Re: [Orgmode] spreadsheet advice

[Carsten Dominik]

On Sep 11, 2007, at 4:06, Robert D. Crawford wrote:

> I am a new user to org-mode and picked it up mainly for the spreadsheet
> functionality.  I have a few questions that I cannot seem to get an
> answer to from reading the info manual.
>
> I am using the spreadsheet to keep track of my blood glucose levels,
> correctional boluses, carb intake, meal boluses, and basal increases.
> All of these things need to be recorded to the nearest hour.  Each
> section will look like the following and corresponds to one day.  I 
> have
> removed many of the hours for brevity.
>
> |   | date  |  00 | 01 | 22 | 23 | avg bg | tot carb |
> |---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
> |   | bg    |     |    |    |    |        |          |
> |   | corr  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
> |   | carb  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
> |   | bolus |     |    |    |    |        |          |
> |   | basal |     |    |    |    |        |          |
> |   |       |     |    |    |    |        |          |
> |---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
> #+TBLFM: @3$3=if(@-1>0,(@-1-100.0)/100.0,string("")
>
> As you can see, I have only the basic layout and one equation.
>
> Now for the questions.
>
> 1.  I would like to keep all the tables above in one spreadsheet, one
> table for each day of the month, creating a new spreadsheet each month.
> If there is a more efficient way to do it I am more than open to
> suggestion.  The reason is that I would be able to more easily track
> trends in blood glucose levels on a time-of-day basis.

Org-mode does not really have the term "one spreadsheet".

It has a table.  A document can contain many tables.  Do you mean to
put everything into a single table, or many tables in a document?

> All other questions assume the above layout.
>
> 2.  I would like to create a bg-template.org file and simply insert 
> that
> file every morning when I do my first reading.  One problem I see is
> the equations might need to be rewritten for the bit that gets added.
> Is there some way to get past this issue?

Why would they need rewriting?  If you use a separate table each day,
no problem, they all look t eh same then.  If you want to put things
into one big table, hmmmm.  Harder.  You could use calculation markers
in the first column, to make sure that intermediate lines are not 
computes

|   | date1 |  00 | 01 | 22 | 23 | avg bg | tot carb |
|---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
| # | bg    |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | corr  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | carb  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | bolus |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | basal |     |    |    |    |        |          |
|   |       |     |    |    |    |        |          |
|---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
|   | date2 |  00 | 01 | 22 | 23 | avg bg | tot carb |
|---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
| # | bg    |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | corr  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | carb  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | bolus |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | basal |     |    |    |    |        |          |
|   |       |     |    |    |    |        |          |
|---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
|   | date3 |  00 | 01 | 22 | 23 | avg bg | tot carb |
|---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
| # | bg    |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | corr  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | carb  |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | bolus |     |    |    |    |        |          |
| # | basal |     |    |    |    |        |          |
|   |       |     |    |    |    |        |          |
|---+-------+-----+----+----+----+--------+----------|
#+TBLFM: @3$3=if(@-1>0,(@-1-100.0)/100.0,string("")

> 3.  Is there some functionality for row equations like there is for
> column equations?

No.

>  The rows marked "corr" and "bolus" can be
> automatically filled with values and I would like to do this but don't
> want to have to bother with the work necessary to yank the equation in
> each field if it is not necessary.  I did try to use a range in the
> tblfm line but this does not work.

I don't know a way around putting these equations separately into
each field.

> 4.  In the name of further automation, can one jump to a particular
> coordinate in the spreadsheet?

Not yet.  Do you know the coordinates by heart?  Would you like
to jump there from a program?

If you want to do complex analysis of this data, you might want to
consider using Excel or another "real" spreadsheet instead.

- Carsten