[OT] OpenOffice calc question

[gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:26:09 -0400
Matthew Gillen <me-5yx05kfkO/aqeI1yJSURBw at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> Jerry Feldman wrote:
> > On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:31:21 -0400
> > Matthew Gillen <me-5yx05kfkO/aqeI1yJSURBw at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> >=20
> >> Jerry Feldman wrote:
> >>> My company's product uses dates in yyyymmdd format, but can import csv
> >>> files directly from any spreadsheet. If I import a csv containing
> >>> yyyymmdd, OO calc correctly displays the date, but if I want to modify
> >>> the spreadsheet (mainly financial curves), it outputs the date in the
> >>> mmddyyyy or mmddyy in the resultant csv. Does anyone know how I can
> >>> tell OO to output dates in the desired format preferably without
> >>> changing the entire locale. Of course, the csv can be edited with ema=
cs
> >>> (or lesser capable editors like vi :-).=20
> >> Go to Format->Cells... and select the "Numbers" tab.  Then look for th=
e "Date"
> >> field in the left-most combo box, and you should be able to take it fr=
om there...
> >=20
> > That works fine when you select specific cells, but is there a way to
> > set a global formatting option. In the csv file we are using for a
> > test, there are 6 date cells. AFAIK, I must first select each of the
> > cells, then go to Format->Cells, of right click in each of the cells.
> > What I am looking for is a way to tell calc to use this formatting for
> > all the date cells in the sheet. Selecting the whole spread sheet is
> > not the right way to do it, nor is selecting a column since the date
> > fields are in different columns. And, since I am working with csv
> > files, the formatting is not saved.=20
> >=20
> > One solution would be to save the sheet as both an ods and csv. That
> > way the formatting would be preserved.=20
>=20
> Yikes.  You might try to tinker with the "Save Cell Content as shown" opt=
ion
>  (to get this option, do a "Save As..." then select the .csv type, and th=
en
> check the "Edit Filter Settings" box.
>=20
> Or you could write a post-processing script in sed :-P

Certainly :-)
I spoke to my boss about it, and he has the same problem with that
unnamed tool from Redmond, but he thinks there is a global setting
somewhere for it that you can set the default settings. But, his
solution is the same as mine, maintain the .xls file (or .ods).  In any
case, it is probably not worth much more time that this exchange of
ideas :-)

--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9