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Build 1.1.023 - New Summary features - Print and Export! (beta version)

Lloyd Johnson

Lloyd Johnson

Administrator
Staff member
This took a lot longer than expected so I apologize for it. I believe you will like the results, though. I am releasing this as a BETA version because I will be making more changes tomorrow and hopefully will have had some additional feeback by then.

The new Print functionality creates a spreadsheet that can be printed using a number of different defaults. You can select the orientation, the paper size (including international options), and the margins (you can even create custom margins). If the spreadsheed doesn't all fit on a single page, you can scale the printout by 90% (for example) or whatever number allows it to print on a single page.

Next, since it is now a spreadsheet, it can be Exported as an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx). You will first be prompted for the name of the spreadsheet and you must select the location where the file will be saved. It currently defaults to My Segment PRO > Ring View but this is not where it will be tomorrow. It is likely to be just My Segment PRO, but I'll be interested in hearing suggestions.

The entire spreadsheet will be saved with all the raw data in columns with headings. You can use all the power of Excel or other Spreadsheet programs to format the data as you wish. You can move or delete columns however you choose and use the full power of character and cell formatting. Finally, you can add headers and footers and create a printable document of your own choosing.

You can only get this beta version by clicking the following link:
http://download.woodturnerpro.com/software/v3/segprosetupbeta.exe
 
Export to excel and the ability to custom format is great. We all like it a bit different. Only problem I had was when I saved a plan and then made a few changes and wanted to save in again replacing the first one, I got an error message, "segmentpro stopped working, program will shut down" Happened a few times. Then I went into the file and deleted the first one and then saved the second as a new file it worked fine.
 
Instead of saving to ring view or segmentpro how about a new folder labeled "spreadsheets" or something similar. this would make all the spreadsheets easy to find, not mixed in with all the other stuff in the general file segmentpro or ring views.
 
Art Bodwell said:
Export to excel and the ability to custom format is great. We all like it a bit different. Only problem I had was when I saved a plan and then made a few changes and wanted to save in again replacing the first one, I got an error message, "segmentpro stopped working, program will shut down"
Click to expand...
Art,
This will happen if the file is already open in Excel. I'll try to come up with a way to have the program check to see if the file is already in use. Better yet, I hope to be able to simply open the data in Excel without first saving it and I'll leave the task of saving the file to you and Excel and then I won't ever have to worry about file lock issues or where to save the file. It's always best if I can keep the software away from these issues.
 
Species information (count and length) are exporting to Excel formatted as text, would be nicer as a number if you can
 
The last row of my bowl, the solid ring at the top shows up incorrect. All I get is the row number, the rest of the information in that line are the totals above it. The other information is exported with ' " ' inches marks so you can not total or work with them as numbers unless you go thru and remove them
 
The answer is that to display a text character such as the inches mark can only happen if the field is a text field. It is easy enough for me to remove the " character but this is a decision we are making for everyone so we have to be sure we are doing the right thing. Remember that only 10% of the people will export the data and so this group is the tail and the 90% are the dog. At a glance, 5.5" is much easier to understand than 5.5.

Unfortunately, it can't be both ways. I have to make them text or numeric fields and if they are numeric, ", mm, in., the degree symbol, etc. will all be gone.

Everything is stored in numeric fields in the database but are converted to text when entered in the grid and it is the grid that is both displayed in the software and exported as a spreadsheet.

It would be a lot of work, but it ispossible to create a second grid that would only be used for exporting and it could be 100% numeric. But that also means that those that want ", mm, ect. even in the spreadsheet would have to change those fields to text in the spreadsheet.

No easy answers. More input would be helpful.
 
The dimensions coming into Excel in a text field are not optimal but not a complete killer for use in Excel.

I understand the easy of reading and the use by the majority of users. I would venture to guess only a small portion of users will use the export to Excel and if they do will only use it to delete or move columns for printing.

On the positive side of things it is only a matter of writing a simple macro to strip the inch marks or the mm for metric users.

So, as far as I'm considered I can live with it either way, I was just reporting what I saw.
 
I opened the file in Word and did a replace on " with a blank resaved it and then brought it into Excel with no problem. The columns can then be converted to numbers.
 
You can do it directly in Excel by:

The numbers under the species that give you the count and length can be easily converted by first selection a blank cell. Do a copy, then select all the numbers and do a paste special and pick add, then enter.

The numbers with the inch sign after them is almost as easy. Insert a column next to the column, at the top where the first value you want to convert enter the formula =VALUE(LEFT(O3,LEN(O3)-1)) where O3 is the cell containing the number with the inch sign. Then just copy the formula down.
 
I'm of the opinion that anyone exporting the data to a spreadsheet is doing it partially for the ability to manipulate the data or at least format it differently with regards to decimal places, etc., and so I'm inclined to go to a numeric spreadsheet only. Having said that, it is down the list.

It is far simpler to stay with numerics, period and is something that can be done in a day. I may just do it. Once you've used the Summary, it will quickly become obvious which columns are different units. If not, I'm not sure that segmenting is up their alley anyway.

Besides, I can always tell them that Bob and Stuart insisted that I make this change or they would hold their breath. What was I supposed to do?
 
Lloyd you coulds also just a note in the header of the summary that says all dimensions in inches or all dimensions are in mm
 
Bob Beaupre said:
The last row of my bowl, the solid ring at the top shows up incorrect. All I get is the row number, the rest of the information in that line are the totals above it. The other information is exported with ' " ' inches marks so you can not total or work with them as numbers unless you go thru and remove them
Click to expand...



Lloyd Johnson said:
The answer is that to display a text character such as the inches mark can only happen if the field is a text field. It is easy enough for me to remove the " character but this is a decision we are making for everyone so we have to be sure we are doing the right thing. Remember that only 10% of the people will export the data and so this group is the tail and the 90% are the dog. At a glance, 5.5" is much easier to understand than 5.5.

Unfortunately, it can't be both ways. I have to make them text or numeric fields and if they are numeric, ", mm, in., the degree symbol, etc. will all be gone.

Everything is stored in numeric fields in the database but are converted to text when entered in the grid and it is the grid that is both displayed in the software and exported as a spreadsheet.

It would be a lot of work, but it ispossible to create a second grid that would only be used for exporting and it could be 100% numeric. But that also means that those that want ", mm, ect. even in the spreadsheet would have to change those fields to text in the spreadsheet.

No easy answers. More input would be helpful.
Click to expand...
I did not have any problem with exporting to excel and having everything come up as numbers that were correctly totaled. The attached screen shot shows how it exported. the only change I made was to format the column width to fit on one page, increase the font size and add the alternating color to more easily see each row.
 

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