Re: pspp-dev Digest, Vol 209, Issue 4

[Ben Pfaff]

If you would like to translate the manual to Greek, you are welcome to
do so, but it is a big job.

Short of that, it would be very helpful if you spot something in the
manual that is not as helpful as it could be, and suggest
improvements. I know that, for example, most of the commands in the
manual do not include examples. If you wanted to contribute examples,
I think that users could find that helpful.

On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 1:02 AM Elias Tsolis <estatisticseu@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I can translate it in greek if you want.
> Aldo i purpose to adf some examples for syntax.
> Pkease tell me what to do.
>
> On Wednesday, March 23, 2022, <pspp-dev-request@gnu.org> wrote:
>>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Re: Your automagic screenshots! (Ben Pfaff)
>>    2. Re: Your automagic screenshots! (John Darrington)
>>    3. Re: Your automagic screenshots! (Ben Pfaff)
>>    4. Re: Your automagic screenshots! (Alan Mead)
>>    5. Re: Your automagic screenshots! (Ben Pfaff)
>>    6. Re: Your automagic screenshots!  (Friedrich Beckmann)
>>    7. Re: Your automagic screenshots! (John Darrington)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 09:20:50 -0700
>> From: Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>
>> To: Friedrich Beckmann <friedrich.beckmann@gmx.de>
>> Cc: John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>,  PSPP Development
>>         Mailing List <pspp-dev@gnu.org>
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID:
>>         <CAA_G9+h5bPG70rk_5CT9vmLeJtrJdcrJQs13Fws0fSSu-9GXKA@mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>>
>> We've had documentation in French and Polish contributed by users
>> before. We linked to it from the FAQ. It seems that those links are
>> dead now, though.
>>
>> It would be great to get documentation contributions that we can
>> include in the PSPP manual.
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 2:46 AM Friedrich Beckmann
>> <friedrich.beckmann@gmx.de> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi John,
>> >
>> > i just had a look at your automagic screenshots that you take for the 
>> > documentation. Very nice. This Nina who asked on the mailing list
>> >
>> > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html
>> >
>> > how to import from Excel mentioned that it would be nice to have a 
>> > description for this in the manual. I wanted to propose her that she could
>> > make such a manual which would currently mean to write the texi code which 
>> > would require to have a build system running to see the rendered pages. 
>> > Automagic screenshots would be even more advanced.
>> >
>> > Did you ever propose users just to make some kind of handcrafted tutorial 
>> > or documentation, provide it in pdf under some CC license and we would 
>> > publish it on the gnu website?
>> >
>> > Cheers
>> >
>> > Fritz
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 19:23:57 +0100
>> From: John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>
>> To: Friedrich Beckmann <friedrich.beckmann@gmx.de>
>> Cc: John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>, PSPP Development
>>         Mailing List <pspp-dev@gnu.org>
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID: <YjoUPU8v7I56GDJ0@jocasta.intra>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>> So far as I'm aware, there's no way of importing directly from excel.  You 
>> would
>> first have to convert the excel file to something else like gnumeric or 
>> opendocument
>> format.
>>
>> J'
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 10:45:32AM +0100, Friedrich Beckmann wrote:
>>      Hi John,
>>
>>      i just had a look at your automagic screenshots that you take for the 
>> documentation. Very nice. This Nina who asked on the mailing list
>>
>>      https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html 
>> <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html>
>>
>>      how to import from Excel mentioned that it would be nice to have a 
>> description for this in the manual. I wanted to propose her that she could
>>      make such a manual which would currently mean to write the texi code 
>> which would require to have a build system running to see the rendered 
>> pages. Automagic screenshots would be even more advanced.
>>
>>      Did you ever propose users just to make some kind of handcrafted 
>> tutorial or documentation, provide it in pdf under some CC license and we 
>> would publish it on the gnu website?
>>
>>      Cheers
>>
>>      Fritz
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 11:29:29 -0700
>> From: Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>
>> To: John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>
>> Cc: Friedrich Beckmann <friedrich.beckmann@gmx.de>,  PSPP Development
>>         Mailing List <pspp-dev@gnu.org>
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID:
>>         <CAA_G9+hL=QTvRCqe=WnGx5oSuo9+fXGDhwmszS0Y1aP2TLS8cQ@mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>>
>> It's an extraordinarily common feature request, so if there's a
>> practical way to support direct import then we should consider it.
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 11:26 AM John Darrington
>> <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> wrote:
>> >
>> > So far as I'm aware, there's no way of importing directly from excel.  You 
>> > would
>> > first have to convert the excel file to something else like gnumeric or 
>> > opendocument
>> > format.
>> >
>> > J'
>> >
>> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 10:45:32AM +0100, Friedrich Beckmann wrote:
>> >      Hi John,
>> >
>> >      i just had a look at your automagic screenshots that you take for the 
>> > documentation. Very nice. This Nina who asked on the mailing list
>> >
>> >      https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html 
>> > <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html>
>> >
>> >      how to import from Excel mentioned that it would be nice to have a 
>> > description for this in the manual. I wanted to propose her that she could
>> >      make such a manual which would currently mean to write the texi code 
>> > which would require to have a build system running to see the rendered 
>> > pages. Automagic screenshots would be even more advanced.
>> >
>> >      Did you ever propose users just to make some kind of handcrafted 
>> > tutorial or documentation, provide it in pdf under some CC license and we 
>> > would publish it on the gnu website?
>> >
>> >      Cheers
>> >
>> >      Fritz
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 13:40:57 -0500
>> From: Alan Mead <amead2@alanmead.org>
>> To: pspp-dev@gnu.org
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID: <e3ca7111-8079-36b1-66b2-462308d5b24f@alanmead.org>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>>
>> You are probably aware, but the XLSX format used in recent versions of
>> Excel is significantly more accessible (it's a ZIP file containing XML
>> and similar data) than the older XLS format.
>>
>> Also, it's fairly easy to open an XLS/XLSX file in LibreOffice and save
>> it as CSV, but you can also use LO in a batch mode (Windows/DOS example):
>>
>> "C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\scalc.exe" --convert-to csv
>> "excel_file.xls"
>>
>> produces "excel_file.csv" in CSV format.
>>
>> -Alan
>>
>> On 3/22/2022 1:29 PM, Ben Pfaff wrote:
>> > It's an extraordinarily common feature request, so if there's a
>> > practical way to support direct import then we should consider it.
>> >
>> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 11:26 AM John Darrington
>> > <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> wrote:
>> >> So far as I'm aware, there's no way of importing directly from excel.  
>> >> You would
>> >> first have to convert the excel file to something else like gnumeric or 
>> >> opendocument
>> >> format.
>> >>
>> >> J'
>> >>
>> >> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 10:45:32AM +0100, Friedrich Beckmann wrote:
>> >>       Hi John,
>> >>
>> >>       i just had a look at your automagic screenshots that you take for 
>> >> the documentation. Very nice. This Nina who asked on the mailing list
>> >>
>> >>       https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html 
>> >> <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html>
>> >>
>> >>       how to import from Excel mentioned that it would be nice to have a 
>> >> description for this in the manual. I wanted to propose her that she could
>> >>       make such a manual which would currently mean to write the texi 
>> >> code which would require to have a build system running to see the 
>> >> rendered pages. Automagic screenshots would be even more advanced.
>> >>
>> >>       Did you ever propose users just to make some kind of handcrafted 
>> >> tutorial or documentation, provide it in pdf under some CC license and we 
>> >> would publish it on the gnu website?
>> >>
>> >>       Cheers
>> >>
>> >>       Fritz
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 5
>> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 11:47:15 -0700
>> From: Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>
>> To: Alan Mead <amead2@alanmead.org>
>> Cc: PSPP Development Mailing List <pspp-dev@gnu.org>
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID:
>>         <CAA_G9+hvyXcOAazgY6qr7RV+-Zv01bfwW9qJP=jO2vRyEAEK2g@mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>>
>> I followed the saga of standardizing the XLSX format in some detail
>> when it was going on 10 or so years ago. At least at the time, it was
>> said that it would take a lot of work for a program to read it,
>> because (for example) a program that read it would need to be able to
>> implement recalculation, including all the formulas and functions,
>> since the files didn't necessarily include the pre calculated values.
>> This suggests to me that, if PSPP were to be able to read these files
>> directly, then we would need to use a third-party library or program
>> to do it with a reasonable amount of code.
>>
>> Maybe we should add instructions for conversion to the FAQ or the
>> manual. The batch mode instructions look helpful to me.
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 11:41 AM Alan Mead <amead2@alanmead.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > You are probably aware, but the XLSX format used in recent versions of
>> > Excel is significantly more accessible (it's a ZIP file containing XML
>> > and similar data) than the older XLS format.
>> >
>> > Also, it's fairly easy to open an XLS/XLSX file in LibreOffice and save
>> > it as CSV, but you can also use LO in a batch mode (Windows/DOS example):
>> >
>> > "C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\scalc.exe" --convert-to csv
>> > "excel_file.xls"
>> >
>> > produces "excel_file.csv" in CSV format.
>> >
>> > -Alan
>> >
>> > On 3/22/2022 1:29 PM, Ben Pfaff wrote:
>> > > It's an extraordinarily common feature request, so if there's a
>> > > practical way to support direct import then we should consider it.
>> > >
>> > > On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 11:26 AM John Darrington
>> > > <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> wrote:
>> > >> So far as I'm aware, there's no way of importing directly from excel.  
>> > >> You would
>> > >> first have to convert the excel file to something else like gnumeric or 
>> > >> opendocument
>> > >> format.
>> > >>
>> > >> J'
>> > >>
>> > >> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 10:45:32AM +0100, Friedrich Beckmann wrote:
>> > >>       Hi John,
>> > >>
>> > >>       i just had a look at your automagic screenshots that you take for 
>> > >> the documentation. Very nice. This Nina who asked on the mailing list
>> > >>
>> > >>       
>> > >> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html 
>> > >> <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/pspp-users/2022-03/msg00031.html>
>> > >>
>> > >>       how to import from Excel mentioned that it would be nice to have 
>> > >> a description for this in the manual. I wanted to propose her that she 
>> > >> could
>> > >>       make such a manual which would currently mean to write the texi 
>> > >> code which would require to have a build system running to see the 
>> > >> rendered pages. Automagic screenshots would be even more advanced.
>> > >>
>> > >>       Did you ever propose users just to make some kind of handcrafted 
>> > >> tutorial or documentation, provide it in pdf under some CC license and 
>> > >> we would publish it on the gnu website?
>> > >>
>> > >>       Cheers
>> > >>
>> > >>       Fritz
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 6
>> Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 06:25:52 +0100
>> From: Friedrich Beckmann <friedrich.beckmann@gmx.de>
>> To: Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>
>> Cc: Alan Mead <amead2@alanmead.org>, PSPP Development Mailing List
>>         <pspp-dev@gnu.org>
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID: <BC4FA759-8BCB-4EE2-B825-C5F4BA595070@gmx.de>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>>
>> I answered her in the mailing list to export from excel to csv and to import 
>> from csv to pspp. That seemed to be sufficient. I was more wondering how to 
>> engage people who probably are not in the position to install the build 
>> environment to render the documentation.
>>
>> Friedrich
>>
>> > Am 23.03.2022 um 04:59 schrieb Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>:
>> >
>> > Maybe we should add instructions for conversion to the FAQ or the
>> > manual. The batch mode instructions look helpful to me.
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 7
>> Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 10:29:39 +0100
>> From: John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>
>> To: Friedrich Beckmann <friedrich.beckmann@gmx.de>
>> Cc: Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>, PSPP Development Mailing List
>>         <pspp-dev@gnu.org>
>> Subject: Re: Your automagic screenshots!
>> Message-ID: <YjrogwohhDQ3vxla@jocasta.intra>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>> The documentation including screenshots are included in the manual.
>> If I recall correctly this includes the Windoze builds last time I
>> checked.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> John
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 06:25:52AM +0100, Friedrich Beckmann wrote:
>>
>>      I answered her in the mailing list to export from excel to csv and to 
>> import from csv to pspp. That seemed to be sufficient. I was more wondering 
>> how to engage people who probably are not in the position to install the 
>> build environment to render the documentation.
>>
>>      Friedrich
>>
>>      > Am 23.03.2022 um 04:59 schrieb Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>:
>>      >
>>      > Maybe we should add instructions for conversion to the FAQ or the
>>      > manual. The batch mode instructions look helpful to me.
>>      >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Subject: Digest Footer
>>
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> End of pspp-dev Digest, Vol 209, Issue 4
>> ****************************************