[Solved] What OpenOffice Application to use?

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stryger1
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Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 4:51 am

[Solved] What OpenOffice Application to use?

Post by stryger1 »

I have a task that I want to work on but I am not sure what Open office application I should use for it. I am familiar with Open office writer and generally familiar with the basics of Open office calc. I know very little about the database application.
This is for a science fiction role playing game called Traveller.

In this game planets are described by an alpha numeric code. Each part of the code describes a different property of the planet. The first character indicates the kind of star port, the second character indicates the planet size, etc. There are game aids that will generate these planets and codes (between 40 - 400 depending on the need). What I want to do is to be able to input the alpha numeric codes in one place (copy and past would be nice) and then have a report or output that creates an output entry for each planet giving the corresponding descriptions. I have included an example below of the data I am using.

Any suggestions on which Open office application to use for that? I appreciate any feedback.

Code: Select all

C 5 5 2 6 8 5 – 8

Code: Select all

Starport            C      Routine
Size                5      8,000km
Atmosphere          5      Thin
Hydrosphere         2      20%
Population          6      Millions
Government Type     8      Civil Service Bureaucracy
Law Level           5      Personal concealable weapons prohibited
Technology Level    8      Quality Computers
Last edited by stryger1 on Sat Jul 25, 2020 5:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Using Open Office 4.17 on Windows 10. Learned on spread sheets and databases back in the 1980's
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keme
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Re: What Open Office Application to use?

Post by keme »

For the best result you should probably look into a database. That requires some skill to build, and takes a bit of getting used to.

For a quick mockup which "works for you" (i.e. it will be vulnerable to user error, so you need to know what you are doing), a spreadsheet is probably OK.

If game information is not easily structured into strict tabular form, a spreadsheet may well be the best choice.

Most players do not want to "waste time" on DB development, and the odd error does not impart real damage, so the general choice seems to be the "quick and dirty" solution, using a spreadsheet.

See also search results for this forum:
search.php?keywords=role+playing+game&t ... mit=Search
John_Ha
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Re: What Open Office Application to use?

Post by John_Ha »

What you want can be done with either a spreadsheet or a database. As the learning curve for a database is steep do it with a spreadsheet.

I am assuming from your data that Starport can have many values where C means Routine as in your example; and, for example, D means Large, and E means Small.

Basically, you will have a front_sheet where you type in your "C 5 5 2 6 8 5 – 8" and the values associated with them are then automatically shown in the report you want. If you change C to D, the report changes from Routine to Large.

You will then have other sheets containing the data. Your Starport_sheet has a table

Code: Select all

C   Routine
D   Large
E   Small
The front_sheet uses the cell value C in the Starport field of the front_sheet to fetch the value - Routine - from the Starport_sheet table using the LOOKUP, VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP command which fetches the value in the table - Routine - which is referenced by C. If the front_sheet has D it fetches Small.

Separating the data into other sheets means you are less likely to corrupt the stored data on those sheets. You can also Write protect them so you do not accidentally corrupt them.

See the Calc Guide, p335
Clipboard02.gif
This method requires that you type the individual input values "C 5 5 2 6 8 5 – 8" into separate cells. I am sure there will be a simple way for you to paste the string "C 5 5 2 6 8 5 – 8" into a single cell, and then process the cell so as to copy the individual values into separate cells automatically.

Showing that a problem has been solved helps others searching so, if your problem is now solved, please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit

See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
John_Ha
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Re: What Open Office Application to use?

Post by John_Ha »

Here is a starter file for you. The formula in D2 on Sheet 1 is

Code: Select all

=LOOKUP(C2; Starport.A4:Starport.A8; Starport.B4:Starport.B8)
which means

Get the value stored in C2 of this sheet - say it is D.

Look in the range A4 to A8 ... in the sheet named Starport ... until you find D.

Get the value in the range B4 to B8 ... in the sheet named Starport ... which is "opposite" to the value D. This value is Large.

Hence D3 displays Large. If you change C2 to C, D2 shows Routine.

Read the manual to find out what happens if you enter a value (eq Q) which is not in the specified range. Searches are case insensitive so d and D both find Large.

I needed the Documentation/How Tos/Calc: LOOKUP function web page to help me - it has lots of examples and you should bookmark it for future reference as it links to similar pages for all functions.
Starport values stored in the sheet Starport
Starport values stored in the sheet Starport
starport.gif (7.65 KiB) Viewed 3192 times
When D is typed in cell C2, Large appears in cell D2.  <br />When E is typed in cell C2, Ginormous appears in cell D2
When D is typed in cell C2, Large appears in cell D2.
When E is typed in cell C2, Ginormous appears in cell D2
Attachments
example.ods
(12.34 KiB) Downloaded 188 times
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit

See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
stryger1
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Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 4:51 am

Re: What Open Office Application to use?

Post by stryger1 »

I really appreciate the detailed feedback! This gives me a good starting point. It looks like a lot of work but not insurmountable. Fortunately I had some classes back in the 1980's when spreadsheets were new.
Using Open Office 4.17 on Windows 10. Learned on spread sheets and databases back in the 1980's
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