Texel


Joe Connor takes a look at Texel v1.60r5, a commercial spreadsheet application...


[Screenshot]
Tables are much easier to design and maintain in Texel and they can exported to CAB or embedded using the export HTML option


With Microsoft Excel and Lotus 123 both industry standard applications on other platforms the release of Texel for the Atari platform is a welcome development.
Texel is the first commercial spreadsheet for the Atari platform to be released in the 1990's and I suspect many of us have no idea what we've been missing! My suspicions were reinforced when I tried and failed to find a reviewer with specialist spreadsheet knowledge.
Bearing in mind my hunch most of us have no idea what we're missing I decided to review Texel from a beginners point of view - if I can get to grips with Texel and find it useful then maybe you can too...

Texel is a modern enhanced GEM application programmed by Thomas Much, which has been under development for three years. Thomas is also the author of the OLGA protocol, Start Me Up! BubbleGEM and various other useful utilities so it shouldn't come as any surprise to find Texel supports all of these.
Amodal (non-system blocking) dialogs are used throughout and there's support for long filenames and the AV, XAcc, Font and Drag&Drop protocols.

What you get

Texel comprises a single double-sided floppy disk and 64 page A5 ring bound manual in the usual System Solutions house style. An installation SETUP.PRG personalises your copy then installs Texel and its associated utilities to your disk.

What you need

Texel requires a working GDOS installation to generate printed output. This must include a suitable ASSIGN.SYS along with any necessary device drivers and fonts. NVDI is recommended because it includes vector font support and accelerates screen redraws but SpeedoGDOS or other GDOS implementations should also work.

First contact

All the features common to modern GEM applications (file, printer, font, window management, keyboard shortcuts and clipboard functions) are where you'd expect to find them which makes Texel seem familiar and friendly.
I worked through the single example spreadsheet included in the manual (which includes several errors) to set up a simple household budget spreadsheet and this covered the basics. The tutorial ends with a suggestion to experiment with the examples on the disk so I did and, although useful, I found I really needed more guidance. The manual mentions comprehensive ST-Guide help but currently this isn't available in English.

Texel combines the features of a text editor, statistical/scientific calculator and simple DTP package in a single application. Texel is the perfect solution for maintaining tables or lists which need updating or sorting periodically - especially if there is any maths involved. I've set up spreadsheets to manage the InterActive software list and accounts and have used Texel for one-off tasks I would normally have performed using a calculator, pen and paper.

Data entry

[Screenshot]


Each window includes its own menu, tool and function bar which means everything is to hand and you don't need to access the menus once you've learnt the icons - BubbleGEM would have been invaluable here but this is currently only available in the German release.
Spreadsheets work with "data cells", which can contain text or numerical data, organised into rows and columns as desired. At least one data cell is always selected and its content is displayed in the toolbar input line (to the right of the cross and tick icons). Using this line, data can be entered or edited and any changes made are displayed in the selected data cell.

[Screenshot]
Texel automatically selects the next data cell. Use this popup to set the autocursor direction


Spreadsheets can be created entirely from text cells using the border, text, colour, pattern and font options to achieve an attractive layout but Texel really comes into its own when these abilities are combined with the powerful calculation, functions, and sort features - I still find it magical when column totals update themselves after individual data cells are edited.

[Screenshot]
The numbers in the left hand column have been sorted into alphabetical order in the right hand column, with the option to append empty cells at the end selected


There are bound to be problems entering data and Texel handles "syntax errors" intelligently. Instead of displaying an error alert box Texel beeps and writes a coded error message in the data cell and these are explained in the manual.
Most of my data is in ASCII format which is well catered for in Texel. Using the CSV import option I converted a large Adresse database to Texel without problems and it should be easy enough to import ASCII data from most packages.
Texel is an OLGA-ID4 client which means objects created using STella or Artworks can be "embedded" in Texel spreadsheets. However since both of these are currently only available in German we'll leave this subject for a future article.


[Screenshot]
100 different functions are available. SUM, used to total columns is far and away the most frequently used function.


Support for currencies apart from Deutsche marks is awkward to use and the rotate text function is buggy but there's no doubt we're looking at a powerful application. Thomas is aware of these minor irritants and with Texel 2 development already underway it looks certain ASH has another winner on its hands.


[Screenshot]


PORTABILITY


For anyone working with other platforms, either at work or in the home, the import/export options of any Atari package comes under close scrutiny. There's currently no direct support for Microsoft Excel format but this is planned. In the meantime there are plenty of workarounds using the other options. Texel currently supports the following formats:

Import options

  • WK1 and WKS files from Lotus 123
  • LDP ASCII output from LDW
  • CSV Comma Separated Variables, supported by many Atari programs
  • TXT ASCII text, useful if all else fails

Export options

  • SYLK: Supported by newer versions of Microsoft Excel/Works
  • DIF: Use this to export formulae to Microsoft Excel
  • CSV: Comma Separated Variables, also exports formulae
  • Text: ASCII text, Texel attempts to preserve the layout
  • LaTeX: Exports the special characters used by TeX
  • UDO: Hassle free way to include tables in UDO source code
  • HTML: Effortless table creation in HTML 3.0 or 3.2

[Screenshot]



TEXEL

[] Publisher:
ASH
[] Distribution:
UK: System Solutions
Tel: +44 (0)181 693 3355
Fax: +44 (0)181 693 6936
Email: Mike@System-Solutions.co.uk
Web pages: http://www.system-solutions.co.uk/cafe
Cost: £59.95 normally £79.95

[] Requires:
Any Atari with at least 1.5Mb free memory and 640x400 (ST high) resolution or higher, GDOS (or replacement), hard disk and multitasking OS recommended
[] Pros:
Full WYSIWYG with NVDI/SpeedoGDOS, powerful sort, no frills but straightforward manual
[] Cons:
No English BubbleGEM or ST-Guide help, no Excel import/export or Lotus 123 export, buggy text rotation

89%



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