enables you to do much more easily 
than with a spreadsheet ;o)


Mark.


Joel Madero wrote:

Hi All,

So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work -
hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually
putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time for me
to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/edit?usp=sharing


Best,
Joel


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

Hi Joel,


On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 16:02:04 -0400
jomali jomali3...@gmail.com wrote:

 Joel,
 
 The NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor fields are
 unnecessary. They can be derived from a simple query for a report.

Agreed.


 Since there has to be a one-to-one relation between the ReadStatus
 table and the BookInformation table, you might as well merge them.

The way you have it rather misses the point of a status table. I
wouldn't merge them, I would instead add a ReadStatusID to the
BookInformation table, and change the ReadStatus table to:

ReadStatusID
ReadStatusDescription


You want to store entries in here like the following:
1  -  Finished Reading
2  -  Not Started
3  -  Busy Reading
4  -  Could Not Finish
5  -  Must Read Soon


that sort of thing.


 Also, you left out a DateRead field, corresponding to the Year,
 Month, Day fields of your original spread sheet.

Yup.


 Similarly, since there has to be a one-to-one relation between the
 BookInformation table and the Rankings table, you might as well merge
 them as well.

Hrm. It does depend on what you want to do with rankings.

You could merge them into the BookInformation table, have a varchar
field that holds a short description of each ranking category for each
book, or you could make this also a status table. Add DepthRankingID,
LessonsRankingID, CitationsRankingID etc fields to the BookInformation
table, and have the Rankings table like so:

RankingID
RankingDescription

With the following sorts of entries:

1  -  Very Poor
2  -  Poor
3  -  Average
4  -  Fair
5  -  Good
6  -  Excellent
7  -  Specially Awesome
8  -  Good but incomplete
9  -  Thorough, but dry
etc


 The NumberOfBooksInSeries, the ReadInSeries and the RemainingInSeries
 fields are unnecessary. Such information is readily obtained through
 queries for reports.

Yup.


 By the way, carefully consider how you intend to import the data from
 your original spreadsheet to the database. There are various ways to
 do it, and how you structure your database will impact how you import
 your data.

Your biggest hassle here will be that the spreadsheet data is
inconsistant. There are considerations here, but trying to keep all of
it in mind might be a bit much right now if this is new to you. I
wouldn't worry too much. It's more important to get the proper database
structure now than to worry about how you will import the data. Once
it's all in place and working, you can worry about getting the data in.
I'm sure plenty of people here can help with that.


Paul




 
 
 
 
 On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 2:48 PM, Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com
 wrote:
 
  Hi All,
 
  So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work -
  hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually
  putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time
  for me to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!
 
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/
  edit?usp=sharing
 
  Best,
  Joel
 
 
   I havne't used Base, but I have taken a very complex spreadsheet
  and
  designed an SQL database from it when it became unwieldy. Key
  things I'd suggest, more tables is not bad, in fact the more the
  better if it clearly separates data into one table. Do not
  duplicate data. If you have a field whose contents are duplicated
  then that really probably needs to be a separate table.
 
  2 books I found invaluable for helping me design my system are
 
  Beginning Database Design by Clare Churcher and Beginning SQL
  Queries also by Clare Churcher. They were the most readable and
  understandable of the lot.
 
  If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
  Book table
  Title
  number of pages
  Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
  boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status
  see below
  Authors
  Name
  Series
  Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
  Read status
  started
  finished
  wanted
 
  Linking should be by query.
 
  On Aug 8, 2014, at 10:29 AM, Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   Just wanted to bump this to see if anyone has thoughts. Worst
  case I'm
  going to just dive into Database and see what I can learn but I'm
  hoping to
  get a little feedback before spending time which might be totally
  pointless
  as I really don't have the time to just throw away ;) Thanks
  again in advance!
 
 
   Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
  Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
  http://www.desertweyr.com/ LambTracker - Open Source SW for
  Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com Paonia, CO USA
 
 
 
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  To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org
  Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-
  unsubscribe/
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  http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive:
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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database




On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:30:18 +0100
Mark Bourne libreoffice-ml.mbou...@spamgourmet.com wrote:

 It looks like each book should only have one of the ReadStatus
 flags set, so I'd make that an enum field on the BookInformation
 table, with possible values of Not Read, Reading and Read. You
 can set the default value for the field to Not Read so a new record
 will be set to that status if no value is specified for that field.

That's essentially the same idea as the status tables I was suggesting.
In my experience we've always used status tables, so I would suggest
those. Partly because I'm not familiar with database support for enums.
How well supported and widely supported is that by the most common
databases?

 
 NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor are not needed on the 
 AuthorInfo table - you can get those by querying the database. I
 may have the syntax slightly wrong here, but along the lines of:
SELECT `ai`.`AuthorID`, `ai`.`AuthorName`, COUNT(`bi`.`BookID`)
 from `AuthorInfo` `ai` LEFT JOIN `BookInformation` `bi` ON
 `bi`.`AuthorID` = `ai`.`AuthorID` GROUP BY `ai`.`AuthorID`
 should give the number of books by each author. Add:
AND `bi`.`ReadStatus` = Read
 to the ON condition and you can get the number of read books by each
 author.
 
 That's the kind of thing a database enables you to do much more
 easily than with a spreadsheet ;o)
 
 Mark.
 
 
 Joel Madero wrote:
  Hi All,
 
  So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work -
  hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually
  putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time
  for me to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!
 
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/edit?usp=sharing
 
 
  Best,
  Joel
 


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Intermittent Calc Issues

2014-08-10 Thread Mark Bourne

Not sure; it's just a possibility to rule out. One possible explanation 
is that the seemingly stuck key doesn't have any effect in other 
applications you use. In Gnucash, Shift+Arrow keys or Shift+Click just 
moves the selection - the same as just pressing the arrow keys or 
clicking without holding Shift - so you may not notice if Shift was 
stuck. In LO Calc, Shift+Arrow or Shift+Click selects a range of cells 
rather than moving the selection, so you do notice different behaviour.


In the case of the Shift key appearing stuck you'd notice it as soon as 
you type a letter and get upper case instead of lower case though... but 
perhaps you usually want to start with an upper case letter anyway so 
press and release shift while typing that letter - and releasing the key 
would likely clear the fault for the following lower case letter.


Since this only seems to happen occasionally, if you're not able to 
change the keyboard long term perhaps just carry on as normal and next 
time it does start happening try pressing (and releasing) each of the 
Ctrl, Alt and Shift keys in turn (remember there are often two of each, 
so press and release both in turn). If that then clears the faulty 
behaviour, it sounds even more like a faulty keyboard / cable / hub - 
doing this sends a key down and key up message for each key, and 
chances are that this time the key up messages get through OK 
indicating to the PC that the key is no longer held down.


Or it may not the problem in your case - as I said, just a possibility 
to rule out. I have experienced strange symptoms like you describe 
before which did turn out to be a faulty keyboard, USB hub or cable 
(can't remember exactly which bit of hardware was at fault, but the 
symptom was that the PC would occasionally act as if a key was held down 
even though it wasn't, and pressing and releasing that key would clear 
the fault).


Mark.


Gregory Forster wrote:

Hi Mark,

That gives me something else to try - plugging in another keyboard. This
notebook computer is still under warranty and now would be the time to
find out.   But what still puzzles me, is why only Calc? Why doesn't it
affect any other program?  I extensively use Gnucash also.  One thing I
failed to mention, all my Gnucash files, as well as many personal LO
medical and financial files are encrypted using Truecrypt.  I have
Truecrypt running to access Gnucash as well as many personal medical and
financial files (IRA spreadsheet).  But, as I told Tom, I've completed
my IRA spreadshheet, so now I have to think up of some other elaborate
spreadsheet.

Greg

On 8/6/2014 11:42 AM, Mark Bourne wrote:

To rule out the keyboard possibility, perhaps try a different
keyboard, plugged directly into the PC (no USB hubs or other cables in
between).

I've previously found that a faulty keyboard (or USB cable or hub
between keyboard and PC) can act as if keys get stuck down (seems like
the PC sometimes gets the key down message but not the key up
message, so thinks it's still held down). A stuck character key is
usually obvious as it keeps repeating, but not so obvious with Ctrl,
Alt, Shift, etc. which only have an effect when you press something
else - which then doesn't do what you expect. If pressing and
releasing keys a few times unsticks them (PC gets the key up
message this time), which it sounds like you've found with the shift
key, that may well be the cause.

I'm not sure if combinations of Ctrl, Alt, Shift or other keys along
with those you're pressing can cause the effects you describe. Perhaps
more likely if you're using the numpad arrows (rather than the
separate arrow keys) as those keys can enter other characters when Alt
is held down - e.g. for me Alt+822 (up, down, down) gives 6 and
Alt+826 (up, down, right) gives :. Certainly Shift + Click or arrow
keys selects an area rather than moving the active cell.

Mark.


Gregory Forster wrote:

Woops, I meant to click the spell-check and not the send.  That all
explains well for the unexplained highlighting, but what about the
random ;6 (semi-colon and the number six) at times, or the random :
(colon) at times, replacing cell contents by just pressing a directional
arrow key.  That,  I can't  figure out.  No, I won't sack my tech (he's
my son - we work together). It ONLY happens with LO Calc, not Impress,
or Writer, or Base, or any other program.  In fact, I extensively use
Gnucash.  I am the Treasurer, Financial Accountant and do the payroll
for church and also use Gnucash for personal finance records - No
problems.

However, you did give me ideas and reminders.   I've always been very
passionate about backups and keeping your hard drive clean from malware,
viruses, rootkits, etc. of which we also nag our clients about..  I
forgot about keeping the keyboard clean.  Thank you.

Greg

On 8/5/2014 1:58 AM, Brian Barker wrote:

At 22:25 04/08/2014 -0500, Gregory Forster wrote:

I have an inconsistent and not often issue with Calc. [...] Calc does
weird things

Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

Thanks all - I have enough to do something - probably won't be perfect
but will work for my needs. As for importing the data - not horribly
concerned about this. Very worse case I'll manually enter which won't be
too horrible in my case (really only about 250 entries to put in). More
concerned about getting the db done.

Thanks again for the input.


Best,
Joel


On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 1:35 PM, Paul paulste...@afrihost.co.za wrote:




 On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:30:18 +0100
 Mark Bourne libreoffice-ml.mbou...@spamgourmet.com wrote:

  It looks like each book should only have one of the ReadStatus
  flags set, so I'd make that an enum field on the BookInformation
  table, with possible values of Not Read, Reading and Read. You
  can set the default value for the field to Not Read so a new record
  will be set to that status if no value is specified for that field.

 That's essentially the same idea as the status tables I was suggesting.
 In my experience we've always used status tables, so I would suggest
 those. Partly because I'm not familiar with database support for enums.
 How well supported and widely supported is that by the most common
 databases?

 
  NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor are not needed on the
  AuthorInfo table - you can get those by querying the database. I
  may have the syntax slightly wrong here, but along the lines of:
 SELECT `ai`.`AuthorID`, `ai`.`AuthorName`, COUNT(`bi`.`BookID`)
  from `AuthorInfo` `ai` LEFT JOIN `BookInformation` `bi` ON
  `bi`.`AuthorID` = `ai`.`AuthorID` GROUP BY `ai`.`AuthorID`
  should give the number of books by each author. Add:
 AND `bi`.`ReadStatus` = Read
  to the ON condition and you can get the number of read books by each
  author.
 
  That's the kind of thing a database enables you to do much more
  easily than with a spreadsheet ;o)
 
  Mark.
 
 
  Joel Madero wrote:
   Hi All,
  
   So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work -
   hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually
   putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time
   for me to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!
  
  
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/edit?usp=sharing
  
  
   Best,
   Joel
 


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-- 
*Joel Madero*
LibreOffice QA Volunteer
jmadero@gmail.com

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[libreoffice-users] Acess2Base

2014-08-10 Thread Jim Byrnes

I am still using the 3.xx version of LO that came with Ubuntu 12.04 and 
haven't been on the main LibreOffice site for some time.  I've been 
reading the naming discussion (Fresh/Still etc)  and decided to look at 
the site.  While there I stumbled across Acces2Base.  I've always 
thought writing macros in LO was way harder than it should be because of 
UNO, so this is an interesting development.


A couple of questions:

(1) Has anyone here used it and does it make writing macros for Base easier?

(2) I write most of my macros for Calc  so is there a Excel2Calc planned?

Regards,  Jim


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

2014-08-10 Thread Mark Bourne


Paul wrote:

On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:30:18 +0100
Mark Bourne wrote:


It looks like each book should only have one of the ReadStatus
flags set, so I'd make that an enum field on the BookInformation
table, with possible values of Not Read, Reading and Read. You
can set the default value for the field to Not Read so a new record
will be set to that status if no value is specified for that field.


That's essentially the same idea as the status tables I was suggesting.


Indeed; I think our replies crossed in the post ;o)


In my experience we've always used status tables, so I would suggest
those.


I wouldn't dispute that.


Partly because I'm not familiar with database support for enums.
How well supported and widely supported is that by the most common
databases?


I don't know to be honest, not having a lot of experience in database 
design. I've only ever really used MySQL, which does support enums, but 
maybe that's just a MySQL feature.


To me, the set of possible status values just seems more like part of 
the database schema design than data entry - you wouldn't generally add 
or remove status options (and the application may assign special meaning 
to certain statuses, so it may be critical that a specific set of values 
is defined). Then again, in some applications being able to introduce 
new statuses at any time could be an advantage.


Mark.

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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database


On Aug 10, 2014, at 3:48 PM, Mark Bourne 
libreoffice-ml.mbou...@spamgourmet.com wrote:

 you wouldn't generally add or remove status options (and the application may 
 assign special meaning to certain statuses, so it may be critical that a 
 specific set of values is defined). Then again, in some applications being 
 able to introduce new statuses at any time could be an advantage.

I would, I often change my mind about how to classify stuff and it also 
prevents the status from being entered in differently. 


Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire 
Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/  
LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
Paonia, CO USA


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database


On Aug 10, 2014, at 4:26 PM, Paul paulste...@afrihost.co.za wrote:

 Yeah, being able to change these values later is one of the main
 reasons to use a separate table. Clients almost *always* end up adding
 or removing some of these.
 
 Also, when you have specific functionality tied to some of these
 statuses, it's always a good idea to add a flag field for it, and make
 your code check if the flag is on, rather than if the status name
 matches a specific value, so that if the client ends up deciding (as
 they invariably will) that actually a second status must also do that
 thing that they assured you only the one status would ever do, then you
 simply turn that flag on for the second status, rather than having to
 change your code base and hunt for all instances of checking for the
 status by name.
 
 Also, then you can localize your status names if you ever want to make
 your program support other languages.


We agree G I think my comments passed yours in the mail. 

I hadn't done any relational database work until this current big project, 
thats why the database design book I recommended was so critical. It got me out 
of the spreadsheet mindset and into the database one. 

Just because it's for one person for one reason doesn't mean you can't design 
it with proper database functions, after all the structure might be useful to 
someone else as well. 

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire 
Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/  
LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
Paonia, CO USA


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

Gah - I just realized that I think I have to separate date read from 
the book info. Reason being that if I read a book 2-3 times and want to 
track the dates then I have to have another table. With this, I'd do a 
one to many relationship between the book information and the read date 
tables, yes?


The way I imagine it working is when I enter a book title + author, it 
checks book information to see if the book is already in the table, if 
it is, it just pulls up the info related to the book, and I can mark as 
read, add a new date that I've read (which might or might not be the 
first time I've read it), it enters the date in the date read table, 
allows me to rate (or update the rating) etc...


Make sense?


Best,
Joel

P.S. It seems like part of db work is just figuring out personal 
preferences. Reading the emails a few times it seems like there are 
differing opinions a little about the use of tables (the # of tables), 
etc...


So my plan is sticking with the original thought - keep ranking separate 
from the book information table, but splitting author, series, etc... 
from book information and putting those in a different table.


Thanks for all the help, really appreciate it.



On 08/10/2014 01:35 PM, Paul wrote:



On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:30:18 +0100
Mark Bourne libreoffice-ml.mbou...@spamgourmet.com wrote:


It looks like each book should only have one of the ReadStatus
flags set, so I'd make that an enum field on the BookInformation
table, with possible values of Not Read, Reading and Read. You
can set the default value for the field to Not Read so a new record
will be set to that status if no value is specified for that field.

That's essentially the same idea as the status tables I was suggesting.
In my experience we've always used status tables, so I would suggest
those. Partly because I'm not familiar with database support for enums.
How well supported and widely supported is that by the most common
databases?


NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor are not needed on the
AuthorInfo table - you can get those by querying the database. I
may have the syntax slightly wrong here, but along the lines of:
SELECT `ai`.`AuthorID`, `ai`.`AuthorName`, COUNT(`bi`.`BookID`)
from `AuthorInfo` `ai` LEFT JOIN `BookInformation` `bi` ON
`bi`.`AuthorID` = `ai`.`AuthorID` GROUP BY `ai`.`AuthorID`
should give the number of books by each author. Add:
AND `bi`.`ReadStatus` = Read
to the ON condition and you can get the number of read books by each
author.

That's the kind of thing a database enables you to do much more
easily than with a spreadsheet ;o)

Mark.


Joel Madero wrote:

Hi All,

So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work -
hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually
putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time
for me to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/edit?usp=sharing


Best,
Joel





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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

One reason to keep all the tables separate is to facilitate adding things to 
them later. Also localization for other languages and to keep entries exact so 
searches are easier to do. Solves issues with How did I spell that? problems in 
queries

To my mind the only thing that belongs in a table are things that are only 
related to that item. 



 
 Since there has to be a one-to-one relation between the ReadStatus
 table and the BookInformation table, you might as well merge them.
 
 The way you have it rather misses the point of a status table. I
 wouldn't merge them, I would instead add a ReadStatusID to the
 BookInformation table, and change the ReadStatus table to:
 
 ReadStatusID
 ReadStatusDescription
 
 
 You want to store entries in here like the following:
 1  -  Finished Reading
 2  -  Not Started
 3  -  Busy Reading
 4  -  Could Not Finish
 5  -  Must Read Soon
 
 
 that sort of thing.

There is a one to many between read status and book info so it would need tobe 
a separate table in my mind. Exactly as above. So it would be a foreign key in 
the book table. 

 Hrm. It does depend on what you want to do with rankings.
 
 You could merge them into the BookInformation table, have a varchar
 field that holds a short description of each ranking category for each
 book, or you could make this also a status table. Add DepthRankingID,
 LessonsRankingID, CitationsRankingID etc fields to the BookInformation
 table, and have the Rankings table like so:
 
 RankingID
 RankingDescription
 
 With the following sorts of entries:
 
 1  -  Very Poor
 2  -  Poor
 3  -  Average
 4  -  Fair
 5  -  Good
 6  -  Excellent
 7  -  Specially Awesome
 8  -  Good but incomplete
 9  -  Thorough, but dry
 etc
 
 By the way, carefully consider how you intend to import the data from
 your original spreadsheet to the database. There are various ways to
 do it, and how you structure your database will impact how you import
 your data.
 
I found that it was easiest to strip out and create a separate spreadsheet for 
each of the tables in my database, copy the data to it from the original 
behemoth of a spreadsheet, save as a .CSV file and use a .CSV to SQL importer 
function to get the data into my database But my spreadsheet originally 
consisted of 15 separate sheets in one file each with approximately 200 rows 
and about 700 columns. I am using SQLite as my database not BASE. 

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire 
Desert Weyr, LLC - Black Welsh Mountain Sheep http://www.desertweyr.com/  
LambTracker - Open Source SW for Shepherds http://www.lambtracker.com
Paonia, CO USA


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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database




On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 16:48:31 -0600
Oogie McGuire oog...@desertweyr.com wrote:

 We agree G I think my comments passed yours in the mail. 
 
 I hadn't done any relational database work until this current big
 project, thats why the database design book I recommended was so
 critical. It got me out of the spreadsheet mindset and into the
 database one. 
 
 Just because it's for one person for one reason doesn't mean you
 can't design it with proper database functions, after all the
 structure might be useful to someone else as well. 

Indeed, although without a background in it or someone who knows his
salt, it can be really difficult to figure out the best way to do
things.

Once the database structure is right, the rest should be pretty
straightforward, especially in Base. Coding is a set of best
practices all on its own, so if you were coding the frontend (like I
would probably do), that's another story completely, but with Base it
should be relatively simple, and there shouldn't be too many options,
so there won't be as much chance of making bad choices. The database
structure really is the foundation everything else builds upon.

Paul

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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

Hi Joel,


On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 15:49:25 -0700
Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com wrote:

 Gah - I just realized that I think I have to separate date read
 from the book info. Reason being that if I read a book 2-3 times and
 want to track the dates then I have to have another table. With this,
 I'd do a one to many relationship between the book information and
 the read date tables, yes?

Yep, sounds right.


 The way I imagine it working is when I enter a book title + author,
 it checks book information to see if the book is already in the
 table, if it is, it just pulls up the info related to the book, and I
 can mark as read, add a new date that I've read (which might or might
 not be the first time I've read it), it enters the date in the date
 read table, allows me to rate (or update the rating) etc...

With this, you could even do away with a read status, and just see if
there are any dates in the DateRead table for the book, but then you
wouldn't get things like busy reading and must read soon, so I'd
still keep both tables. Note that this does mean you could potentially
have a book with a status of read, but no completed dates. This is
something the frontend would need to check for and not allow you to
change the status to read without adding a completed date.


 
 Make sense?
 
 
 Best,
 Joel
 
 P.S. It seems like part of db work is just figuring out personal 
 preferences. Reading the emails a few times it seems like there are 
 differing opinions a little about the use of tables (the # of
 tables), etc...

There are of course slight differences, but there shouldn't be any
major ones, except where we have different ideas about exactly what you
want to achieve. If there are any large differences in advice, we've
probably misunderstood something :)


 
 So my plan is sticking with the original thought - keep ranking
 separate from the book information table, but splitting author,
 series, etc... from book information and putting those in a different
 table.

I'm still not entirely sure how you want to rank books, but yes,
keeping it as its own table seems like the right idea to me.

You could just track a single number (say from 1 to 5, or 1 to 10), for
each rank category, or a single text description for each category, and
keep that in the book table, but making it a separate table is a little
more flexible if you're going to use standardised ranks across all
books, and not an individual description for each book.


Paul

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Re: [libreoffice-users] query ...

2014-08-10 Thread anne-ology

   I apologize for taking your message the wrong way;
and I thank you for this explanation.

   Friends  :-)

From: Charles-H. Schulz charles.sch...@documentfoundation.org
Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2014 at 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] query ...
To: users@global.libreoffice.org

Hello Anne,

Waow. Thank you for making my private mail and question public,
especially when I had mentioned the mail to be private.

The reason I asked -and I asked this in private- was precisely not to
sound arrogant, trying to belittle you or anything of that sort.

From what I understand, you did not know the answer to the question you
asked. It is  perfectly normal not to know, and perfectly normal to
ask. However, given the actual nature of your question, and the fact
that you have been around the project for quite some time (and a
moderator of the user list?) I would have expected you to know the
answer and then I thought that you were trying to have Sophie point at
the right URL. I was not sure. So I asked in private, knowing asking
such a question in public would not be taken the right way.

I apologize for having dared to ask a question in private and if that
question was taken the wrong way. It really wasn't  meant to be.

Charles.

Le Sat, 9 Aug 2014 09:51:02 -0500,
anne-ology lagin...@gmail.com a écrit :

... this is an example of the inanity;
   rather than responding, as 1 thoughtful soul did do,
 this person decides to ridicule me.

Why shouldn't I have the right to know?; actually, why
 shouldn't the list have the right to know?

BTW - IF this narcissistic attitude on the part of some on
 this list does not end, then the marketing of LO is fighting a losing
 battle; HOW can any user of this product learn, if we're attacked for
 asking questions?

Sure some questions might seem overly simple to those who
 know, but to one who does not know, the answer, explained in a
 simplified manner, might be just what's needed in order to continue
 using these machines.

And, remember, that you 'experts' on these machines were not
 always that way - you too had to ask questions and receive simplified
 answers.

 From: Charles-H. Schulz charles.sch...@documentfoundation.org
 Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 10:26 AM
 Subject: PRIVATE : Re: [libreoffice-users] Too much Politics?
 To: anne-ology lagin...@gmail.com

 Hello Anne,

 This is a private mail.
 Are you asking this question because you do not know the answer to it
 or because you would like to ensure everybody has the right
 information?

 Thank you,

 Charles.

 On 8 août 2014 17:20:06 CEST, anne-ology lagin...@gmail.com wrote:

 and the URLs to subscribe to these would be ?

  From: rost52 bugquestcon...@online.de
  Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 4:57 AM
  Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Too much Politics?
  To: users@global.libreoffice.org

  On 2014-08-08 15:16, Sophie wrote:

   Hi,

   Le 07/08/2014 19:39, Jon Harringdon a écrit :

   The LO users mailing list is the only one I've ever encountered
  where
   people are MUCH more interested in debating Office politics and
   Administrivia than actual product features, bugs, workarounds
  etc.

   For the average user, the spectacle offered by this list can be
  pretty off-putting. Just saying...

   br / I
  agree with you, several of the discussions happening here should
   happen on the discuss@ list and I understand that it could be
  really annoying for some users who only come here to ask or answer
  questions about the use of LibreOffice. It's the only users@ list
  in the project that I know doing so.
   So all could you please stay on the topic of the list and post
   discussions on the relevant discuss@ list. Thanks :)

   Kind regards
   Sophie

  Good to know that there is also a discussion list. Thanks Sophie.
  For real technical questions and answers there is also AskLibO
  forum.

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Re: [libreoffice-users] Acess2Base

2014-08-10 Thread rost52

Thanks Jim for introducing this topic.

A small company I know is using an ACCESS DB with macros exporting certain information into EXCEL
spreadsheets. This ACCESS DB is currently preventing the company to change over from MSO to LibO
and Linux.

A 2 step approach is discussed: First to migrate from MSO to LibO using W7 and second moving from
Windows to Linux. (Distributions not yet decided but most likely Linux Mint of Linux Mint Debian or
Antergos.)

Therefore, 1 more question from my side: Assuming that using Access2Base helps us to get the DB and
the macros into Base and create the Calc spreadsheets, can this BASE DB with the LibO macros be used
as they are when changing from W7 to Linux?

On 2014-08-11 06:47, Jim Byrnes wrote:
I am still using the 3.xx version of LO that came with Ubuntu 12.04 and haven't been on the main
LibreOffice site for some time. I've been reading the naming discussion (Fresh/Still etc) and
decided to look at the site. While there I stumbled across Acces2Base. I've always thought
writing macros in LO was way harder than it should be because of UNO, so this is an interesting
development.

A couple of questions:

(1) Has anyone here used it and does it make writing macros for Base easier?

(2) I write most of my macros for Calc so is there a Excel2Calc planned?

Regards, Jim

Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

I decided to do the smart thing and diagram it out - the diagram isn't 
perfect (looks wise) but I hope that I can get a +1 before actually 
making the databases.


Note: I decided to put rankings with date read table, this way I can 
have different rankings for the same book (for each instance that I read 
it, some books seem better - or worse - the second time around) :)


Thoughts appreciated, a million thanks for all the advice given so far.

Link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdZzJZenR1Qno2LWM/edit?usp=sharing



Best,
Joel



On 08/10/2014 01:35 PM, Paul wrote:



On Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:30:18 +0100
Mark Bourne libreoffice-ml.mbou...@spamgourmet.com wrote:


It looks like each book should only have one of the ReadStatus
flags set, so I'd make that an enum field on the BookInformation
table, with possible values of Not Read, Reading and Read. You
can set the default value for the field to Not Read so a new record
will be set to that status if no value is specified for that field.

That's essentially the same idea as the status tables I was suggesting.
In my experience we've always used status tables, so I would suggest
those. Partly because I'm not familiar with database support for enums.
How well supported and widely supported is that by the most common
databases?


NumberOfBooksByAuthor and ReadBooksByAuthor are not needed on the
AuthorInfo table - you can get those by querying the database. I
may have the syntax slightly wrong here, but along the lines of:
SELECT `ai`.`AuthorID`, `ai`.`AuthorName`, COUNT(`bi`.`BookID`)
from `AuthorInfo` `ai` LEFT JOIN `BookInformation` `bi` ON
`bi`.`AuthorID` = `ai`.`AuthorID` GROUP BY `ai`.`AuthorID`
should give the number of books by each author. Add:
AND `bi`.`ReadStatus` = Read
to the ON condition and you can get the number of read books by each
author.

That's the kind of thing a database enables you to do much more
easily than with a spreadsheet ;o)

Mark.


Joel Madero wrote:

Hi All,

So I went back to planning stage. Link to what I think might work -
hoping to get the planning stage done today so I can start actually
putting together the db - I have 3 days off so now's a good time
for me to get the basic structure together :) Thanks in advance!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2kdRhc960qdbGJIQ1M3NWtrdmc/edit?usp=sharing


Best,
Joel





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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

2014-08-10 Thread jonathon

On 8/10/2014 9:50 AM, Oogie McGuire wrote
If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
Book table
Title
number of pages
Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see below
Authors
Name
Series
Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
Read status
started
finished
wanted

Linking should be by query.

When you design that table for Series, remember:

The same work can be in two or more series. For example: James Legge's 2
volume series _The Sacred Texts of Daoism_ was also part of Max Muller's
50 volume series _The Sacred Texts of the East_.

A series can have two or more authors. For example, _Star Trek: Deep
Space Nine_ contains books written by half a dozen different authors.

Books set in the same world need not be part of a series, even though
marketing mistakenly claims that they are a series. For example: Anne
McCaffrey's _P.E.R.N._ novels.

Consider how you'll handle spin-of series. For example: _Star Trek: The
Next Generation_ alongside _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_, alongside _Star
Trek: Corp of Engineers_, etc.

Consider how you'll handle trilogies such as Douglas Adams _The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, (Officially, it is a trilogy in five
parts, or six parts, if _And Another Thing..._ is included in that trilogy.)

For the Read Status table, you might also want to have tags for
reread, and acquired.

###

jonathon
--
ODF: Your documents, your language, your way.

[libreoffice-users] shortcut keys for LibreOffice under Linux

2014-08-10 Thread Thomas

Good morning
I am trying for years already to get friendly with linux, but have not
much luck with it.
Right now, I am (again) experimenting.

A new installation of (X)ubuntu 14.04 on two different machines comes
with LibreOffice.
However, the shortcut keys I am used to are different or non-functioning.
E.g., F11 is suppoed to bring up the styles menu.
- Linux - has to be Alt+F11
Ctrl+F10 - show non-printing characters
- Linux - brings up the file menu

Is there some consistent, COMPREHENSIBLE system of assigning these
shortcut keys?
Or do I have to find out and learn one by one through trial and error?

Thank you.
Thomas

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[libreoffice-users] Re: Acess2Base

2014-08-10 Thread Jim Byrnes


On 08/10/2014 08:02 PM, rost52 wrote:

Thanks Jim for introducing this topic.

A small company I know is using an ACCESS DB with macros exporting
certain information into EXCEL spreadsheets. This ACCESS DB is currently
preventing the company to change over  from MSO to LibO and Linux.

A 2 step approach is discussed: First to migrate from MSO to LibO using
W7 and second moving from Windows to Linux. (Distributions not yet
decided but most likely Linux Mint of Linux Mint Debian or Antergos.)

Therefore, 1 more question from my side: Assuming that using Access2Base
helps us to get the DB and the macros into Base and create the Calc
spreadsheets, can this BASE DB with the LibO macros be used as they are
when changing from W7 to Linux?



I don't know.  I just discovered it a few hours ago.  My impression is 
that it lets people that know how to write macros for Access use a 
syntax they are similar with to write macros in Base.  I could be wrong.


Here is a link to the website:

http://www.access2base.com/access2base.html

Here is a link to an OpenOffice discussion forum about it:

https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47t=61447

HTH

Regards, Jim


On 2014-08-11 06:47, Jim Byrnes wrote:

I am still using the 3.xx version of LO that came with Ubuntu 12.04
and haven't been on the main LibreOffice site for some time.  I've
been reading the naming discussion (Fresh/Still etc)  and decided to
look at the site.  While there I stumbled across Acces2Base. I've
always thought writing macros in LO was way harder than it should be
because of UNO, so this is an interesting development.

A couple of questions:

(1) Has anyone here used it and does it make writing macros for Base
easier?

(2) I write most of my macros for Calc  so is there a Excel2Calc planned?

Regards,  Jim









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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

2014-08-10 Thread jonathon



On 8/10/2014 6:48 PM, Joel Madero wrote:
 I decided to do the smart thing and diagram it out

Potential issues with the author field:

Book One:  Author A  Author B;
Book Two:  Author B  Author A;
Book Three: Author A  Author C. Author C is really Author B, but has
had a name change;

Book One, Book Two, and Book Three are all in the same series.

I've come across that in books written by academics, for academics.
Unfortunately, I don't remember any examples, offhand.

jonathon
-- 
ODF: Your documents, your language, your way.

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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database


I'm not horribly worried about name changes ;)

Best,
Joel

On 08/10/2014 07:21 PM, jonathon wrote:


On 8/10/2014 6:48 PM, Joel Madero wrote:

I decided to do the smart thing and diagram it out

Potential issues with the author field:

Book One:  Author A  Author B;
Book Two:  Author B  Author A;
Book Three: Author A  Author C. Author C is really Author B, but has
had a name change;

Book One, Book Two, and Book Three are all in the same series.

I've come across that in books written by academics, for academics.
Unfortunately, I don't remember any examples, offhand.

jonathon



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Re: [libreoffice-users] shortcut keys for LibreOffice under Linux

2014-08-10 Thread T. R. Valentine

On 10 August 2014 21:13, Thomas ny...@hb.tp1.jp wrote:
 Good morning
 I am trying for years already to get friendly with linux, but have not
 much luck with it.
 Right now, I am (again) experimenting.

 A new installation of (X)ubuntu 14.04 on two different machines comes
 with LibreOffice.
 However, the shortcut keys I am used to are different or non-functioning.
 E.g., F11 is suppoed to bring up the styles menu.
 - Linux - has to be Alt+F11

AFAIK, F11 brings up the Styles menu on both Ubuntu  Mint.


 Ctrl+F10 - show non-printing characters
 - Linux - brings up the file menu

AFAIK, Ctrl+F10 shows non-printing characters in Writer on both Ubuntu  Mint.

Perhaps the difference is XCFE.


 Is there some consistent, COMPREHENSIBLE system of assigning these
 shortcut keys?
 Or do I have to find out and learn one by one through trial and error?

(File) Tools / Customise - Keyboard tab, will let you look at all the
keyboard shortcuts and change them.


-- 
T. R. Valentine
A rich heart may be under a poor coat.

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Re: [libreoffice-users] What version?

2014-08-10 Thread jonathon



On 8/8/2014 11:15 AM, Pikov Andropov wrote:

 MSO 2013 is incompatible with itself


 I think he meant that MSO 2013 isn't fully compatible with MSO2010 o


No.
I meant that MSO 2013 is completely, utterly, and absolutely
incompatible with MSO 2013.
Likewise, MSO 2010 is completely, utterly, and absolutely incompatible
with MSO 2010.
Likewise, MSO 2007 is completely, utterly, and absolutely incompatible
with MSO 2007.

jonathon

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Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database