Spreadsheet Options - Column
See Also
These options affect columns within a spreadsheet.

Default Column Names

Specifies the root text for default column names. For example, setting this to COL will generate names COL1, COL2 or COL[1], COL[2], and so on, according to the setting of the Default Column Names Suffixed option. Note that GenStat identifier names are limited to 32 characters (apart from suffixes), so if you specify too long a string for the default name non-unique identifiers may be generated when adding on the default column number, in which case a warning message will appear.

Default Column Names Suffixed

Default column names are generated when a blank spreadsheet is created or data imported from foreign file formats. The style of default name can be suffixed (e.g. C[1], C[2], etc.) or unsuffixed (C1, C2, etc.)

Prefix for default column names

This gives a single letter (default %) which will be added to the front of a column name which does not start with a letter (A-Z,a-z,% or _), i.e. it starts with a number or non alphabetical character (e.g. $,@,+ etc.).

Next Column Default Number

Unnamed columns and new columns are numbered starting from 1 in a GenStat session. If you want to reset the column number to be used for the next default column name, this can be changed here.

Show Type Icons on columns

Controls whether factor and text columns are displayed with small icons in the titles indicating their type. Factor columns are displayed with a small red exclamation ! at the start of the title cell, and text with a small green T. Also calculated columns have a yellow background at the start of the heading, protected/read only columns have a blue background and columns which are both protected & calculated have a green background.

Display column description in heading

Select this check box if you want to display the column description in the heading as well as the column name. This will appear as a second line under the column name. Columns with no description will have their name vertically centred in the column heading. You can specify a description for a column using the Column Attributes/Format menu.

Warn on duplicate column names in other spreadsheets

Select this check box if you want GenStat to display a warning message when column names are duplicated between two spreadsheets, i.e. both spreadsheets contain a column with the same name. This can cause one version of the structure to be overwritten by the other leading to indefinite results and problems in statistical calculations.

Automatically correct duplicate names within a spreadsheet

When selected, GenStat will automatically correct column names so that there will be no duplicates names in any open spreadsheets. If a duplicate column is detected on its creation (e.g. loaded from the server or from a file) then it will be renamed by appending some characters (e.g. _1 or _2) to ensure the name is unique.

Select Columns with a single click

Controls whether a single or double click is need to add a column to the current selection. Previous versions of GenStat required a double click to select a column.

Keep Selected Columns

Controls whether previously selected columns are keep selected, when selecting a new column. If this is disabled, multiple column selections must be made using the Control or Shift keys in conjunction with the mouse (as in Excel).

Clear Selection on moving current cell

Select this check box if you want to a selection to be cleared when then cursor is moved to another cell.

Enter Key Moves Across Columns

The usual action is for the enter key to move the cursor down the current column to the next row, and from the last row to the first row in the next column. This option allows you to set the Enter key so the cursor remains in the current row and moves to the next column, from the last column moving to the first column in the next row.

Defaults

Resets the spreadsheet options to their built-in default values.

Action Buttons

OKSave the options and close the dialog.
CancelClose the dialog without making any changes.

See Also

Spreadsheet Options - File
Spreadsheet Options - Conversions
Spreadsheet Options - General
Spreadsheet Options - Books
Options - General
Options - Text Editor
Options - Audit Trail
Options - Save
Options - Fonts and Colours
Options - Data Space
Options - Date Format
Options - Menus