OpenOffice Calc Tips 2006-02-02T15:54:28ZMy contribution to the OOo community - including a blog with daily tips, templates and scripts for downloading, as well as links to other related websites. Enjoy.tag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1Movable TypeCopyright (c) 2006, DaveBasic Functions: COUNTBLANK2006-02-02T15:54:28Z2006-02-02T21:17:09Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1682006-02-02T21:17:09ZThe COUNTBLANK function allows you to total the number of blank or empty cells in a specified range. It is used as show n below in the example. Cells C3, B5 and D5 are empty - so the COUNTBLANK function...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFunction tips
COUNTBLANK function allows you to total the number of blank or empty cells in a specified range.
It is used as show n below in the example. Cells C3, B5 and D5 are empty - so the COUNTBLANK function in D7 returns 3.
You may have a situation where the array is quite large and it is important that each cell has a value. To make it easier to trap blank cells, you can combine the COUNTBLANK inside an IF function...
Conditional formatting would also help you spot blank cells.]]>
Conditional Formatting: Comparing two Lists2006-02-01T13:29:41Z2006-02-02T04:48:29Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1802006-02-02T04:48:29ZWe will use conditional formatting to identify unique entries between two lists. In the sheet below, we have two lists of US States. We would like to identify the list entries that are unique to each list. This technique can...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comUsing OpenOffice Calc
In the sheet below, we have two lists of US States. We would like to identify the list entries that are unique to each list. This technique can also be applied to two versions of the same list to identify additions/removals.
Step 1: Select B2:B19 and open the Conditional Formatting dialog - below. We have already defined a formatting style that has a darker background.
In the Conditional Formatting dialog, select the "Formula is"option from the drop down list on the left and enter the formula as displayed below. Choose the predefined style. Exit the dialog.
We apply similar conditonal formatting to the D2:D19 array. I will leave that as an exercise for the reader.
The result after the conditional formatting is applied. Those cells that are shaded dark do not have a matching entry in the other list.
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Entering Dates Quickly2006-02-01T04:35:14Z2006-01-31T22:45:27Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1702006-01-31T22:45:27ZHere is a useful formula - a long with a variant if you need to enter dates quickly without the delimiters between the days, months and years. In the example below, we enter our shorthand dates in column B. This...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comDate & Time
In the example below, we enter our shorthand dates in column B. This column is formatted as Text so that any leading zeroes are not discarded by OOo Calc as it interprets the numbers entered as an integer.
Column C is formatted as a Date and the formula entered in C2 is
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Returning a Blank rather than Zero or Error2006-01-30T18:52:39Z2006-01-30T21:14:12Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1672006-01-30T21:14:12ZIn the spreadsheet below, we wish to apply a formula to the values of a particular column - C and display the results in column D. However, the column is 'sparse' in that not all cells in the column have...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFunction tips
This would be problematic if the formula returns an error when applied to a blank cell. However, by incorporating the ISBLANK function
as shown below, we can gurantee that only non-blank entries are processed.
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Toolbar Crazy2006-01-28T16:59:23Z2006-01-29T05:25:58Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1732006-01-29T05:25:58ZI'm not a big user of the OpenOffice Calc toolbars - but I was curious what it would look like if I activated them all... You can enable/disable a particular toolbar with the View - Toolbars menu option. As you...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comUsing OpenOffice Calc
You can enable/disable a particular toolbar with the View - Toolbars menu option. As you can see, it can get quite crowded if you anable them all! In my next installment, I'll introduce you to some of them.
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Creating a 2-D Lookup Table2006-01-27T21:06:40Z2006-01-27T20:51:04Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1662006-01-27T20:51:04ZBy combining INDEX and MATCH functions as shown below, we can create a lookup table whose data can be accessed by specifying the desired row and column values. This is probably best applied where the lookup table is of fixed...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFunction tips
INDEX and MATCH functions as shown below, we can create a lookup table whose data can be accessed by specifying the desired row and column values.
This is probably best applied where the lookup table is of fixed size - for example - calculation of sales commisions.
For tables that change on a regular basis - thus requiring constant updates of the lookup formulae, the Base application might be a better solution. Now if only I had more time to play around with that...
Here is a similar
example]]>
A Sudoku Solver!2006-01-07T02:48:58Z2006-01-07T01:37:01Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1652006-01-07T01:37:01ZI have been wanting to do this for the longest time - ever since I became aware of this puzzle last year. So for the past week, I've been busy putting together this spreadsheet that will assist you with solving...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comAddins
Anyway, three days and 900 formulae later, I present... ooo_sodoku.
This is not a push-button solver. Perhaps the next version will allow that. Basically, for each square in the solution grid, the solver will determine all the possible values - saving you a lot of the drudge work associated with these puzzles.
As you manually enter the values in the solution grid - top left, the main grid in the center will display one of three colors for each square. Light blue indicates that square already filled in solution grid. Green indicates only one possible value - which has yet to be entered in the solution grid, and brown indicates more than one solution
Your comments, encouragement and feedback are always welcome. As I said earlier, there are 900+ formulae here - so bugs are possible.
Download this utility here]]>
Data Validation: Drop down lists2006-01-03T23:08:20Z2006-01-03T22:00:00Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2006://1.1642006-01-03T22:00:00ZFor each cell, you can define in advance what type of contents is valid for that cell. This allows you to guide users through data entry in OpenOffice.org Calc by restricting cells to receive specific values and ranges. For selected...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comForms
For selected cells, a drop-down list of possible values can be defined. In this tutorial, we show how this is done.
Step1: Select the required cell and open the data validation dialog as shown below.
Step2: In the Criteria tab of the validation dialog, the Allow option is itself a drop-down list. We select List.
Step3: With List slected, a text box appears which we populate with the list of allowed values for the selected cell(s). We are almost done.
After closing the validation dialog, we see that we now must select a value for our cell from the drop-down list we have just created - as shown below. It is also acceptable to leave it blank.
This example can be downloaded here.]]>
Basic Functions: WEEKDAY2005-12-30T15:24:35Z2005-12-30T05:18:18Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1632005-12-30T05:18:18ZThe WEEKDAY function returns an integer that represents the day of the week. The usefulness of this function is in identifying weekends in a series of dates. It is straightforward to use the filldown functionality of Openoffice Calc to create...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFunction tips
WEEKDAY function returns an integer that represents the day of the week. The usefulness of this function is in identifying weekends in a series of dates.
It is straightforward to use the filldown functionality of Openoffice Calc to create a column of consecutive dates. We can use the WEEKDAY function to only include the days of the week we want - for example excluding weekends.
The arguments to the function are :
WEEKDAY(Number; Type)
where
Number, as a date value, is a decimal for which the weekday is to be returned.
Type determines the type of calculation. For Type =1, the weekdays are counted starting from Sunday (this is the default even when the Type parameter is missing). For Type =2, the weekdays are counted starting from Monday =1. For Type = 3, the weekdays are counted starting from Monday = 0.
In the example below, we use the WEEKDAY function to identify weekend days.
We now use the WEEKDAY function to create a column of dates that exclude the weekends. An alternative (but similar) approach is shown
here
The sheet for this example can be downloaded here]]>
Splitting an address (US) into separate cells2005-12-29T02:30:08Z2005-12-28T18:19:05Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1622005-12-28T18:19:05ZThe FIND, LEFT, MID, RIGHT and LEN text functions are extremely useful and versatile. We have seen before how to split a person's name into it's component parts. Here, we take a single cell containing a US address and split...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFunction tips
FIND, LEFT, MID, RIGHT and LEN text functions are extremely useful and versatile. We have seen
before how to split a person's name into it's component parts.
Here, we take a single cell containing a US address and split it into it's City, State and Zip components. As long as the string we want to partition is well beahved - as is the case here, splitting should be relatively straightforward with the appropriate combination of text functions.
If, for example, we did not have a comma after the city, we could use the formulae below to extract the city and state components...
=LEFT(B3;LEN(B3)-9) and
=MID(B3;LEN(B3)-7;2)
Also, if you want to delete column B, you will first need to preserve the columns you have just created by doing a Paste Special (values only) as shown
here
This worksheet can be downloaded here]]>
Financial Functions: Creating a Payment Chart2005-12-27T19:46:40Z2005-12-27T19:04:15Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1612005-12-27T19:04:15ZOne of the most useful and widely used financial functions available in OpenOffice Calc is PMT. We have discussed this before. It's use is illustrated below in a simple example showing how to calculate the payments on a loan with...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFinance
PMT. We have discussed this
before.
It's use is illustrated below in a simple example showing how to calculate the payments on a loan with fixed interest rate over a specified repayment term.
The advantage of using a spreadsheet in this manner is that we can plug different parameters into the equation and instantly see how it affects the payment we would need to make.
I will now extend this capability by showing how to create a table of payments for a range of loan amounts and interest rates. We first set up a blank table with the desired loan amounts on the side and the interest rates along the top.
In cell G4, we enter the following formula
=PMT(G$2/12;$C$6;-$F3;0)
We have already used this technique to create a multiplication chart
here
Using the 'hybrid' addressing mode results in OOo Calc generating the correct results when we autofill the formulae down the first column. More information on the autofill mechanism
here.
Likewise, we can autofill the complete table by dragging the first column across with the fill handle as shown below.
The above example spreadsheet can be downloaded
here
(ODF format)]]>
Merry Christmas2005-12-24T19:03:56Z2005-12-24T18:59:35Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1602005-12-24T18:59:35ZHere's wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2006! I have not been updating recently - but I plan to get back into the swing of things as soon as I can after the holidays. Right now, I...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.com
I have not been updating recently - but I plan to get back into the swing of things as soon as I can after the holidays.
Right now, I need to head out the store one more time for a rocker chair for my mother in law.
All the best!
Dave]]>
Financial Functions : Balloon Loan Example2005-12-04T00:10:14Z2005-12-03T23:24:41Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1592005-12-03T23:24:41ZA balloon mortgage is a short loan, lasting five to seven years, but the payments are based on a term of 30 years. Balloon loans often have a lower interest rate, and can usually be easier to qualify for than...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comFinance
In the spreadsheet below, we use the PMT and FV functions to calculate the payments and final payment for a 7 year 8% balloon loan for $100,000.
Let us now revise this worksheet with a "what if" scenario - so easy with OOo Calc. let us sweeten the payment each month and see how it impacts our final payment due.
The worksheet for this example can be downloaded here (OO0 2.0)]]>
Converting time to minutes past midnight2005-12-03T23:11:24Z2005-12-01T05:25:26Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1582005-12-01T05:25:26ZTo convert a time to the number of minutes past midnight, just multiply by 1440 - as shown below. You also need to make sure the result cell is formatted as a number....Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comDate & Time
You also need to make sure the result cell is formatted as a number.
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Sheet/Cell Protection 1012005-12-03T23:12:07Z2005-11-23T05:34:35Ztag:www.openofficetips.com,2005://1.1572005-11-23T05:34:35ZThere are a number of situations where it is desirable to take advantage of the sheet/cell protectection features of OOo Calc. Perhaps you want to prevent the values for a range of cells from being overwritten. Perhaps, you want to...Daverichhillsoftware@gmail.comUsing OpenOffice Calc
Perhaps you want to prevent the values for a range of cells from being overwritten. Perhaps, you want to protect sensitive financial formulae but share the results.
In order for protection settings to be enabled for a range of cells, the document or sheet must be protected. Protecting a sheet or document prevents the format of the cells from being changed - and because cell protection settings are part of the format, we apply this first before protecting the sheet.
By default, all cells are unprotected and all formulae are visible (below)
With the desired cells selected, open the Cells Format dialog - Cell Protection tab - shown below. Select Protected to prevent changes to the contents or the format of a cell. Select Hide Formula to hide formulas.
With the correct protection settings having been applied to the selected cells, we must now protect the sheet or document. This is done as shown below...
A password is required - don't forget it!!
This is the message that you get when attempting to modify the contents of a cell.
