wiseman@Tellabs.COM (Jeff Wiseman) (08/30/90)
OK you spreadsheet hackers. I need to get this straight once and for all! I enter a whole bunch of dates in an Excel v2.2a column formated to mm/dd/yy (more rows than you want to know!). I want to export this whole sheet to SYLK format and import it to another spreadsheet, in this case Wingz. When I get it to Wingz, the dates are wrong, not because the mm/dd/yy entries are wrong but because Excel exported the serial dates based on its default 1904 base (or whatever) and Wingz don't use that. I can't even convert the current Excel sheet because it converts its internal value (the serial date) instead of the value I ENTERED (eg. my 5/3/89, etc.). NOW... What is wrong: 1) Excel is not exporting correctly to SYLK (ie. writing out its internal cell values -- the serial date -- instead of its presented values -- the formatted date), 2) Wingz is not importing correctly from SYLK (ie. it's using the wrong base date value), 3) The SYLK standard is screwy because it doesn't standardize on how dates should be handled in the first place. 4) Something else that I haven't thought of... Also, one other question: In order to properly export/import these spreadsheets, am I going to have to SLYK 'em first and go back to just the Date columns, export the date columns as TEXT ONLY (in order to FORCE the mm/dd/yy format) and then import the values overtop of the newly imported SYLK files in Wingz? Could someone set me straight on this so that I can get rid of Microsoft software from my system forever! :-) -- Jeff Wiseman: ....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM
boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) (08/31/90)
wiseman@Tellabs.COM (Jeff Wiseman) writes: >OK you spreadsheet hackers. I need to get this straight once and for all! >I enter a whole bunch of dates in an Excel v2.2a column formated to mm/dd/yy >(more rows than you want to know!). >I want to export this whole sheet to SYLK format and import it to another >spreadsheet, in this case Wingz. >When I get it to Wingz, the dates are wrong, not because the mm/dd/yy entries >are wrong but because Excel exported the serial dates based on its default 1904 >base (or whatever) and Wingz don't use that. I can't even convert the current >Excel sheet because it converts its internal value (the serial date) instead of >the value I ENTERED (eg. my 5/3/89, etc.). >NOW... >What is wrong: >1) Excel is not exporting correctly to SYLK (ie. writing out its internal cell >values -- the serial date -- instead of its presented values -- the formatted >date), >2) Wingz is not importing correctly from SYLK (ie. it's using the wrong base >date value), >3) The SYLK standard is screwy because it doesn't standardize on how dates >should be handled in the first place. >4) Something else that I haven't thought of... >Also, one other question: >In order to properly export/import these spreadsheets, am I going to have to >SLYK 'em first and go back to just the Date columns, export the date columns as >TEXT ONLY (in order to FORCE the mm/dd/yy format) and then import the values >overtop of the newly imported SYLK files in Wingz? >Could someone set me straight on this so that I can get rid of Microsoft >software from my system forever! :-) >-- >Jeff Wiseman: ....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM Starting with ver. 2.2, Excel allows you to choose between its default 1904 date system and the 1900 date system used by Lotus 1-2-3 and WingZ. The choice is made via a checkbox in the Calculation dialog under the Options menu. Boris Levitin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WGBH Public Broadcasting, Boston boris@world.std.com Audience & Marketing Research wgbx!boris_levitin@athena.mit.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily coincide with those of my employer or anyone else. The WGBH tag is for ID only.)