On Fri, 2006-02-10 at 17:46 -0600, Fred Grant wrote: > On Wed, 2006-02-08 at 08:53, Randomthots wrote: > > Glen wrote: > > > > > I am doing a spreadsheet and am trying to do what Microsoft calls > > > "masking" in a cell. I will give 2 examples > > > > > > First example > > > I have a date cell and it is using the standard of 02/07/06 . > > > I want to make it so that when I start the cell I see the slashes and I > > > don't need to put them in and it goes from the 02 to the 07 without me > > > having to manually putting the slashes in. > > > > > > Second example > > > I have a time cell that uses 09:28. I want to be able to put in 0928 > > > and it separate it out without me having to put the : in manually. > > > > > > This is probably in the help somewhere and I am just not seeing it > > > Thanks for your help > > > Glen > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > Nope. It's not in the Help because it's not something that Calc will do. > > There is an open issue requesting this feature: > > > > http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=47906 > > > > Personally, I don't find it that bad with dates because the slash key is > > at least on the numeric keypad, but inputing time values is a big pain. > > Not only is the colon not on the keypad but it's a *shifted* character > > for the love of Pete! > > > > I'll tell you what I usually do... if I'm creating a spreadsheet with a > > time column, I'll just make separate columns for the hours, minutes, and > > seconds and then a last column that combines it all using the time() > > function. The syntax is time(hours;minutes;seconds). > > > > But I wholeheartedly agree with you. And an enhancement like this should > > be generalized so that you could use it for things like telephone > > numbers, social security numbers, product codes, etc. > Could use more votes, only 7 when I last checked.
Interestingly, in Forms there is the 'Pattern' field which does allow masking (using an edit mask and a literal mask). But, unfortunately, this can't be used as a workaround to this Calc question because pattern fields can't be linked to cells, whereas most other form fields can. E.g. Pattern field properties: Edit Mask: NNLNNLLLNN Literal Mask: __/__/20__ Strict format: Yes ... allows you to type 110206 to get 11/02/2006. [By the way, the only way I could find help on this was to insert a Pattern field into a document, bring up it's Control dialog and press F1 while the it's control dialog was focused on the 'General' properties tab.] The code is in OOo - hopefully it just needs to be re-used for fields and cells in general. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
