Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[David Combs]

I need to write up something quick in which I give some
people the bare rudiments of balance sheets and income
statements.

Easy to do in pencil on paper.  Not so easy on a computer,
getting the columns to line up right, etc.  Which is exactly
what I need to do.


You know what a balance sheet looks like:


  ASSETS                     LIABILITIES

cash       20,000          short term debt   89,000
...        ......          ...............   ......  <-- a similar line
...        ......          ...............   ......  <-- a similar line
...        ......          ...............   ......  <-- a similar line

----       ------          ---------------   -----
...        ......          ...............   .....   <--- a total or sub-total line




And also pairs (say) of debits and credits:


inventory  34(db)
debt       34(cr)

plus more pairs (or triples) like that.


MY QUESTION:

How to make it easy, almost foolproof, to be able to quickly format
the stuff I type in.


One idea would be to use emacs's TABLE facility.  At least
that way I've ready-made boxes that different parts can
fit into.

Or I suppose I could use tabs, as set to columns I choose.


Any ideas?

If TABLES, I've played with them just a bit, so maybe
some hints would help.  Or maybe there are other table
mechanisms that people use and find reliable, other
than the one that comes with emacs.  You know, maybe
in the wiki or elsewhere.


THANKS SO MUCH!

David

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:

> MY QUESTION:
>
> How to make it easy, almost foolproof, to be able to quickly format
> the stuff I type in.


Type stuff:

cash       20,000          short term debt   89,000
cash      20,000          short term debt   89,000
cash       20,000         short term debt   89,000
cash      20,000         short term debt   89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt    89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000

Select it, type M-x align-cols RET and get:

cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[Suvayu Ali]

On Mon, Sep 09, 2013 at 12:17:52AM +0200, Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:
> dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
> 
> > MY QUESTION:
> >
> > How to make it easy, almost foolproof, to be able to quickly format
> > the stuff I type in.
> 
> 
> Type stuff:

 [...chomp...chomp...chomp...]

> Select it, type M-x align-cols RET and get:

 [...chomp...chomp...chomp...]

With orgtbl-mode the OP could get formatting as well as spreadsheet like
functionalities.  To get the formatting the OP could start as:

|cash|20000|short term debt|89000|<tab>

that gives you (with cursor at X):

| cash | 20000 | short term debt | 89000 |
| X    |       |                 |       |

Once you fill everything in, you can use table formulae to do get
spreadsheet operations.  The following example does a column sum of the
2nd and last columns.

| cash |  20000 | short term debt |  89000 |
| cash |  20000 | short term debt |  89000 |
| cash |  20000 | short term debt |  89000 |
| cash |  20000 | short term debt |  89000 |
| cash |  20000 | short term debt |  89000 |
| cash |  20000 | short term debt |  89000 |
|------+--------+-----------------+--------|
|      | 120000 |                 | 534000 |
#+TBLFM: @>$2=vsum(@<..@-I)::@>$>=vsum(@<..@-I)

See (info "(org) The spreadsheet") for more details.

Hope this helps,

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[David Combs]

In article <87bo43c60f.fsf@informatimago.com>,
Pascal J. Bourguignon <pjb@informatimago.com> wrote:
>dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>
>> MY QUESTION:
>>
>> How to make it easy, almost foolproof, to be able to quickly format
>> the stuff I type in.
>
>
>Type stuff:
>
>cash       20,000          short term debt   89,000
>cash      20,000          short term debt   89,000
>cash       20,000         short term debt   89,000
>cash      20,000         short term debt   89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt    89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>
>Select it, type M-x align-cols RET and get:
>
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>
>
>-- 
>__Pascal Bourguignon__
>http://www.informatimago.com/


Thank you!  Had never heard of align-cols.  Will try it!

David

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[David Combs]

When did align-cols appear?

The emacs version I'm currently running is 23.0.0.1, and doesn't know about it.

David

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[David Combs]

In article <87bo43c60f.fsf@informatimago.com>,
Pascal J. Bourguignon <pjb@informatimago.com> wrote:

To see just where emacs was on my machine, I got
into *info* and did C-d, ending up in a dired of:
   c:/Documents and Settings/DKC/Desktop/ntemacs23/info/

It's been SO long since I installed this emacs,
is that where info was supposed to end up?

How to load a WINDOWS emacs in a different set of places.
so I can run both in parallel, while testing the new one?

Thanks,

David

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[Andreas Röhler]

Am 09.09.2013 00:17, schrieb Pascal J. Bourguignon:
> dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>
>> MY QUESTION:
>>
>> How to make it easy, almost foolproof, to be able to quickly format
>> the stuff I type in.
>
>
> Type stuff:
>
> cash       20,000          short term debt   89,000
> cash      20,000          short term debt   89,000
> cash       20,000         short term debt   89,000
> cash      20,000         short term debt   89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt    89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>
> Select it, type M-x align-cols RET and get:
>
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>
>

Put into a buffer in org-mode

After replacing commata by dots

M-x org-table-convert-region

| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[Óscar Fuentes]

dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:

> To see just where emacs was on my machine, I got
> into *info* and did C-d, ending up in a dired of:
>    c:/Documents and Settings/DKC/Desktop/ntemacs23/info/
>
> It's been SO long since I installed this emacs,
> is that where info was supposed to end up?

Yes. If you have emacs installed on /some/dir/emacs/, `info' will be on
that directory. (For the next version that will change.)

IMO it is not wise to install applications on Desktop, though.

> How to load a WINDOWS emacs in a different set of places.
> so I can run both in parallel, while testing the new one?

Just unzip the new one on different directory.

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[David Combs]

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In article <mailman.1644.1378717842.10748.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
à scar Fuentes  <ofv@wanadoo.es> wrote:
>dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>
>> To see just where emacs was on my machine, I got
>> into *info* and did C-d, ending up in a dired of:
>>    c:/Documents and Settings/DKC/Desktop/ntemacs23/info/
>>
>> It's been SO long since I installed this emacs,
>> is that where info was supposed to end up?
>
>Yes. If you have emacs installed on /some/dir/emacs/, `info' will be on
>that directory. (For the next version that will change.)
>
>IMO it is not wise to install applications on Desktop, though.
>
>> How to load a WINDOWS emacs in a different set of places.
>> so I can run both in parallel, while testing the new one?
>
>Just unzip the new one on different directory.
>
>

Supper-late response:

(1) Please explain, WHY is it unwise to install on Desktop?

  (Your answer should of course appear in every book on windows!)

(2) Where do YOU put applications, eg emacs, cygwin, putty, 
    audacity, etc?


THANKS!

David

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[David Combs]

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In article <mailman.1637.1378712194.10748.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
Andreas Röhler  <andreas.roehler@easy-emacs.de> wrote:
>Am 09.09.2013 00:17, schrieb Pascal J. Bourguignon:
>> dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>>
>>> MY QUESTION:
>>>
>>> How to make it easy, almost foolproof, to be able to quickly format
>>> the stuff I type in.
>>
>>
>> Type stuff:
>>
>> cash       20,000          short term debt   89,000
>> cash      20,000          short term debt   89,000
>> cash       20,000         short term debt   89,000
>> cash      20,000         short term debt   89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt    89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>>
>> Select it, type M-x align-cols RET and get:
>>
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>> cash       20,000          short term debt     89,000
>>
>>
>
>Put into a buffer in org-mode
>
>After replacing commata by dots
>
>M-x org-table-convert-region
>
>| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
>| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
>| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
>| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
>| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
>| cash | 20.000 | short | term | debt | 89.000 |
>
>

And then convert them back to commas, right?

Or in case periods in text, convert commas to XYZ,
and later back to commas.

Thanks!

David

Re: Want to write up quick balance sheet, etc. Via tables?

[Óscar Fuentes]

dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:

> Supper-late response:
>
> (1) Please explain, WHY is it unwise to install on Desktop?
>
>   (Your answer should of course appear in every book on windows!)

Desktop has limited (visual) space. It is intended for those items
(application shortcuts, folders, etc) that you access often. Having lots
of folders or icons on it defeats its purpose. It is also easy to
accidentally delete or move a Desktop element, more so when you have
lots of them.

You seldom (if ever) have to access the Emacs directory through the
Windows Explorer. Its only "interesting" element is the Emacs launcher
(runemacs.exe). It is much more practical to create a shortcut to that
element on Desktop than accessing it navigating through the Emacs
directory.

> (2) Where do YOU put applications, eg emacs, cygwin, putty, 
>     audacity, etc?

If the application comes with an installer it wil automatically do the
Right Thing, which is installing on one of the directories intended for
applications, either system-wide or user-specific. If the application
does not come with an installer (such as Emacs when distributed as a zip
file) and you are on Vista or newer, install it in your user directory
(c:\Users\Your-user-name) and create a shortcut to
emacs/bin/runemacs.exe on your Desktop. If you are on Windows XP chances
are that you are using an account with Administrator privileges, which
means that you can unzip on "Program Files".

HTH