johnph77's Blog

Eighth test - success. All going well - so far.

Seventh test - success. No mods or corrections necessary.

Sixth test - success. All data transferring as programmed, calculations are as expected.

Fifth test - fail/success.

Found cell on all existing pages with missing formula - corrected, results as expected. Another of those errors that should have been caught earlier.

Another earlier error caught using random entry, corrected.

All calcs, output now as expected.

Production rate up, should finish the spreadsheet earlier than currently planned - encouraging.

Fourth test - fail. Putting the test file on another computer doesn't work well, saving the test file on the working computer under a different name does.

Formatting errors on cells containing calculated data corrected - an error that should have been caught and corrected far earlier. Hopefully the modded test file will prevent any future occurances, if any, of this. Output still as expected - shouldn't be a problem throughout construction of the rest of the spreadsheet.

File size of the completed spreadsheet liable and expected to be larger than originally estimated - not a major problem at this time.

As these errors are caught and corrected, creation of the remaining pages shouldn't take up nearly as much time.

When all is considered, positive results, improved outlook. Could be worse.

Third test - fail. Minor correction of some formulae in previous sheets -  but test procedures needs revamping and rethinking. Progress going well.

Second test - data calculated correctly, labels are good. I am now copying the part of the project to be tested, transferring it to another computer and saving it as backups. The third test (upcoming) will be a far wider test of the file capabilities.

Raw spreadsheet converts directly to PDF file poorly; I have a workaround - I think, and it will be needed.

Improvements needed - I need to define areas in the spreadsheet to be used solely for numerical data entry. I'm not sure whether this will have a negative effect on printed or PDF output; time will tell.

Unexpected benefit - with the improvements in the formulae in this file creation of the new pages is faster than ever, shortening the time necessary to complete the project.

The challenge here was to have the required data flow smoothly from sheet to sheet, and of the various spreadsheets I tried, Excel 2007 produced the best results. The disadvantage here is that I've never been a fan of Excel and have limited experience using it.

First test - data flowed from sheet to sheet smoothly and correctly. Problem - some labels didn't. Solution - sheet to sheet transfer of labels in columns changed to formulas rather than a copy and paste of the labels themselves - success. Required going back to each sheet and modding the necessary columns. Hidden benefit - additional flexibility in labeling. Version is now 6.1.

Intended to be a log of this project - large (est.  9 MB) Excel spreadsheet, currently at 162 sheets, over 1 M formatted cells..... Ver 6.0 is the sixth restart of same and the first that I'm reasonably convinced will meet my client's needs and requirements. We'll see.....

The version number will change with improvements made to the basic structure.

Home. We finished 9th of 22 pairs, no cards, good time with old and new friends.

Weather was not co-operative, was a lot of cold and wetness - something I'm not used to anymore - have to take a heavier jacket next year.....

Off to Spokane WA tomorrow for a tournament. Meeting old friends, also a couple of new ones I've talked to online but never met ftf.

I provided the cards for the tournament - I found a seller on EBay that was selling many plastic decks for a price I couldn't resist. Bought a bunch - I'm not totally enamored of them so they won't be for personal use - but they'll be useful in tournaments.

Got home late Wed evening.

Finished middle of the pack in Phoenix.

A great finish in the last two rounds of the tournament in Tampa vaulted us from 13th place to 5th, in the money. Good times with old friends as well.

A cold, wet trip back from Tampa - temperatures in the 40s to low 50s, raining most of the time.

Back to the mines.

On the road tomorrow AM for Phoenix. Tournament, as is Tampa the following weekend. Should be interesting.

Never got the chance to update the lottery odds page, although it's still in the works. Work has been keeping me busy.

A data entry error has halted progress. Over 200 files, including about 100 intranet web pages, are affected. It'll take at least a week to correct, and there's no reassurance at this time that the corrective measures planned will be effective. This will also alter the method used for future construction, and that may or may not be a good thing - time will tell. Only good thing I can say is that it could have been worse - the error could have been made earlier in the data, affecting far more files and taking that much longer to correct.

Somehow I let myself be talked into returning to a tournament in Tampa FL in January. I hadn't planned on attending, but friends and a business associate changed my mind. Oh, well, the hotel and the people there are good.

I need to make alterations to the lottery odds page on my website - I need to make the page and the data therein easier to access and navigate. Hopefully before I leave for Phoenix AZ and Tampa FL - tournaments on consecutive weekends the last part of January - I'll get this done.

Back to the mines.....

Error traps working as expected. A couple of format errors, one posting error, nothing wrong with the data. But, with what I'm getting paid the client expects nothing less than my best, and that's exactly what he'll get.

New ".pdf" conversion process working much better than expected.

6/49 text files I sent a couple of weeks ago have been received by the person to whom it was sent. I hope he was able to download and read them.....

Off to see Celtic Woman tonight - a date with five lovely and talented women. Sigh.....