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Transparency 3D & Multiple D Spreadsheets

Kedarnath Jonnalagadda Vaidika Gramam Hyderabad BHARATH - INDIA smartxpark@yahoo.com 2011

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Kedarnath Jonnalagadda / Vaidika Gramam

3 D & HIGHER DIMENSION SPREADSHEETS

Kedarnath Jonnalagadda, B.Sc(Agri), M.Sc(Genetics)
B4 Hermes Twins, 126 Nagar Road, Pune, Maharashtra, 411006, India smartxpark@yahoo.com

Abstract This paper presents and discusses simple methods of applying the transparency function to convert ordinary spreadsheets in office suite software to 3 D and higher dimension spreadsheets. Such spreadsheets are truer to life depictions of real life and real time data. They not only help to understand data sets and their interrelationships but fundamental issues on the way we look at things and computer simulation. Keywords: Transparency; 3D; spreadsheets, simulation 1. Introduction Office suite software, such as Openoffice.org, LibreOffice or Microsoft Office. have the spreadsheet components Calc and Excel. These have multiple sheet capability for any spreadsheet file. Sheet1, Sheet2 and Sheet3 are provided by default. Any two of the sheets can be deleted to have a file with a single sheet. Or, sheets added to have files with many sheets. . Each sheets is a vast matrix of cells. Any cell can have numbers, text , graphics and pictures. Cells can also have fairly simple to learn and use formulae to perform operations and calculations on other cells. Any sheet is essentially a table in a column row format. Columns are named ABC...Z and AA, AB, AC... and rows are numbered 1,2,3... etc. Any portion of this expanse that you use is your own 2 Dimensional flat table. Data can be input anywhere in a spreadsheet. To tabulate, for example Year and Income, if you started at column 3 and row 11 and typed Income, column header of the table is defined. Having done this, in column 2 row 12, you must type the row header, 2005 for the table to make sense. In spreadsheet notation the column headers will be in cell with address C11 and the row header will in B12. The amount received in 2005 can be typed in C12. You can continue by entering 2006 in B13 and type amount in C13 and so on till 2011. 2. Primary and Summary Data Concepts The above example is summary dependent data. It depends on primary data which is real life variable data of income received every day or every month. A complex multiple dimension flat table is needed to depict both primary data and summary over years in a single sheet, Such a table has main rows with main headings, Year and sub rows with sub-headings, Month and Day/date. Such tables require careful formatting to highlight the summary content of the table. They can increase in complexity when additional summary parameters such as percent to total, average and deviations are included. And this involves greater effort. Often, different simpler to understand 2 dimensional summary and analysis tables are prepared from primary data. But this, in a way, is distancing ourselves more from real life, real time primary data

Kedarnath Jonnalagadda / Vaidika Gramam

3. The 3D Spreadsheet Paradigm With a slight and simple shift in the way we look at flat tables and sheets, truer to life visualization, understanding and applications are possible. Primary data is one sheet, say, Sheet1 of a spreadsheet file and its summary is in Sheet2 of the same file. Graphically, if elements of primary data can be depicted or defined on x,y axis, its summary will be the on the z axis in a different sheet. This, is truer to real life. Since different types of summaries are possible, different types of sheets in the 3rd dimension with the z exis is possible. Any summary and analysis of the summaries can be in yet another sheet. 3.1. The Transparent Sheet Problem and Solutions The first problem in visualization of truer to life primary and summary data in different sheets is that we cannot see them together, unless two separate windows are opened and manually placed one next to the other However, the problem, in a way is a boon to understanding the 3D spreadsheet concept and its potential. In real life, the other side of any stationary opaque body cannot be seen, unless the object is rotated or it is viewed from a different view point. Or, it has some degree of transparency. Visualization of real life data in different sheets of a spreadsheet can also be achieved by simply applying transparency and color to the 2 sheets of a 3D spreadsheet file! Applying transparency to sheets is not an inbuilt feature of any spreadsheet program, as yet. But there a few workaround solutions described below. I am calling these Soft Transparency Solutions because they are not hard coded, inbuilt features of the office suite spreadsheet programs. These are user devised solutions using inbuilt features of the operating system or simple OS enhancing programs that enable applying transparency to any window. This feature is inbuilt in Microsoft Vista and later versions. For Microsoft Windows XP, a few transparency enabling programs are given below, Glass2K from http://chime.tv/products/glass2k.shtml Vitrite http://www.vanmiddlesworth.org/vitrite/ Chaos Crystal from http://www.elgorithms.com/ An unusually named helpful program is Madotate from http://madotate.en.softonic.com/ Madotate is a free English language version of a Japanese developed tool that adds a fourth button to the top right of a windows. Selecting this transforms the window into a tabbed 3D image.

Kedarnath Jonnalagadda / Vaidika Gramam

Soft Transparency : Method 1 Open a spreadsheet file with at least two sheets. From the Main Menu (OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice.org) select Window - New Window. This opens a copy of the same file. You can work on either of the copies. Select sheet with primary data, x,y data in one window and that sheet having the z data in other. Then use the above programs or Windows feature to set its transparency to any desired level. And move the widow over the other! Soft Transparency : Method 2 Another workaround in Openoffice.org and LibreOffice is to copy a range or all cells of desired background sheet and paste into the word processing component, Writer. This is pasted as an OLE object. This can be copied and pasted back into the spreadsheet to have a 3 D sheet effect. Using the Arrange option this can be sent to the background. Now this opens out possibility of using this as template for input or correction of data. Although formulae and hyperlinks can be used in the OLE object, dynamic auto calculate and update could not be achieved the same way it could using Method1. Hard Transparency No office suite package, as of today has this as an inbuilt feature. User adjustable transparency for sheets could become a standards feature in future.

4. Summary & Conclusion The concept of 3D and higher dimension spreadsheets is easily implemented by users applying transparency and color to individual sheets in a spreadsheet file. Such spreadsheets are useful for better visualization of real life, real time data (2) They also are immensely useful for easier verifying and correcting input data or OCR outputs. (3) They could be useful for examining theories in mathematics and relationships in networks.