Software Garden wikiCalc® Program:
Help Text

This page has the text accessible from the various "Help" buttons when using the wikiCalc program. It is divided up into sections, one for each separate help "page". It has pretty minimal formatting and is suitable for printing. When printed on some browsers it will start each section on a new page. The other "help" information in wikiCalc resides in the descriptive text near the input controls for various settings. To see or print that text you must run the program itself.

Cell Editing | Range Commands | Table Commands | Sort | More Commands... | Cell Formatting | Publish Tab | Backups | Backups Details | List of Formula Functions | Notices
Edit Tab: Cell Editing
CELL EDITING HELP
(See also: Function Help)
To enter a new value in a cell, type on the keyboard. For more extensive editing click in the typing area above. If the cell contents starts with equal (=) it will be considered to be a formula, with apostrophe (') it will be text, all numeric will be a numeric value, and text otherwise for most other forms. Numbers that start with "$" are treated as currency, those ending with "%" are scaled by 1/100 and treated as percent, and "number/number/number" is treated as a date.

After typing, pressing Enter or clicking the OK button will save the new value and retrieve updated values from the server. The Escape key cancels typing, and backspace should work as expected. The Delete key by itself erases the contents of the cell.

There are various commands available (insert row, etc.), described below.

Cells with text preserve explicit line breaks and have other special formatting rules (see below).

Clicking on a cell in the spreadsheet or pressing an arrow key will move to that cell saving any changes made to the current cell. When you are typing in a formula, pointing to another cell with the arrow keys or by clicking will add that cell's address to the formula if it follows an operator (+-*/%, etc.).

Formulas may use +, -, *, /, % (scale by .01), ^ (exponentiation), and parenthesis, and the comparison operators <, <=, =, >=, >, and <> (not equal). Cell addresses are in the form of A1 and B22. Cell addresses may have an optional sheet name, for example western!B40 to access the value of cell B40 on the most recently published copy of page "western". (To force a recalculation to get the latest values, use the /Global Recalculation Now command.) Cell addresses may include $'s (e.g., $A$15) to control offsetting in copies. Within formulas extra spaces around operators are ignored. Within formulas you can have formula text values typed within quotes (e.g., "this is text"). Within a formula text value double quotes are replaced by single quotes.

FUNCTIONS

For a list of supported functions that may be used in formulas, see the Function Help.

SCROLLING

Use the special slider control on the right side of the sheet to scroll rows without moving the top of the screen. The PageUp and PageDown keys also affect scrolling. During certain operations scrolling is disabled. When that happens, Esc can often be used to get back to a state where scrolling is allowed.

TEXT FORMATTING

To have a larger area for typing and to allow for multiple lines press the "Multi-line edit" button.

Text in a cell is automatically formatted. Explicit line breaks (pressing Enter) are preserved. Text will be wrapped to fit cells depending upon column width settings and merged cells. Through explicit formats set with the Format tab text may be treated as plain text, as wiki text, or as HTML text.

The following sequences have special effects in text that is treated as wiki text (the default format):
''text''
[i:text:i]
Italic text (note the '' sequences are two apostrophes, not a quote). If the ' is the first character of the cell it is treated as the "make this text" indicator, not the beginning of italic or bold.
'''text'''
[b:text:b]
Bold text (note the ''' sequences are three apostrophes)
{{amp}}, {{lt}}, {{gt}}, {{quot}}
{{lbracket}}, {{rbracket}}, {{lbrace}}
&, <, >, ", [, ], {
[quote:text:quote]
Indented text
[http://rest-of-url text]
Text linking to the URL. Note the space separating the URL from the text.
[link:url text:link]
Text linking to URL (url includes http:, mailto:, etc.)
[popup:url text:popup]
Text linking to URL with target="_blank" to popup window
[image:url text:image]
Image shown in-line with ALT text
[page:pagename text]
Link to a page on this site. Pagename is the short name of the page, with no ".html". If "text" is missing the pagename will be used as the link text. In multi-line editing the "Link to page" button lets you choose a page from a list and automatically create this type of link and add it to the end of the text.
[cell:cell-coordinate]
Inserts the characters that display in the cell formatted as specified in the cell, for example [cell:B7].
If a cell has more than one line (separated by pressing Enter in multi-line editing), then lines starting with the following characters are treated as listed:
=
Heading level. May have 1-5 ='s and should have an equal number at the end of the line. One or more spaces should follow the first set of ='s and precede the ending ones.
:
Indent. May have 1-5 :'s to indent further and further.
*
Bulleted list item. May have 1-5 *'s to have sublists.
#
Numbered list item. May have 1-5 #'s to have sublists.
;
Definition list item. The "term" follows it, followed by a ":" and then the definition. May have 1-5 ;'s to have sublists.

COMMANDS

There are some commands available while editing. They may be accessed by clicking on buttons or by typing.

You can enter multi-line editing by either pressing the Multi-Line edit button or by typing a quote ("). You can also start multi-line editing by clicking an additional time on a cell that already contains multi-line content.

You can enter the Range commands by either pressing the Range button or by typing a colon (:). The Range commands have their own help text. Range commands include: select a range of cells, Merge cells, Copy/Cut, Fill Right/Down, and Table (which has Sort).

You can enter other commands by pressing the More button or by typing a slash (/). The More commands have their own help text. The More commands include: Pasting, Inserting/Deleting rows and columns, and controlling automatic recalculation.

EXTENDING THE SHEET

Rows and columns that include all cells with data are displayed. In addition 10 more rows are added at the bottom to make extending the sheet easier. Those rows are not rendered when Previewing nor when Publishing.

There are buttons for Add Row and Add Column below the sheet display. They add additional rows or columns to the bottom or right that will always be displayed. You can also use the "More" commands to insert rows or columns in the middle of the sheet.

Edit Tab: Range Commands
RANGE COMMANDS HELP

Ranges are a rectangular group of cells that you can apply commands to. Ranges extend from the initial upper-left cell to the right and down to a bottom-right cell. They may consist of cells in a single row, single column, or even a single cell. The range is highlighted with a background color (that temporarily overrides the current background color of a cell).

You can change the extent of a range by pressing the arrow keys or by clicking on a cell. You can apply a command to the range by then clicking on a command button or typing an appropriate character. The commands are as follows:
Merge Cells, Unmerge
When cells are merged the contents of the upper-left cell of the range will cover the other cells which will not be displayed. This is the easiest way to have wide lines of text across multiple columns. It can also be used to have a vertical narrow column that spans multiple lines. Unmerging a merged cell sets things back to normal.
Copy
Copies from the selected cells to the sheet's clipboard. The contents of the cells and/or the formatting information is copied, as set by the radio buttons on the right. Each page has its own clipboard. Use the Load From Sheet command on the Tools tab to load the clipboard of this page from the clipboard of another page.
X-Cut
Copies to the clipboard like Copy, but then deletes what was copied.
Erase
Deletes the contents and/or formatting information in the cells, as set by the radio buttons on the right.
Fill Right
Copies the contents/formatting of the cells in the left-most column into the other columns in the same row. Cell references in formulas are modified as appropriate.
Fill Down
Copies the contents/formatting of the cells in the top-most row into the other rows in the same column. Cell references in formulas are modified as appropriate.
Table
There is only one table command: Sort. It is used to sort the rows in the range based upon the values in specified columns.
There are keyboard short-cuts for the commands. They are listed on a prompt line above the buttons (e.g., C for copy, X for cut). Case is ignored. There are additional commands there for deleting all of the rows or columns in the range.

Edit Tab: Table Commands
TABLE COMMANDS HELP

There is only one table command:
Sort
Sort is used to sort the rows in the range based upon the values in specified columns. Make sure that the entire range of cells you wish to sort are selected before choosing the Sort command.
Edit Tab: Sort
SORT COMMAND HELP

The Sort command sorts the contents of the rows in the selected range based upon the values in specified columns. Use the Major, Minor, and Last Sort settings to choose which columns to base the sort upon. Only the Major Sort is required. The other columns are only checked when the Major Sort values are equal. Use the Ascending and Descending radio buttons to indicate the direction of the sort for the specified column.

The sort orders considers numeric values less than text and text less than error values. Blank cells go last no matter which way sort is done. Text is sorted as if all alphabetic characters are lower case. Currently only the 96 ASCII characters are sorted correctly.

Edit Tab: More... Commands
EDIT "MORE COMMANDS" HELP

The commands available are:
Range
Switch to the Range commands. This is an alternative way to get to the range commands. It works especially well from the keyboard where you can just type "/R". You can also type a colon (:) here to switch to the Range commands.
Paste All
Copies the data from the cells on the sheet's clipboard to the cells starting with the cursor position as the upper-left. Each page has its own clipboard. The contents of the cells and the formatting information are both copied overwriting what was in each cell. This command is not available if the clipboard is empty.
Paste Contents
The same as the Paste All command but only overwrites the contents of the cells, not the formatting.
Paste Formats
The same as the Paste All command but only overwrites the formatting of the cells, not the contents. Use this to apply the formatting of one cell to other cells by copying one or more cells and then doing Paste Formats.
Recalc Manual, Recalc Auto
Turns on and off automatic recalculation. With sheets that have many calculations, or that use functions that take a long time to access data from other websites, turning off recalculation can save time during data entry. When changes have been made to the sheet and recalculation is turned off an indication will appear on the regular Edit display saying that recalculation may be needed and a "Recalc Once" button will appear. You can force a recalculation using the keyboard with the "/GRN" command (Global Recalculation Now).
Insert Row, Insert Column
Adds a new row or column before the one with the cursor. Cell references in formulas are modified as appropriate. Formats are copied from the row/column before the one that is inserted (if it exists).
Delete Row, Delete Column
Deletes the row or column with the cursor. Cell references in formulas are modified as appropriate.
There are keyboard short-cuts for the commands. They are listed on a prompt line above the buttons (e.g., R for range, I followed by R for insert row). Case is ignored. There is an additional command for deleting the contents of the clipboard (/PE - it saves space in the data file). The Recalculation commands are on the /Global sub-menu (/GRM and /GRA for manual and automatic, and /GRN to force a recalculation right now). As a keyboard shortcut, the /F command switches to the Format tab.

Format Tab
FORMATTING HELP

The Format tab lets you set the format of one or more cells. The format is made up of many independent settings. You choose which setting you want to change by clicking the appropriate button in the top row. The current values for the various attributes will be shown. Make the changes that you want and then press the Save Settings button. If you do not save the settings they will be ignored.

You can change the cell you are working with by using the arrow keys or by clicking on a cell.

To apply the setting to a range of cells click the Range button (or press the ":" key) and then indicate the bottom-rightmost cell using the arrow keys or by clicking. Pressing the Escape key returns to setting just one cell. Only the current settings of the first cell are shown in the attributes.

NUMBERS

The numbers attributes are:
Alignment
Numbers have separate alignment settings from plain text by default. You can set the alignment for all types of content explicitly. The setting applies to both numbers and text. "Default" uses the All Cells number alignment default.
Format
Sets the way numbers are displayed, controlling precision, thousands separators, etc. A sample of different values formatted appropriately is shown when you make a selection. Calculation is always done at full precision. The built-in formats are grouped by type. The Currency type has an additional setting to choose the currency symbol from a list. The Special type includes "hidden" to hide the contents of a cell when published. Custom formats may be set in a manner similar to many other spreadsheet programs using the Custom format type. (Note: In this program, day "1" is December 31, 1899 and the year 1900 is not a leap year. Some programs use January 1, 1900, as day "1" and treat 1900 as a leap year. In both cases, though, dates on or after March 1, 1900, are the same.)
All Cells
This lets you edit the default values used for all cells that have no setting or have the Default chosen. If the default is left to a default value, then a common built-in setting is used, usually the General format.
The General format for numbers is determined by the type of value being displayed. Some numeric values are a special sub-type of number, such as date, date/time, etc. The General format looks to that sub-type as a hint for how a value should be displayed. You can override General by setting an explicit format for a cell.

Most formula operations look to the types and sub-types of values to determine the resulting type and sub-type. For example, adding a plain number to a date results in a date, while taking the trigonometric sine value of a date results in a number.

TEXT

The text attributes are:
Alignment
Text cells have separate alignment settings from numbers by default. You can set the alignment for all types of content explicitly. The setting applies to both numbers and text. "Default" uses the All Cells text alignment.
Format
Sets the way text is displayed, be it plain text, wiki text, HTML, or other formats. A sample of different values formatted appropriately is shown for some formats when you make a selection.
All Cells
This lets you edit the default values used for all cells that have no setting or have the Default chosen. If the default is left to a default value, then a common built-in setting is used, usually the General format.
The General format for text is determined by the type of value being displayed. Depending upon the source of the text value, it may have a sub-type of text, such as HTML. Text appearing by itself in a cell, not as the result of a formula, is treated as wiki text. Most other text, such as text in a "quoted string" in a formula, is treated as plain text. Some functions, such as wkcHTML, return text with a particular sub-type. The General format looks to the sub-type as a hint for how a value should be displayed. You can override General by setting an explicit format for a cell.

FONTS

The font attributes are:
Font Family
This lets you choose the font family used for the cell no matter what the content. "Default" uses the All Cells font family.
Font Size
This lets you specify the size for characters. The first set uses browser relative sizes and the second set lets you set point size explicitly. "Default" uses the All Cells font size.
Font Weight and Style
Bold and/or italic, or the default.
All Cells
This lets you edit the default values used for all cells that have no setting or have the Default chosen. If the default is left to a default value, then a common built-in setting is used.
COLORS

The color attributes are:
Text Color
This is the color of the characters. Clicking on the color square pops up a color chooser. You can choose one of the colors it proposes or click in the text box and type a hexadecimal RGB color value (e.g., 000000 is black, FFFFFF is white, and 9999FF is light blue). Clicking on the "Default" square uses the All Cells default value.
Background Color
This works just like the Text Color but for the background of the cell.
All Cells
This lets you edit the default values used for all cells that have no setting or have the Default chosen. If the default is left to a default value, then a common built-in setting is used.
BORDERS

The border attributes can be set for all four sides of the cell or for each side individually. In addition, if a range of cells has been selected you can choose to set just the edges that bound the range of cells, not the edges between each cell. There are no defaults for borders. The border attributes are:
Visibility
If checked the specified border(s) will be shown. If unchecked they will not be shown.
Thickness
The thickness of the border's line.
Style
The type of line. Each brand of browser often handles these differently. Only Solid is for certain.
Color
The color of the line. Clicking this brings up a color chooser like that for text color.
LAYOUT

The layout attributes affect the positioning of characters within the cell. The layout attributes are:
Cell Layout
If "Use default" is selected, the default for all cells will apply to this cell. If "Set explicitly" is selected, then the Alignment and Padding settings will apply.
Alignment
The vertical alignment of the content within the cell if the cell is larger vertically than the content.
Padding
The amount of padding between the cell border and the content, setable for each side independently.
All Cells
This lets you edit the default values used for all cells that have no setting or have "Use default" chosen. If the default is set to "Use default", then a common built-in setting is used.
COLUMNS

The column attributes are:
Width
This is how wide the column will attempt to be. Depending upon the content and browser window it may be different. "Auto" tries to make it as wide as the content. "Set" lets you set an explicit value in either pixels or percent. When "Set" is checked a slider appears which you can drag on a scale to change the value. "Default" uses the All Cells default value for the column width. (All cells in a column have the same width.)
Visibility
If checked the column will be hidden when Previewed or Published. This lets you have comments or intermediate calculations that are not shown in the final result but that are visible next time you edit.
All Cells
This lets you edit the default used for all columns that have no setting or have the Default chosen. If the default is left to a default value, then a common built-in setting is used.
ROWS

The row attribute is:
Visibility
If checked the row will be hidden when Previewed or Published. This lets you have comments or intermediate calculations that are not shown in the final result but that are visible next time you edit.
MISC

The miscellaneous attributes are:
Cell CSS Class
When the page is Published this CSS style, if present, will replace the one determined by the other settings, such as font family, font size, color, borders, etc. This is an advanced feature and is designed to be used with a specific style sheet associated with the published file. This makes it easier to follow corporate and other standard "looks".
Cell CSS Style
This text that will be added to a "style" attribute to the cell's "<td>" tag. For example, the value "color:red;padding:20px;" will make the text red and provide 20 pixels of padding on each side within the cell. This is an advanced feature that lets people who know HTML and CSS have further control of the look of the results. This value, if present, is applied during editing, Previewing, and Publishing.
Live View Modifiable
If checked, the cell may have a new value specified in the URL that retrieves a Live View of the sheet, overriding the value saved in the sheet for that view (the new value is not saved). If not checked (the default), the cell's value may not be overridden. This feature only affects Live View. See the Publish tab help for more information about Live View.
Publish Tab
PUBLISH HELP

The Publish tab shows how the page will look without the cell grid shown but without the HTML template used when published. To edit the page click on the Edit tab or click within a particular cell on the page. To publish the page or view it as already published, click the appropriate button:

PUBLISH

The Publish button displays the URL of the page when published (if the site URL for HTML in the site properties is set), some publish options, and the currently set comments that will be associated with this page when next published.

The Options correspond to settings on the page Properties page (accessible through the Tools tab) and may normally be ignored unless you need these features:
If Publish HTML is checked, at publish time a copy of the current sheet is converted to static HTML along with the specified template and stored in the HTML directory for serving by a web server. Leave this unchecked if you only want the page viewable using the live viewing facility. (See the description of Live Viewing below.) This is checked by default and publishing static HTML pages is the normal way to publish pages for many sites.

If Publish Source is checked, at publish time a copy of the page data file will be put on the web in the same directory as the newly published HTML file (if requested), but with the extension ".txt" instead of ".html". That published data file may be copied when creating a new page (using the Add New Page's "Copy from URL" option). It may also be used to access the sheet from pages on other sites and other purposes. For example, if cell E20 contained the URL of a page's source "http://www.domain.com/stats.txt", then the reference "E20!B5" would access the value of cell B5 on that page when most recently published and "sum(E20!C10:C20)" would add up the values in cells C10 through C20 on that page.

If Publish Embeddable ".js" Version is checked, at publish time a copy of the newly published HTML will be saved (along with appropriate Javascript) in the HTML directory, but with the extension ".js" instead of ".html". Only the HTML of the sheet itself is saved in this version, not the surrounding template. This file may be dynamically included in any other HTML page on any web site by using HTML code such as:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.domain.com/pagename.js"> </script>
The result is static and is not recalculated when accessed the way that it is with live viewing.

If Allow Live View Without Login is checked, viewing the page through the "live" interface will be allowed even if the user is not logged in or is logged in as a user without permission to access this site.
The Comments are used to save information about changes made to the page that might be useful to editors in the future as well as current readers. The comments are shown in the Backups list of previously published instances of a page as well as in RSS feeds. The comments may be edited here. They may be saved without publishing by pressing the Save Comments button.

The Publish and Continue button saves the comments and then publishes the page. The page remains open for editing, but the log of edits (displayed as part of the Tools Backups Details display) is reset as if editing was started anew.

The Publish and Close button saves the comments and then publishes the page. The page is closed for editing by this user for now, "checking it back in" so others may edit it.

Publishing a page normally renders the page as HTML wrapped in the template HTML specified in the page's properties. A backup copy of the editable file is stored as specified by the Backup Preferences for the page's site (set with the Tools Backups command). A list of backup files may be displayed along with some of the information stored in them using the Tools Backups command. You can revert to a previous backup copy if you need to.

Publishing will also update the page and site RSS feed files if RSS is enabled for the site.

VIEW ON WEB

The View On Web button displays buttons that will bring up the most recently published version of the page in the browser window. There is an option to display it in the current window or another, popup window.

You have the option of either seeing the page from the published static HTML (this only works if the file exists and the site's URL for HTML has been set) or as a Live View (this only works if the page has been published and the site's URL for Editing has been set).

LIVE VIEWING

This is a feature through which you can have the most recently published version of a page rendered for display upon request, usually after first doing a recalculation. Unlike static HTML which the server just returns as it was created at publish time, this "live" rendering is done by the server executing this program to read the page source data file, doing the recalculation, and then converting the results to HTML. References to values on other pages, functions that return the current date/time, etc., can result in different results than at the time the page was last published.

You access a page for live viewing by accessing the URL For Editing with appropriate arguments. The browser accessing the page must be logged in as a user with read or read/write privileges to the page's site or the page must have been published with Allow Live View Without Login checked.

The general form for requesting a live view page is something like:

http://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/wikicalccgi.pl?view=sitename/pagename

There are five types of output that can be obtained through the live view functionality: page (a normal HTML page, including the template HTML), html (just the HTML of the sheet rendered as a table), js (Javascript to embed the HTML of the table within another page), cdata (the table HTML as cdata within XML for use by Ajax, innerHTML, etc.), and source (the page source in the same format it is produced by "Publish Source"). The "page" type is the default. If not logged in and requesting type "page", a login page will be displayed. Type "source" is only provided if "Publish Source" was checked for this page for the most recent publish.

You specify the type with a "type" argument:

?view=sitename/pagename&type=outputtype

The saved page is recalculated before display unless there is a "&recalc=no" argument. The saved page is not modified by viewing it, even if a recalculation is done.

The values of cells may be temporarily changed before recalculation by using a "cell" argument:

&cell:coord:type=value

"coord" is a cell coordinate, such as B7; "type" is "n" (numeric), "t" (text), or "e:na" (error: NA value); and "value" is the value. There may only be one cell argument for each coordinate. The cell must have "Live View Modifiable" set to "yes" (one of the Format Misc settings). The modifications are not saved in the data file.

The logged in user may be logged out using the following argument:

?view=logout
Tools Tab: Backups
BACKUPS HELP

Whenever a page is published a backup copy of the data file used to create the rendered HTML page is saved. The Tools Backups command is used to manage those files.

The Backups Command has three different lists that it can display: the list of all existing backups for one page, the list of information about backups for all pages in a site, and the details from a particular backup file for a single page. In addition there are Preference settings that control how many backup files are preserved.

There are three types of backup files: the "published" data file, normal backup files, and "archive" backup files. All are stored in the same data directory on the system. The published data files are the data files as they last were when edited before publishing. They have a name in the format "pagename.published.txt". The backup data files are copies of the published data files made each time a page is published with a filename that reflects the time (GMT) when the page was published. They have a name in the format "pagename.backup.year-month-day-hour-min-sec.txt".

Older backup files can be automatically deleted so that only a specified number of backup files are kept (see Preferences below). Any particular backup file, though, may be designated an "archive" backup file and may then only be deleted using an explicit command. The archive backup data files are in the same internal format as the backup data files and have a name in the format "pagename.archive.year-month-day-hour-min-sec.txt".

BACKUPS FOR ONE PAGE

This is a list of all existing backup and archive files for a particular page. For each file it lists the date/time published, the author (if known), the number of entries in the page's edit log, the comments set for that particular publish time, and the type of file (backup file, archive file, or current edit file not yet published).

The Edit button lets you open a particular backup file for edit. Doing that will not replace the most recently published file until you publish it so you can use this to just examine the old page. However, opening it for edit will discard all edits currently made but unpublished to that particular page if it is open for edit. Before discarding the edits a popup should warn you and wait for confirmation.

The Details button switches to the Details display for that data file. That display has its own help text.

The Archive button turns a normal backup file into an archive file.

The Delete button lets you delete a particular backup or archive file. It does NOT ask for confirmation.

BACKUPS FOR ALL PAGES

This is a list of pages on the site that have backups. It is sorted in reverse chronological order by publish date/time. For each line, there is the name of the page, the Full Name of the page (if available), the date/time of the most recently created backup for that page in the group of backup files represented by that line in the list, and the number of backup files in the group. A new line in the listing appears whenever the next older backup is from a different page.

The List button next to the first instance of a page's name may be used to switch to the Backups for One Page view of for that page.

PREFERENCES

You may specify the maximum number of backup files to keep for each page. This setting applies to all pages on the current site.

You may also specify the minimum number of days to keep a file (counting from the time when publishing is done) to prevent a backup file from being deleted no matter what the Maximum Backup Files setting. This will prevent a flurry of edits and publishes from prematurely deleting recent backups but can result in the number of files in the data directory growing large.

By default, a site keeps all backup files. Use the Preferences settings to change that behavior.

Tools Tab: Backups Details
BACKUPS DETAILS HELP

This is a display of detailed information from a single backup file. It consists of the following:
Site
The full and short name for the site the page is on.
Backup Filename
The name of this backup file.
Page
The full and short name for the page as stored in this backup file. (The full name may change over time due to edits using the Tools Page Preferences command.)
Last Author
The author at the time of the last modification, if known.
Comments
The comments set by the user before publishing, if any.
Started With File
The date/time of the backup or archive file before this one in time.
Edits
A list of the edit log which has lines representing most edits made to the page during the time covered by this backup file. The lines in the log represent "commands" executed in response to user operations or comments preceded by "#" representing operations that are not fully described by commands. For example, "set B5 value n 15" means "set cell B5 to the numeric value 15", and "insertrow B31" means "insert a row above cell B31".

Edit Tab: List of Functions
FUNCTION HELP
(Back To Edit Help)
= = = STANDARD FUNCTIONS = = =

The following functions are currently supported in formulas (case is ignored in function names):
ABS(value)
Absolute value function.
ACOS(value)
Trigonometric arccosine function.
AND(value1, value2, ...)
True if all arguments are true.
ASIN(value)
Trigonometric arcsine function.
ATAN(value)
Trigonometric arctan function.
ATAN2(valueX, valueY)
Trigonometric arc tangent function (result is in radians).
AVERAGE(value, value, ...)
Averages the values.
CHOOSE(index, value1, value2, ...)
Returns the value specified by the index. The values may be ranges of cells.
COLUMNS(range)
Returns the number of columns in the range.
COS(value)
Trigonometric cosine function (value is in radians).
COUNT(value, value, ...)
Counts the number of numeric values, not blank, text, or error.
COUNTA(value, value, ...)
Counts the number of non-blank values.
COUNTBLANK(value, value, ...)
Counts the number of blank values. (Note: "" is not blank.)
COUNTIF(range, criteria)
Counts the number of number of cells in the range that meet the criteria. The criteria may be a value ("x", 15, 1+3) or a test (>25).
DATE(year, month, day)
Returns the appropriate date value given numbers for year, month, and day. For example: DATE(2006,2,1) for February 1, 2006. Note: In this program, day "1" is December 31, 1899 and the year 1900 is not a leap year. Some programs use January 1, 1900, as day "1" and treat 1900 as a leap year. In both cases, though, dates on or after March 1, 1900, are the same.
DAVERAGE(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Averages the values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DAY(value)
Returns the day of month for a date value.
DCOUNT(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Counts the number of numeric values, not blank, text, or error, in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DCOUNTA(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Counts the number of non-blank values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DDB(cost, salvage, lifetime, period [, factor])
Returns the amount of depreciation at the given period of time (the default factor is 2 for double-declining balance).
DEGREES(value)
Converts value in radians in to degrees.
DGET(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the value of the specified field in the single record that meets the criteria.
DMAX(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the maximum of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DMIN(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the maximum of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DPRODUCT(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the result of multiplying the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DSTDEV(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the sample standard deviation of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DSTDEVP(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the standard deviation of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DSUM(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the sum of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DVAR(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the sample variance of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
DVARP(databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange)
Returns the variance of the numeric values in the specified field in records that meet the criteria.
EVEN(value)
Rounds the value up in magnitude to the nearest even integer.
EXACT(value1, value2)
Returns "true" if the values are exactly the same, including case, type, etc.
EXP(value)
Returns e raised to the value power.
FACT(value)
Returns factorial of the value.
FALSE( )
Returns the logical value "false".
FIND(string1, string2 [, start])
Returns the starting position within string2 of the first occurrence of string1 at or after "start". If start is omitted, 1 is assumed.
FV(rate, n, payment, [pv, [paytype]])
Returns the future value of repeated payments of money invested at the given rate for the specified number of periods, with optional present value (default 0) and payment type (default 0 = at end of period, 1 = beginning of period).
HLOOKUP(value, range, row, [rangelookup])
Look for the matching value for the given value in the range and return the corresponding value in the cell specified by the row offset. If rangelookup is 1 (the default) and not 0, match if within numeric brackets (match<=value) instead of exact match.
HOUR(value)
Returns the hour portion of a time or date/time value.
IF(logical-expression, true-value, false-value)
Results in true-value if logical-expression is TRUE or non-zero, otherwise results in false-value.
INDEX(range, rownum, colnum)
Returns a cell or range reference for the specified row and column in the range. If range is 1-dimensional, then only one of rownum or colnum are needed. If range is 2-dimensional and rownum or colnum are zero, a reference to the range of just the specified column or row is returned. You can use the returned reference value in a range, e.g., sum(A1:INDEX(A2:A10,4)).
INT(value)
Returns the value rounded down to the nearest integer (towards -infinity).
IRR(range, [guess])
Returns the interest rate at which the cash flows in the range have a net present value of zero. Uses an iterative process that will return #NUM! error if it does not converge. There may be more than one possible solution. Providing the optional guess value may help in certain situations where it does not converge or finds an inappropriate solution (the default guess is 10%).
ISBLANK(value)
Returns "true" if the value is a reference to a blank cell.
ISERR(value)
Returns "true" if the value is of type "Error" but not "NA".
ISERROR(value)
Returns "true" if the value is of type "Error".
ISLOGICAL(value)
Returns "true" if the value is of type "Logical" (true/false).
ISNA(value)
Returns "true" if the value is the error type "NA".
ISNONTEXT(value)
Returns "true" if the value is not of type "Text".
ISNUMBER(value)
Returns "true" if the value is of type "Number" (including logical values).
ISTEXT(value)
Returns "true" if the value is of type "Text".
LEFT(text, count)
Returns the specified number of characters from the text value. If count is omitted, 1 is assumed.
LEN(text)
Returns the number of characters in the text value.
LN(value)
Returns the natural logarithm of the value.
LOG(value, base)
Returns the logarithm of the value using the specified base.
LOG10(value)
Returns the base 10 logarithm of the value.
LOWER(text)
Returns the text value with all uppercase characters converted to lowercase.
MATCH(value, range, [rangelookup])
Look for the matching value for the given value in the range and return position (the first is 1) in that range. If rangelookup is 1 (the default) and not 0, match if within numeric brackets (match<=value) instead of exact match. If rangelookup is -1, act like 1 but the bracket is match>=value.
MAX(value, value, ...)
Returns the maximum of the numeric values.
MID(text, start, length)
Returns the specified number of characters from the text value starting from the specified position.
MIN(value1, value2, ...)
Returns the minimum of the numeric values.
MINUTE(value)
Returns the minute portion of a time or date/time value.
MOD(value1, value2)
Returns the remainder of the first value divided by the second.
MONTH(value)
Returns the month part of a date value.
N(value)
Returns the value if it is a numeric value otherwise an error.
NA( )
Returns the #N/A error value which propagates through most operations.
NOT(value)
Returns FALSE if value is true, and TRUE if it is false.
NOW( )
Returns the current date/time.
NPER(rate, payment, pv, [fv, [paytype]])
Returns the number of periods at which payments invested each period at the given rate with optional future value (default 0) and payment type (default 0 = at end of period, 1 = beginning of period) has the given present value.
NPV(rate, value1, value2, ...)
Returns the net present value of cash flows (which may be individual values and/or ranges) at the given rate. The flows are positive if income, negative if paid out, and are assumed at the end of each period.
ODD(value)
Rounds the value up in magnitude to the nearest odd integer.
OR(value1, value2,...)
True if any argument is true
PI( )
The value 3.1415926...
PMT(rate, n, pv, [fv, [paytype]])
Returns the amount of each payment that must be invested at the given rate for the specified number of periods to have the specified present value, with optional future value (default 0) and payment type (default 0 = at end of period, 1 = beginning of period).
POWER(value1, value2)
Returns the first value raised to the second value power.
PRODUCT(value1, value2, ...)
Returns the result of multiplying the numeric values.
PROPER(value)
Returns the text value with the first letter of each word converted to uppercase and the others to lowercase.
PV(rate, n, payment, [fv, [paytype]])
Returns the present value of the given number of payments each invested at the given rate, with optional future value (default 0) and payment type (default 0 = at end of period, 1 = beginning of period).
RADIANS(value)
Converts value in degrees into radians.
RATE(n, payment, pv, [fv, [paytype, [guess]]])
Returns the rate at which the given number of payments each invested at the given rate has the specified present value, with optional future value (default 0) and payment type (default 0 = at end of period, 1 = beginning of period). Uses an iterative process that will return #NUM! error if it does not converge. There may be more than one possible solution. Providing the optional guess value may help in certain situations where it does not converge or finds an inappropriate solution (the default guess is 10%).
REPLACE(text1, start, length, text2)
Returns text1 with the specified number of characters starting from the specified position replaced by text2.
REPT(text, count)
Returns the text repeated the specified number of times.
RIGHT(text, count)
Returns the specified number of characters from the text value starting from the end. If count is omitted, 1 is assumed.
ROUND(value, [precision])
Rounds the value to the specified number of decimal places. If precision is negative, then round to powers of 10. The default precision is 0 (round to integer).
ROWS(range)
Returns the number of rows in the range.
SECOND(value)
Returns the second portion of a time or date/time value (truncated to an integer).
SIN(value)
Trigonometric sine function (value is in radians)
SLN(cost, salvage, lifetime, period)
Returns the amount of depreciation at each period of time using the straight-line method.
SQRT(value)
Square root of the value
STDEV(value, value, ...)
Returns the sample standard deviation of the numeric values.
STDEVP(value, value, ...)
Returns the standard deviation of the numeric values.
SUBSTITUTE(text1, oldtext, newtext [, occurrence])
Returns text1 with the all occurrences of oldtext replaced by newtext. If "occurrence" is present, then only that occurrence is replaced.
SUM(value, value, ...)
Adds the numeric values. The values to the sum function may be ranges in the form similar to A1:B5.
SUMIF(range1, criteria [, range2])
Sums the numeric values of cells in the range that meet the criteria. The criteria may be a value ("x", 15, 1+3) or a test (>25). If range2 is present, then range1 is tested and the corresponding range2 value is summed.
TAN(value)
Trigonometric tangent function (value is in radians)
TIME(hour, minute, second)
Returns the time value given the specified hour, minute, and second.
TODAY( )
Returns the current date (an integer). Note: In this program, day "1" is December 31, 1899 and the year 1900 is not a leap year. Some programs use January 1, 1900, as day "1" and treat 1900 as a leap year. In both cases, though, dates on or after March 1, 1900, are the same.
TRIM(text)
Returns the text value with leading, trailing, and repeated spaces removed.
TRUE( )
Returns the logical value "true".
TRUNC(value, precision)
Truncates the value to the specified number of decimal places. If precision is negative, truncate to powers of 10.
UPPER(text)
Returns the text value with all lowercase characters converted to uppercase.
VALUE(value)
Converts the specified text value into a numeric value. Various forms that look like numbers (including digits followed by %, forms that look like dates, etc.) are handled. This may not handle all of the forms accepted by other spreadsheets and may be locale dependent.
VAR(value, value, ...)
Returns the sample variance of the numeric values.
VARP(value, value, ...)
Returns the variance of the numeric values.
VLOOKUP(value, range, col, [rangelookup])
Look for the matching value for the given value in the range and return the corresponding value in the cell specified by the column offset. If rangelookup is 1 (the default) and not 0, match if within numeric brackets (match<=value) instead of exact match.
WEEKDAY(date, [type])
Returns the day of week specified by the date value. If type is 1 (the default), Sunday is day and Saturday is day 7. If type is 2, Monday is day 1 and Sunday is day 7. If type is 3, Monday is day 0 and Sunday is day 6.
YEAR(date)
Returns the year part of a date value.
= = = WIKICALC SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS = = =

Functions specific to this program:
wkcERRCELL
Used to replace illegal cell addresses when rows or columns are deleted.
wkcHTML(value, value, ...)
Returns the values as a single HTML text value. HTML values are passed to the browser as is, so HTML tags are used for rendering. This is an advanced feature. You can format any cell to treat text as HTML with a text format of HTML. The result of this function will default to displaying as HTML text.
wkcHTTP(url, timeout, errorvalue, method, arg1, arg2, ...)
Uses the web to access the URL. This is an advanced feature. Arguments other than the URL are optional. Timeout is in seconds. Errorvalue is returned on errors including timeouts. Method should be the text value "GET" or "POST". The rest of the arguments are passed to the URL as parameters "V1", "V2", etc. The format they are passed is "Tvalue", where "T" is N (numeric), T (text), B (blank), or E (error). The URL should return text in the form "Tvalue", where "T" is N, T, H (HTML text), or E (error followed by text)
wkcTEXT(value, value, ...)
Returns the values as a single plain text value. Values may be cell references.
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