SpreadCE - there is a great third party spreadsheet

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.byedesign.freeserve.co.uk/">http://www.byedesign.freeserve.co.uk/</a><br /><br />Despite what you may have read <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=661&highlight=">right here at Pocket PC Thoughts</a>, there does exist a very powerful replacement for one of the Pocket Office apps. SpreadCE makes a nice replacement for Pocket Excel if you are an Excel power user. Just a few of the things SpreadCE does that Pocket Excel cannot:<br /><br />•unlimited open files<br />•<a href="http://www.byedesign.freeserve.co.uk/function.htm">317 worksheet functions,</a> many of them from the desktop Excel's "Analysis Toolpak."<br />•49 macro functions for custom functions and commands<br />•array formulas<br />•charts (column, bar, line, pie, scatter, area)<br />•controls (label/group box/command button/check box/option button/list box/combobox/scrollbar/spinner)<br />•drawing objects (line/rectangle/oval/text box)<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/spreadce3.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/spreadce2.jpg" /><br /><br />SpreadCE has been around since the old Palm-sized PC days before PDA's had spreadsheets and has continued to improve and add new features. It is available in a dizzying number of languages and platforms, including HPC's,the Casio BE-300 and even desktop Windows. So, if you are a spreadsheet junkie, give SpreadCE a shot. One thing I did notice is that it doesn't appear to work with Pocket Excel files. So if you want to play with it, open up a few spreadsheets in Pocket Excel and save them as Excel files, or go into ActiveSync and turn off the conversion for Excel files. <b>UPDATE!</b> SpreadCE does indeed work with Pocket Excel files. When you hit File|Open, the default is to only show Excel Files. Simply hit the dropdown and select Pocket Excel Files. Duh. ;-)<br /><br />Now, if we could only find someone to develop that elusive word processor that will do tables, outlining, and more than one level of bulletpoints. :-)

[Pony99CA]

SpreadCE has been around since the old Palm-sized PC days before PDA's had spreadsheets[....]

As a perfectionist, let me state that even the first Windows CE PDAs had spreadsheets. I think my old Hitachi Windows CE 1.0 handheld did, and my Sharp Mobilon HC4500 Windows CE 2.0 handheld certainly did. The only Windows CE PDAs that didn't have spreadsheets, I think, were the Palm-Sized PCs.

So I doubt that a product called SpreadCE (emphasis on "CE") was around before Windows CE 1.0. :-) Or you are claiming handheld PCs aren't PDAs?

Steve

[PPCRules]

... So, if you are a spreadsheet junkie, give SpreadCE a shot. ...
This is cool. This is cool.

I could probably be considered a 'spreadsheet junkie', especially in terms of macros and such. So, if it's not too buggy, I could enjoy this a lot. Lack of macros (like in Microsoft Works) has cooled me to any Excel alternative. I really had not expected to get that in a PPC spreadsheet.

Thanks for mentioning it.

At $20 for an app with all this, it makes one wonder how so many people try to get $10-$30 for apps that hardly do anything.

[Ed Hansberry]

As a perfectionist, let me state that even the first Windows CE PDAs had spreadsheets. I think my old Hitachi Windows CE 1.0 handheld did, and my Sharp Mobilon HC4500 Windows CE 2.0 handheld certainly did. The only Windows CE PDAs that didn't have spreadsheets, I think, were the Palm-Sized PCs.

So I doubt that a product called SpreadCE (emphasis on "CE") was around before Windows CE 1.0. :-) Or you are claiming handheld PCs aren't PDAs?

I guess HPC's are PDA's, but I don't think of them that way primarliy because they do not have the PDA formfactor, which is typically considered to be keyboardless with a stylus being your primary way to input.

[BrianCooksey]

I used SpreadCE on my Nino. It was an excellent tool.

[Rob Alexander]

http://www.z4soft.com/images/screen1-3.gif
If someone is considering buying an upgrade to Pocket Excel, they should consider both SpreadCE and PTab (http://www.z4soft.com/), both of which have been around at least since the Palm-sized PC days. As with any competing products, each has its strengths and weaknesses. I don't remember now why I chose PTab over SpreadCE for my Jornada 430 way back when, but I've stuck with it ever since as it's far and away better than Pocket Excel. It handles nicely tabbed multiple sheets, graphics, macros, a pile of functions (though not as many, I think, as SpreadCE), and it reads and writes Excel and Pocket Excel files in addition to its own native format. I didn't know that SpreadCE was still around, so I think I'll check it out again too. Anyone out there looking for a better spreadsheet (and anyone who actually uses Pocket Excel should be) should definitely check them both out. And I couldn't agree more with Ed... I'd love to have as good an option to replace Pocket Word! 8)

[Pony99CA]

Anyone out there looking for a better spreadsheet (and anyone who actually uses Pocket Excel should be) should definitely check them both out.


Well, I use Pocket Excel quite a bit, but only for one simple spreadsheet, and it's fine. I'm all for a more powerful one, of course, but not at the cost of my RAM and not if I have to pay cash for it. LOL

I've actually not put some cool games on my 3870 because I don't have a lot of room. A spreadsheet that I have to pay for will just have to wait. :-)

Steve

P.S. If you want to know what the spreadsheet is, it's just a simple restaurant thing. I type in how much each course is for each person, and the sheet calculates how much they owe, including tax and tip. It's a handy record, too, when I get home to use Quicken (or Microsoft Money -- which I haven't installed on my iPAQ yet, either). Yes, I am a geek.

[Jonathan1]

MS should be down right embarrassed for Pocket Excel. These apps make Pocket Excel that ships with the PPC look like a preschooler created them. :evil:

[Pony99CA]

MS should be down right embarrassed for Pocket Excel. These apps make Pocket Excel that ships with the PPC look like a preschooler created them. :evil:


Geez, come on. There's a reason it's called Pocket Excel -- because it's not a full-featured version of Excel. It's useful for banging out a few things on, but that's it.

I'd rather see improvements to Pocket Word before I see changes to Pocket Excel, anyway. Preserving formats would be one of the biggest things I'd suggest.

By the way, how good is the spreadsheet that ships with Palm devices? Oh yeah, it doesn't ship with one....

Steve

[Terry]

I spent a little time working with a budget spreadsheet on my Jornada...the small screen area really made the attempt frustrating...scrolling around was like using Pocket IE on a 1024x768 formated web page...I can't imagine needing more function power on the Jornada (unless I just want a small window and powerful functions)...if I really need full spreadsheet functions on the road, I'd rather drag a laptop along...OTOH, the price is fair...

[Rob Alexander]

MS should be down right embarrassed for Pocket Excel. These apps make Pocket Excel that ships with the PPC look like a preschooler created them. :evil:


Geez, come on. There's a reason it's called Pocket Excel -- because it's not a full-featured version of Excel. It's useful for banging out a few things on, but that's it.


I can't figure out how you've made the word pocket become a synonym for "underpowered, underfeatured piece of garbage" :? . I thought that just meant it was written for the Pocket PC operating system. I agree with Jonathan that MS should be embarrassed that two part-time programmers can come up with better pocket spreadsheets than they can. Still, I have to agree with you that if it came down to Excel or Word, I'd rather they spent time on Word. I already have an excellent pocket spreadsheet in PTab, but I have no other option for Pocket Word.

[Ed Hansberry]

I agree with Jonathan that MS should be embarrassed that two part-time programmers can come up with better pocket spreadsheets than they can.
I'd wager those "part time programmers" have each spent more man hours on thier spreadsheets than MS did on Excel.

I'd rather their be some powerful third party apps like this. Powerpoint and Excel are both great examples of third party apps that outdo what MS does on the Pocket PC. And like with most shareware, you can be assured when a bug is found, it will be fixed quickly.

Now, someone needs to take up the Word task. :-)

[Pony99CA]

I can't figure out how you've made the word pocket become a synonym for "underpowered, underfeatured piece of garbage" :? . I thought that just meant it was written for the Pocket PC operating system.


Perhaps the reason you can't figure it out is because your assumption is wrong. The Handheld PCs had Pocket Word and Pocket Excel on them long before the Pocket PC OS came out.

Sorry to let facts get in the way of a perfectly good rant, though. :-)

Steve

[Jason Dunn]

Perhaps the reason you can't figure it out is because your assumption is wrong. The Handheld PCs had Pocket Word and Pocket Excel on them long before the Pocket PC OS came out.


Wow - I heard that smackdown all the way up here in Canada! :lol: :lol: