"Excel" for the CPC - SYMCALC spreadsheet application

[Gryzor]

What a well-rounder package!!

The most important thing is that the schortcut remains identical. Prodatron needs to find the ALT key on the CPC keyboard and then the F11 key. 

In SymbOS, "Alt" is assigned to the "Copy" key (on the CPC). The actual key combinations are identical to Excel.
Unfortunately, the CPC does not have an F11 key, so I cannot implement VBA macros, haha

Ah, the hardware limitations... 😁

[McArti0]

You can use Quigs instead. It's a nice development tool for SymbOS and similar to VBA..

 Why haven't I seen this before?

[Prodatron]

You can use Quigs instead. It's a nice development tool for SymbOS and similar to VBA..

Why haven't I seen this before?

The website for Quigs is still a little bit rudimentary:

https://www.symbos.org/quigs.htm

If you have any questions I will ask @Edoz(MSX) , he knows everything.

[McArti0]

When I solder both chips to 512kB expansion. I'll want to write a RAM-disc for SymbOS.

[dodogildo]

@Prodatron, is the name final? Did you ever consider Symsheet?

[Prodatron]

@Prodatron, is the name final? Did you ever consider Symsheet?

Or maybe SymCell? (sounds similiar to Excel)
Hm... no idea, what do you think?

[McArti0]

SymbiPlan (like Multiplan)

Symbius 1-2-3 (like Lotus 1-2-3)

SymCalc (like SuperCalc)

Symbony Spreadsheets (like Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets)

[Prodatron]

I liked SymSheet a lot but then I wondered why no other spreadsheet application ever used this as a part of the name.
Well, it is similiar to SymShit, and sheet is pronounced in nearly the same way like the dutch/north german "shit"
That remembers me about the "Audi Etron", one of the first full electrical cars from Audi, which means "shit heap" in the french language.

@McArti0 , thanks, your suggestions are nice and playful. But I guess I will stay with SymCalc first. I recognized, that it would be a big amount of work to rename all the sources etc haha. And I am just a big fan of VisiCalc and GeoCalc...

[McArti0]

SymSith is equally sinister  

[Prodatron]

I finished the SymbOS HLP to website converter, here is the generated html version of the actual documentation:

https://symbos.org/help/symcalc

It's nearly exactly like the help browser in SymbOS.

I am afraid, that it will take one more day to release the SymCalc beta version.

[Prodatron]

SymCalc 0.8 beta has been released:

You cannot view this attachment.

http://www.symbos.org/appinfo.htm?00060
Thanks to prevtenet for the cool icon!
The package contains several example SymCalc spreadsheets (*SCS) as well as all source codes.

Online help:
http://www.symbos.org/help/symcalc

You will need the most actual SymbOS 4.0 beta version. Just update your binary or rom files. Nothing else is required for your current installation:

http://www.symbos.org/download.htm#marke3

New features:

V0.8 (2024-09-09)

First beta release.
→ date/time/datetime, boolean, binary and hexadecimal support
→ contains more than 50 functions including full date and time computation and financial formulas
→ handles cut & paste with full relocation of inner and outer cell references
→ table functions like insert and remove cells, rows and columns
→ mouse-based cell-reference-selection while editing a cell
→ load and save documents
→ document meta informations like author, subject, keywords etc.
→ user-defined number, date and time formats
→ super fast hash-based cell-lookup for quick auto-recalculation

[norecess464]

I'm not your first customer for a spreadsheet program on the Amstrad CPC, but I have to say I'm truly impressed!

[McArti0]

Could you add NOW or TIMER functions? I'll need it to measure speed.

[Prodatron]

Could you add NOW or TIMER functions? I'll need it to measure speed.

Ok, I can add the NOW() function. If I got it correctly it will use the time at the moment when you entered or changed the cell.
It seems, that as long as you don't change the cell or a reference, the time won't change. But when you save and load the sheet again, the time is updated (isn't that inconsistent?).
Anyway, yes, now I will add NOW()

Regarding TIMER: that is a VBA thing, at least in Excel. But there is currently no scripting language in SymCalc I wonder how I could implement something, which could be useful for measuring something?

[McArti0]

In Excel works fine...

You could add time calculate raport field too (or only)

[Prodatron]

Here is the NOW() function.

E.g. type
=NOW()
or
=NOW()+A1
or whatever.

Could you attach your Excel example so that I can see the details?

Maybe that could be an issue for you:
Datetimes in SymCalc have seconds as the smallest unit.
I could add a TICK() function, which returns the system timer, which counts up every 1/50 second.

[McArti0]

Could you attach your Excel example so that I can see the details?

No, It has 78MB 

[Prodatron]

Ok, TICKS() has been added as well.
It just resturns the system counter, which is increased every 1/50 seconds.


An example spreadsheet has been attached for demonstrating it.
If you change the value in A1 it will recalculate all 30 cells in A4:E9.
It will also update the cells A2 and E10, which contain the TICKS() function.

You cannot view this attachment.

E10 will now show the tick difference between start and end of reclaculation.
On a normal CPC this should usually be around 12, so the whole recalculation takes about 12/50s=0,24 seconds (this does not include the redrawing process).
When switching WinApe to TurboMode, it shows between 4 and 6, so it's 2x or 3x faster.

An issue with this is, that E10 should be really the last cell in the internal memory organization, and A2 should be one of the first ones, otherwise it will not measure the full recalculation process.

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The HLP file has been updated as well.

[McArti0]

Excel F9 recalculate needed.   Could you please fit this in too? (Ctrl+9 ?)

[McArti0]

SINtestSpeed...

[Prodatron]

Excel F9 recalculate needed.  Could you please fit this in too? (Ctrl+9 ?)

Cool, thanks for this suggestion. Ok, I will add this.
Do you prefer F9 or Ctrl+9 or should I just use both shortcuts? (why not...)
Ctrl+[0-9] is currently not defined, but this could be added for 4.0. (why not...)

What I wonder is:
As everything is usually auto-recalculated, when anything changed, is this F9 thing really only for updating NOW() (and ticks() ) cells? Or is there any other use case for it? Or is it just an old remnant from Multiplan or so?

[Prodatron]

SINtestSpeed...

What the hell is this?
Oh wow, that is amazing!
It's full of SINs (a LOT for every cell) and you made a great speed test, really cool! Interesting that this is working.

[McArti0]

In Excel when you press DELETE all sheet is recalculate.