Templates in Calc

[rlshog1]

I've been using OpenOffice for several months, and I've been very happy with it. I've been doing mostly simple things, though, and my first foray into something a little more complicated has resulted in total frustration. I'm trying to combine an existing spreadsheet with a template, and then manipulate the data within the spreadsheet. Basically it's just about 30 lines and 10 columns. I've followed the directions in the calc guide. I set up the template, seemingly successfully. The template shows up where it should when I open it and comes up on the screen. However, when I open the spreadsheet it comes up as a new program window, which I'm not sure is correct. I may still me thinking of MS office. I seem to be able to copy from the spreadsheet to the template window, though, but when it copies over it seems to eliminate the lines on the template as if I were copying from one page to another with borders.
I've gone through the directions in the guide at least 10 times, but with the same result. I know I'm doing something fundamentally wrong, but I can't figure out what it is.

[acknak]

Templates in OOo and MS Office are completely different--or so I guess from descriptions I read here from MS Office users.

A template in OOo is just a document that is loaded to start a new document. The only difference in opening a template and opening a regular document is that opening the template results in a new, unnamed copy of the template, ready to be edited and saved under it's own name. So the template is nothing but a starting point.

Secondly, once you open the template and save the untitled document with a new name, the new document has no further need for the template it started with. The document is (almost) completely independent from the template--there's no dynamic combining of data from the template.

I don't know if this helps--maybe if we knew what your goal is, we could make some more specific suggestions.

[rlshog1]

I just want to make a page with lines at predetermined locations and work with an imported spreadsheet within the lines.
Can't I make a form and manipulate data in it ? I can't believe I can't do that.

[Villeroy]

Why can't you?

[crusader]

Open your template and save it with whatever name you want (creating a new file based on your template). Copy the data you need form your original file and paste it into the new file using the menu commands as follows:

Edit -> Paste Special -> uncheck (untick) Paste all -> uncheck Formats -> click OK.

Feedback would be appreciated.

[acknak]

I just want to make a page with lines at predetermined locations and work with an imported spreadsheet within the lines.

Ok, well, that's definitely not the sort of thing that OOo templates are good for.

As far as I can see, there are two possibilities, neither of which seem very promising:

• Copy/paste the data manually. This gives you the result you want, but is only practical if you can copy/paste everything at once, and even so requires a lot of manual steps.
• Use a DDE link. This also gives the desired result (format from the template, data from another sheet) but the result is not editable like a normal sheet and the links have to managed manually.

Hopefully, someone else will have a better suggestion.

[rlshog1]

I see now that templates are not the same thing in Calc as they are in Excel, and that my original plan is not going to work. A little disappointing, but I guess that's the way it is. I'm apparently not going to be able to automate the process as I had hoped unless I go to the trouble of including the borders in my macros. Or print the form and the data separately. Each print is going to have the same number of rows & columns, so a single form will work for all. Thanks to all who had suggestions. I'm learning a lot that I didn't know.

[acknak]

The way to handle this kind of task is to store the data in a database and use OOo Writer to create the form that pulls the data out and formats it nicely for printing. A database report is another, similar, option if you have longer swaths of data to print. OOo has very thorough and powerful support for this approach, and it can handle as much data as you can throw at it.

The down side is that you have to master databases, OOo Base, OOo Writer and maybe OOo reports, and then transfer all your data, before you can get anything out of it. It's a steep climb that very few have the time or desire for, and is total overkill for most small projects.

To be completely fair, the process can be simplified considerably: the 'database' can be as simple as a spreadsheet or a text file. It's not bad once you get everything set up, but the setup can be a real bear.