International Business Machines Corporation

Beverly H Machart

Irene H Hernandez

Barbara A Barker

Carol S Himelstein

Rex A McCaskill

John S Wang

Harry E O'Steen

A mechanism allows for programming the order of cells for an operator to enter data in a spreadsheet. Each cell of the spreadsheet may be provided with a 'next cell' attribute, and these attributes as well as other attributes for the cells are stored in a table. The 'next cell' attribute may be a constant, such as the name of the next cell, or it may be a logic expression so that the next cell to be edited can be different depending on some condition. When the operator presses the NEXT CELL key, the 'next cell' attribute is searched by accessing the attribute table, and if a 'next cell' attribute is found, it is evaluated to determine the next cell to be edited.

Method for controlling the order of editing cells in a spreadsheet by

A method for use in an interactive data processing system which includes a processor for controlling data entered into said system from an input device, and a display device which functions to display a spreadsheet shell that is defined by an application program. Data is entered into said system interactively by an operator through an input device, such as a keyboard. The operator selects a cell of the spreadsheet in accordance with the type of cursor positioning mechanism provided in the system. Once a cell is selected, an editing cursor is displayed in the cell at a predetermined first entry position. As each character of data is entered, it is displayed in the cell, just as it was entered. The data is neither formatted nor calculated if it was a formula. The operator indicates to the system when data entry is complete, by pressing an 'Accept' key which may be a dedicated key, preprogrammed key, or one of the function keys on the keyboard. Various conventional editing actions of the data in the cell are provided, such as deleting characters and scrolling at the edge of the cell.

Method for assisting the operator of an interactive data processing

A method of managing the relationship between intermingled objects of different types for editing purposes. Management is through establishing separate and combined modes of operation. When a separate mode is selected, only a selected object will be affected by an edit action. When a combined mode is selected, selection of any object will result in all objects being affected by an edit action.

Method for modifying intermingled text object and graphic object within

A method for the intelligent, in-line, dynamic editing of documents containing mixed object types on a computer work station is disclosed. The mixed object types may be text objects, draw graphics objects, business graphics objects, and tables objects. The editor executes actions on use selected objects and attributes based on internal knowledge of the object type selected rather than by explicit user commands. This procedure provides a simple user interface that makes manipulation of objects and attributes and command execution transparent to the user.

In-line dynamic editor for mixed object documents

A computer based graphic editor has the capability of recognizing as a single graphic object a plurality of unconnected freehand strokes such as a signature. This makes possible editing a document with a signature, for example, without the various parts of the signature becoming separated and no longer being a viable entity. A cursor pointing device, such as a mouse with a button, is used to enter the plurality of unconnected strokes. Initially, the first point p.sub.1 at the beginning of a stroke which is the first stroke of a plurality of unconnected strokes is read and stored with the visible attribute. As long as the button is pressed, the position of the cursor is monitored and lines drawn from each successive point to the next point p.sub.2 with each point p.sub.2 being stored with the visible attribute. When the mouse button is released, the last read point position p.sub.2 is stored with the invisible attribute. When the mouse button is pressed again, the first point p.sub.1 of the next stroke is read and stored with the visible attribute, and the process repeated. When the mouse button is again pressed and released, the ending position of the previous stroke p.sub..0., the starting position of the current stroke p.sub.1 and the ending position of the current stroke p.sub.2 are compared and, if p.sub.1 and p.sub.2 are within a tolerance range and there exist no other points between p.sub.1 and p.sub.2 and if p.sub.1 and p.sub..0. are within the tolerance range, then the termination of the signature is detected.

Freehand drawing containing invisible lines

Improvements in an application composite editor for compound documents containing not only text but also graphics and tables facilitate the manipulation of object sets in the formatting algorithm. The editor works with a page layout philosophy wherein data objects reside on the page and data resides in the data objects. All pages reside within a document object, and some data objects may have additional objects within them. Objects are data-specific entities that the user can manipulate on the page. All objects exist within a specified boundary on the page, and this boundary is defined as an object set boundary. Object sets may be moved into positions on the page such that more than one object set is occupying a single displayable area on the page. Such an arrangement of objects creates a structure called a superblock. A superblock is any displayable area containing two or more object sets positioned so that the objects sets overlap one another, reside side-by-side or extend above or below one another. A text object set may not be overlapped by any other object set. Although the superblock is itself a complex structure, the creation of this structure by the editor greatly simplifies integration of different data types on the page for the user and allows the user to manipulate a group of object sets within a single displayable area on the page with relative ease. Moreover, formatting of the document is facilitated by the editor since the superblock is treated as an object set without taking into consideration the complexity inside the superblock structure except when a page end decision must be made.

Flow attribute for text objects

A method is disclosed for interactively manipulating a business chart as a group of draw graph objects. The chart is displayed using predefined data. A draw graph object of the business chart is selected for editing. When the editing action is completed, a check is made to determine whether the action on the business chart destroyed the relationship between the chart and the predefined data. If it did, a message is displayed to the operator indicating that the link between the chart and the data has been broken.

Editing business charts

A method of updating business chart data by editing the business chart is disclosed. The chart is displayed using predefined data. A draw graph object of the business chart is selected for editing. When the editing action is completed, a check is made to determine whether the action on the business chart destroyed the relationship between the chart and the predefined data. If it did and if the user has selected the two-way editing mode, the predefined data is updated to reflect the edited chart.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Beverly H Machart