I usually save my spreadsheets as .csv files, because this makes it easy for me to pull the data into other programs. in effect, I use the spreadsheet as the interactive app to manipulate the input data, and many other programs to analyze the data. .csv is the lingua franca here. I probably am not the only one using a spreadsheet this way.
the problem is that .csv cannot even keep basic formatting, and most other programs do not know how to parse anything except .csv files.
Suggestion: Add a "save as csv with format" option to the menu. now, if I save abc.csv, abc.csv should be written as before. however, a second file, .abc.sxc.gz should also be written, in the native openoffice format. it would also have to contain one comment [field] that contains the time, date, and size of abc.csv.
if I now open abc.csv in oocalc2, oocalc2 would first check if .abc.sxz.gz exists, and was written no more than x seconds after abc.csv was written. if this is the case, .abc.sxz.gz is opened, and it is checked whether the time,date, and size are still the same as the abc.csv that the user requested. if so, then the .abc.sxz.gz file is opened.
it would be just like magic that made the .csv file appear to retain its formatting, wouldn't it?
plus, a user who does not like it could delete the .abc.sxz.gz file, or simply do another "save as plain csv file"---the date/time would no longer correspond, so the format information would disappear.
hope this helps. sincerely, /ivo welch --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
