# Data Entry Area

Immediately above the grid of cells is the data entry area as shown in worksheet-data-1.

## The Data Entry area.

An image of the data entry area.

This is a small area, which contains a current cell indicator, a cancel button, a confirm button, an entry button, and an entry area for detailed editing of the cell contents. These elements are explained individually below.

## Current Cell Indicator

On the far left of the Data Entry area is the current cell indicator area. This area is shown in worksheet-data-2

### The Current Cell Indicator.

An image of the current cell indicator.

The cell indicator will show the address for the cell at the top left of the selected region. This address is listed in the standard column:row notation. The alphabetic part indicates the column of this top leftmost cell and the numeric part indicates the row of this top left cell. For instance, the cell which is over three columns and down two rows is designated:

> C2

This designation matches the column and row headers for this cell.

While a region is being selected, the current cell indicator will change to show the size of the region which is being selected. This information is presented in a row number by column number format. For instance, this designation:

> 15R x 6C

would indicate a selection area 15 rows high by 6 columns wide. Once the mouse is released at the end of the selection, the current cell indicator goes back to giving the address of the single top leftmost cell.

## The Cancel Button

The Cancel button An image of the cancel button. can be used to cancel the current edit and to restore the cell contents to the previous state. If a user decides in the middle of an edit that the data being entered into a cell is not what they want, the user can push this cancel button to cancel the current data and return the cell to the state it was at before.

The most common use of this button is when overwriting the contents of a cell with new data. If the user decided to revert the change before confirming it, the cancel button is the answer. Note that this button works just like typing the escape key on the keyboard.

## The Confirm Button

The confirm button An image of the enter button. . can be used to finish the edit of a cell and enter the edit into the workbook. Note that this button works in the same way as the enter key.

## The Equals Button

The equals button An image of the equals button. can be used to start a formula in the currently selected cell. If a user wanted to make cell D10 equal to cell B4, the user could simply click on cell D10, click this equals button, click on cell B4 and type the enter key. Note that this button works the same way as the equals key.

## The Cell Grid

Most of the work done on a spreadsheet is done to the main Cell area, the large grid like part of the worksheet. This is where all the formulas and data are entered, and is the center of activity for the spreadsheet.

## The Cell Grid area, with cells of different sizes.

An image of the cell grid area.

cell-grid.png shows the cell grid area, the column and row headers on the top and left, the scrollbars on the right and bottom and the tab list at the very bottom.

The figure has a few and shows that cell B3 as being selected. In this figure, the columns and rows have been resized and therefore look uneven.

Each cell in this area is delimited by a light grey line by default. The current selection is indicated by a rectangular box with a little box on the lower right, this case cell J12. The view in this figure shows the middle portion of a worksheet which is evident in two ways. Firstly, the column and row headers do not start at column A and row 1. Secondly, the scroll thumbs are not at the top and left. The thumbs are the boxes within the scroll bars that are used to scroll. Note also that cell D19 has a comment within it which is shown by the little red triangle at the top right corner.

The size of a cell is determined by the width of the column and height of the row that the cell is in. The columns and rows can be resized by acting on the header relevant to the cell. The user must move the mouse pointer to the edge of the header which is either to the right or below the cell. With the mouse pointer in this position, the pointer will change to a set of opposite pointing arrows. The user must then drag this edge away from the top left corner. This takes a little practice.

The cell area is the core of Gnumeric. Therefore the manual explains the use of cells in much greater detail in a separate section. Interested users should read chapter-data.

## The Column and Row Headers

The sheet is bordered by column headers on the top and row headers to the left. Columns are labeled alphabetically running horizontally across the top of the sheet as shown in worksheet-cols-1.

### The column labels at the top of the worksheet.

An image of the column labels.
Rows are labeled along the left side of the worksheet. Each label is a different integer increasing downward. This is shown in worksheet-rows-1.

### The row labels at the left side of the worksheet.

An image of the row labels.

## The Scrollbars

The cell grid area's scrollbars work like other scrollbars. In this case they let the user work on a worksheet which is much bigger than what could be shown at any given moment.

## The Tabbed Sheet Indicator

At the bottom of cell-grid.png, Gnumeric has a tabbed sheet indicator. This is the boxes with the labels "Guppies", "Turtles", "Mermaids", "seahorses" and so on. In workbooks where there are more than one sheet, extra tabs are used to indicate how many sheets are there, and also allows the user to move to another sheet by clicking the proper tab. Each tab is a link to a separate worksheet within Gnumeric. In this figure, the "Turtles" tab has been selected. Gnumeric shows this by making the "Turtles" since the tab is a little bigger and making it overlap the two neighbouring tabs.

On the far right, the two arrows indicate that there are more sheets in the workbook and more tabs for those sheets. Unfortunately, there is not enough space to show them all so Gnumeric displays these arrows. If all the sheets are visible, these arrows will not be displayed. These arrows can be used to scroll the tabs and bring tabs that were hidden into view. This may be a little difficult to understand and work with but becomes easier quickly.

## The Information Area

The section at the very bottom of the worksheet view is the information area as is shown in info-area.png.

## The Information Display Area.

An image of the information display area.
The information area displays information depending on what is happening in Gnumeric.

## The Menu Hint Area

The leftmost portion of the information display area, the part which reads: "Sort the selected cells" is a hint explaining what a menu does. In this case, the Data menu was opened and the pointer is hovering above the "sort" menu entry. Gnumeric is responding by giving a quick explanation of what that menu entry does.

## The File Status Indicator

Whenever Gnumeric opens or saves a file, the file status indicator appears with a progress bar which grows as Gnumeric progresses. In info-area.png, Gnumeric was just over halfway done opening a file.

## The Running Calculation Area

In the bottom right hand corner, is an info area that shows some constantly calculated values. The default set is to show the Sum of all the currently selected cells.

There is a right click option that includes a few more options. This can include Sum, Min, Max, Average, Count.

### The running calculation area.

An image of the running calculation area.