Hi,
... Thank you, Claudia. I'm getting to the point where I believe that this
functionality does not exist in OOo Calc. I don't know whether Excel has it or
not so I don't know whether this is a compatibility issue. I realize that if it
is not then the likelihood of getting it changed is remote.
I'll give up on this particular styling issue before I change to narrow rows or
columns to simulate borders. There is just way too much baggage associated with
that approach.
I find the Help for conditional formatting to be overly simplistic. *Maybe*
I'll find time to contribute to the OOo project in this area.
What aspect of the extensive example in the Online Help is overly
simplistic? Where do you need more information? How can we improve the
Help? Did you follow the example to see how to apply conditional
formatting? Then you must have seen that 'Applying Cell Borders' is one
of the hundreds of possible formatting options when you define the new
Cell Styles.
Currently, the Help on Conditional Formatting has this info:
Applying Conditional Formatting
Using the menu command Format - Conditional formatting, the dialog
allows you to define up to three conditions per cell, which must be met
in order for the selected cells to have a particular format.
With conditional formatting, you can, for example, highlight the totals
that exceed the average value of all totals. If the totals change, the
formatting changes correspondingly, without having to apply other styles
manually.
1.Select the cells to which you want to apply a conditional style.
2.Choose Format - Conditional Formatting.
3.Enter the condition(s) into the dialog box. The dialog is described in
detail in StarOffice Help, and an example is provided below:
Example of Conditional Formatting: Generate Number Values
You want to give certain values in your tables particular emphasis. For
example, in a table of turnovers, you can show all the values above the
average in green and all those below the average in red. This is
possible with conditional formatting.
1.First of all, write a table in which a few different values occur. For
your test you can create tables with any random numbers:
In one of the cells enter the formula =RAND(), and you will obtain a
random number between 0 and 1. If you want integers of between 0 and 50,
enter the formula =INT(RAND()*50).
2.Copy the formula to create a row of random numbers. Click the bottom
right corner of the selected cell, and drag to the right until the
desired cell range is selected.
3.In the same way as described above, drag down the corner of the
rightmost cell in order to create more rows of random numbers.
Example of Conditional Formatting: Define Cell Styles
The next step is to apply a cell style to all values that represent
above-average turnover, and one to those that are below the average.
Ensure that the Styles and Formatting window is visible before proceeding.
1.Click in a blank cell and select the command Format Cells in the
context menu.
2.In the Format Cells dialog on the Background tab, select a background
color. Click OK.
3.In the Styles and Formatting window, click the New Style from
Selection icon. Enter the name of the new style. For this example, name
the style "Above".
4.To define a second style, click again in a blank cell and proceed as
described above. Assign a different background color for the cell and
assign a name (for this example, "Below").
Example of Conditional Formatting: Calculate Average
In our particular example, we are calculating the average of the random
values. The result is placed in a cell:
1.Set the cursor in a blank cell, for example, J14, and choose Insert -
Function.
2.Select the AVERAGE function. Use the mouse to select all your random
numbers. If you cannot see the entire range, because Function Wizard is
obscuring it, you can temporarily shrink the dialog using the Shrink /
Maximize icon.
3.Close Function Wizard with OK.
Example of Conditional Formatting: Apply Cell Style
Now you can apply the conditional formatting to the sheet:
1.Select all cells with the random numbers.
2.Choose the Format - Conditional Formatting command to open the
corresponding dialog.
3.Define the condition as follows: If cell value is less than J14,
format with cell style "Below", and if cell value is greater than or
equal to J14, format with cell style "Above".
Example of Conditional Formatting: Copy Cell Style
To apply the conditional formatting to other cells later:
1.Click one of the cells that has been assigned conditional formatting.
2.Copy the cell to the clipboard.
3.Select the cells that are to receive this same formatting.
4.Choose Edit - Paste Special. The Paste Special dialog appears.
5.In the Selection area, check only the Formats box. All other boxes
must be unchecked. Click OK.
Uwe
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - Technical Writer
StarOffice - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Hamburg, Germany
http://www.sun.com/staroffice
http://documentation.openoffice.org/
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