Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ihnp4!ihlpf!straka
From: straka@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Straka)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MS Excel recalculations
Message-ID: <4748@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Date: 13 May 88 18:02:11 GMT
References: <17102@cornell.UUCP>
Reply-To: straka@ihlpf.UUCP (55223-Straka,R.J.)
Distribution: comp
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 34

In article <17102@cornell.UUCP> moore@cs.cornell.edu (Doug Moore) writes:
>Excel 1.04 is being used to maintain a database and keep some statistics derived
>from it.  The database has 7 or 8 columns of input and 4 columns calculated
>from the other 7 or 8.  The daily routine is
>(a) Insert 10 or so new lines into the database
>(b) Wait, while each of the 4 columns is recalculated, to no purpose,
>    for each of the entries already in the database.
>(c) Add the new entries, etc.
>
>How can we avoid step (b)?  How does Excel decide when something must be
>recalculated?  Suggestions?  Or is this what one deserves for buying from MSoft?

1) Excel has a "smart" recalc flag that tells when recalc is necessary.
2) If you click the mouse on some other cell, or start typing in a cell, the
   recalc comes to a halt, unlike that nasty 1-2-3 program, which locks
   things up on you until IT decides that it will relinquish the keyboard
   to you. Excel will resume the recalc where it left off (unless something
   else has changed, and it will start from scratch again) after a few
   seconds of inactivity.
3) There is a recalc menu item that allows you to go manual recalc.

However, Excel does have a few deficiencies in this area:

1) Saving always forces a recalc.  If it is a long one, you can probably
   interrupt it with a ^., but be careful to make sure that the original
   file is not overwritten with nothing, leaving no data file.  I don't
   think this is too much of a problem, but I tend to be VERY conservative!
   MS support tells me that you can interrupt the recalc without wiping out
   the file, but not to interrupt during the actual file save.
2) There should be a visible "recalc needed" flag on the screen.  There isn't.
-- 
Rich Straka     ihnp4!ihlpf!straka

Advice for the day: "MSDOS - just say no."