Websheet Menus

Websheet Menu

About Websheet

About Websheet does what it says: tells you about this version of the Websheet application; the copyright notice etc.

Quit Websheet

This option closes the current browser window, effectively quitting the application. If you have unsaved changes, Websheet will prompt you first, before closing the window. Press OK to quit or Cancel to continue working.

File Menu

New Spreadsheet

This option allows you to start a new websheet in the current browser window. If you have any unsaved work in progress, Websheet will first warn you that your websheet has been changed since it was last saved and allow you to cancel the menu selection. Otherwise, it will replace the working websheet with a new, blank one and any unsaved changes will be lost.

Upload File

Websheet is implemented in JavaScript, a scripting language for web browsers. For your security, JavaScript, quite rightly, does not by default, allow an arbitrary script downloaded from a web site access to your local storage (indeed, you may not even be aware that a script has been downloaded as part of a web page.) Consequently, Websheet cannot directly open or save files. To get around this issue, the application has an Upload File option, which is equivalent to "Open..." in more traditional Spreadsheet programs.

Figure 1. Upload websheet

Upload

When you choose Upload File, Websheet displays an Upload Websheet form and waits for you to choose a file on your PC, PDA, tablet or smart phone's hard disk or in its memory. When you click the OK button, Websheet first uploads the contents of your selected file to the Websheet server, which checks that it contains a valid websheet before updating your browser's window with the uploaded file.

Download File

As with opening a file, JavaScript does not normally allow scripts to save files locally. To save your current websheet, the application provides a Download File option that is equivalent to "Save As..." in other programs. When you choose to download the file, Websheet first sends a working copy of the current state of your websheet to the server, which validates it and saves it as a temporary file. The application then displays a Download Websheet form and waits for you to explicitly request to download the file. Exactly what to do next will depend on your browser and the device it's running on. For example, in Internet Explorer® on a PC, you should right-click on the link shown on the form and select "Save As..." from the context menu that appears. In Safari® on an Apple Mac®, the equivalent action is to ctrl-click on the link and choose "Download Linked File As...".

Figure 2. Download websheet

Download

Websheet saves your websheet as an XML file.

Print

Print causes your web browser to print the contents of its window, thereby making a printed copy of your websheet (without the Websheet menu bar.) The printing options available depend on your browser and the device it's running on.

Edit Menu

Copy

Copy takes a copy of the currently selected set of cells for future Paste or Paste Special operations. The selected cells themselves are not affected. If there is no current selection, the option is "greyed" out and not selectable.

The copy operation is within Websheet only: the cells are not copied to the device's operating system's clipboard and therefore cannot be pasted into other applications.

Cut

The current selection of cells is saved for future pasting but the original contents of the cells is cleared. If there is no current selection, the option is "greyed" out and not selectable.

Paste

If a selection has been copied or cut previously, Paste will cause the rectangular set of cells whose top left corner coincides with the current selection to be filled with the contents saved by the earlier copy or cut operation. If there has been no previous copy or cut then the option is "greyed" out and not selectable.

Pasting replaces the formula, value and formatting of each cell in the selection with the formula, value and format of the corresponding cell in the previously copied or cut selection.

Paste Special

Sometimes you only want to copy the formula, value or formatting of a cell or cells somewhere else on the websheet. Paste SpecialSub-menu Formula, Format Only and As Value allow you to paste only the required element without affecting the others.

Clear

Clear will remove the formula and/or value of each cell in the current selection, leaving the cell blank. It is assumed that you want to leave the existing formatting of the cell as it is. If there is no current selection, the option is "greyed" out and not selectable.

Select All

Does at it says: selects all the cells in the websheet.

Delete

Delete removes all the complete rows and columns that intersect the currently selected group of cells. If there is no such selection, the option is "greyed" out and unselectable.

Insert Menu

Insert Row

Inserts a row above the first (topmost) row in the current selection or the option is "greyed" out and unselectable if there is no such selection.

Insert Column

Inserts a column to the left of the first (leftmost) column in the current selection or the option is "greyed" out and unselectable if there is no such selection.

Format Menu

Type

Figure 3. Format type

Type tab

Displays the format Type form and allows you to select the type of data to be stored in the cells of the current selection.

Table 1. Cell format types
Type Description
Numeric This is a general purpose number format.
Fixed General purpose number format with optional thousands separator and settable number of decimal places.
Accountancy

Intended for financial purposes, Accountancy has optional thousands separator, a settable number of decimal places and your choice of currency symbol { £, $, €, ¥, ¢, ¤ }.

Negative numbers are enclosed by parentheses (_).

Currency Similar to Accountancy except negative numbers are displayed in red.
Date This format permits a user-definable representation of dates as day, month and year etc. Internally, Websheet stores date values in terms of milliseconds since midnight on January 1, 1970. The date may be with or without a leading zero, if single digit; the month may be shown numerically or by name and the year can be shown as two or four digits. The day-of-week may be optionally shown in full or abbreviated form. The format can be edited to suit your preference.
Time This format permits a user-definable representation of time in hours, minutes and seconds. Internally, Websheet stores time values in terms of milliseconds since midnight on January 1, 1970. The presence of AM or PM in the format specifies 12-hour clock rather than the default 24-hour form.
Percentage A Percentage is a numerical fraction with a settable number of decimal places. It is displayed in the cell multiplied by 100 with the percentage sign appended, i.e. 1.0 as entered is shown as 100.00%.
Per Mille Per Mille is similar to percentage except values are displayed multiplied by 1000 with the per mille sign (‰).
Scientific

Scientific is a numeric format intended for mathematical or scientific applications, typically where very large or very small numbers are required. Numbers are displayed in exponential form, i.e. a decimal fraction raised to a power of ten.

The number of decimal places in the mantissa may be set as required.

Telephone Represents a United Kingdom telephone number. The format can be edited if required to suit another telephone number form.
Postcode Represents a United Kingdom postal code. The format can be edited if required to suit another postcode or ZIP code form.
Custom This is a user-definable format.
Text General purpose text format. Numbers entered into text cells are treated the same as alphabetic text. E.g. "000" is not equivalent to the numeric value 0 (zero).

Alignment

The content of each cell may be centred or aligned to the left or right and either in the middle or aligned to the top or bottom of the cell respectively. The Alignment form allows you to choose the alignment for all the cells in the current selection. The choice is reflected in the Sample cell illustrated above the alignment buttons.

Figure 4. Format Alignment

Alignment tab

Style

The Style submenu offers you a choice of Italic, bold or underline or a combination of these. Each time you select one of these items it is toggled alternately on or off. When the option is on, the corresponding style is applied.

The style may also be changed in the Font form.

Font

Figure 5. Format font

Font tab

Colour palette Each cell or group of cells can be set to display in a specific typeface or font. In addition to choosing a typeface, you can also select the size and colour of text and numbers displayed in the font. The colour can be chosen by name from the choices {white, silver, grey, black, red, maroon, fuchsia, purple, lime, green, yellow, olive, blue, navy, aqua, teal}.

When you have made your selection of font, style, size and colour, press the OK button to accept it or Cancel to revert to the previous settings.

Shading

As well as having coloured text and numbers in a cell, it is also possible to choose the background colour of the cell itself from the same colour palette available in the Font form.

Figure 6. Format shading

Shading tab

After choosing a cell colour from the drop-down list, press OK to accept it or Cancel to undo the change.

Border

Cells can also have a border on any or all of their four sides. The border can be thin, medium or thick in any of the standard colours and in any of these styles:

None Dotted Dashed Solid Double Groove Inset Outset Hidden

To change a particular border, select its attributes from the drop-down lists and then press the button corresponding to the edge that you want to alter.

Figure 7. Format border

Border tab

When you have finished choosing suitable styles, colours and line thicknesses from the drop-down lists, press the OK to accept any changes or Cancel to revert to the previous settings.

Help Menu

Websheet Help

This option opens the Websheet help page in a new browser window, but presumably you know that or you wouldn't be reading this!

Licence

This option opens the Websheet Licence Agreement page in a new browser window. As a Websheet user, you are required to agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of use listed on this page or cease using the application.