a few specific BCALC editing questions

newTIboyRob · November 5, 2023

So with my penchant for spreadsheets, (and from the archives here, I see there is someone else like me, thank goodness!) trying out Homecalc, (decent), Speedcalc (excellent) and eventually Syncalc (looks to be more complex with a 162 manual, so I may need to try that one last!) I tried out BCALC on my real 600xl with RAM Expansion and Sdrive and so far have found it to be a really, really great program that is quite intuitive, and only takes up about 8k, leaving quite a bit of RAM headroom. Despite reviewing the attached 6 page article in Analog Computing's August 1988 issue that describes all the commands, (included here in case anyone needs it, and you will), I wasn't able to do a couple of editing concepts, so I thought I would post here with the hopes that: a) someone who either still uses it and thus knows or at least can remember how to do it can assist or b) someone who just feels like playing with it along with me can see if they can figure it out these few things:

In the instructions, you will see you can L justify or R justify a column and even go back to individual cells to do it for that specific cell. My questions are more like... you set it up one way but then you decided you don't like the way it looks and want to change the format. Let's take a Halloween candy leftover inventory for example, here initially entered as left-justified:

AA AB

01 Snickers 5

02 Twix 10

03 Skittles 7

04 Whoppers 15

05 Starbursts 3

06 Kit Kats 2

Total 42 <---though it wasn't listed in the instructions (horribly), I figured out the formula from the screenshot on p1 is typing verbatim =@SUM(AB01,AB06)

1) So the first thing I didn't like about the above is that it doesn't line the numbers up. [Incidentally, I then saw that R justify will line them up and looks much better. You can pre-set the column to be R justified using CNTRL G beforehand and then every number entry as you go along will line up nicely automatically right justified, and you can remove the 2 decimal points if these are not $ amounts.] I thought an easy misalignment work-around would be: just put a space before the single digit entries to make them all line up... no can do, as that is fine visually, but then the total calculation will be incorrect.

I was reading about CNTRL F and CNTRL G more thinking there must be a way to get that whole column that was initially set up as L justified to automatically now R justify all as one block via 1 command. The only way I could get it to R justify was to go back into each individual cell and <arrow down> CNTRL F (R is defaulted) and just hit 0 and Esc and that cell's contents will now shift to R justified.... continuing on until all are right justified. But kind of a pain if you have to do each one individually like that and there are quite a few? Isn't there a way change justification for the entire entered block all at once with 1 single command?

2) I learned it was very simple to delete, move and copy entire cell blocks, so no problem there. The problem was, and it's related to the above question, let's say you want to take all the data in column AB which is still left justified and now pre-set up column AC to have it now be right justified, either before copying the data over or simply moving it over. Though I first pre-set up column AC to be Right-Justified, since the source data of the copy was initially left justified, it just dumped all the data into column AC still preserving its original left justify, not adapting to the new target column's right justify format.

Thus... Can a copied block of data set up initially in one justification be copied to a new location, but now adapting to this new column's pre-set justification? No matter what I tried, my copied block retained its original Left, not new Right, justification.

3) Same question for simply moving data over a column or two.

So in short, I don't know if I just don't know how to do the above yet or if even perhaps these are limitations within the program itself, hence my asking if someone is familiar with this program and knows these. If actual program limitations are the case, it's still all good, as I would just have to remember beforehand that right justification pre-set up is the ticket for entering numbers as either $ or just as a count as they will auto re-align during individual entry, add correctly and look a little neater. But let's say you forget this. Or you change your mind after viewing it mid-way, etc.

The copying and moving of blocks with having it readjust to its new "home" location's ofrmat would just make things a lot easier if you do decide you need to change something or simply change your mind, as that auto re-adjustment would avoid your having to retype individual cells. (I also wish a double return would move the inverse entry block to allow "walking" within cells a la Lotus 1-2-3 and the like, but hey, I suppose you can't ask for everything, and a simple CNTRL arrow will achieve the same result.)

Any help here?

BCALC.pdf

newTIboyRob · November 8, 2023

hmm no responses here as of yet. Either I missed it, or maybe the above were actually shortcomings of the program that were not important enough for anyone to ever document, I'm sure what I was trying to do was attempted by others as those were reasonable requests. Copying and moving a block had basically the same effect I noticed, and if you move it, you basically copy it, so you'll just be deleting a column.

In case anyone wants to actually try the program, BCalc strikes me as actually a very nice spreadsheet program, more entry-ish level compared to Syncalc and Visicalc, but still packed with lots of helpful features. It's extremely easy to navigate in case you actually don't want all the bells and whistles offered by the big boys. I sound like a magazine article review!

Edited November 8, 2023 by newTIboyRob