Options

The Options dialogue box displays information about the document you are editing and enables you to alter the standard settings. The options settings are saved with each document and will be restored when you load the document on another occasion. If you frequently use the same options settings, you can set up a Choices file and/or one or more template files. The Choices file is used every time you start PipeDream. Additional template files enable you to start documents with different settings to those of the Choices file. To see the Options dialogue box, give the Options command.

New slot format

Set to Text to make the default slot format text slots, Numbers for number slots.

Setting the option to Numbers is useful for entering a lot of numbers or formulae at once. If you enter some text into a slot with this option set to Numbers, PipeDream will put it into a text slot if it cannot recognise it as a numeric slot. Note that if you want to change a block of slots from text to numbers or vice versa, you can do this with the Numbers<>Text command.

Insert on wrap

Set column alignment to Rows to keep rows aligned when text wraps, or Columns to work with independent columns of text, like newspaper layout. It is usually best to have this option set to Rows.

Borders

Turn on to display row and column borders, or off to hide borders (note that this also hides the toolbar).

Justify

Turn off for ragged right margins, or on for even right-hand margins. Remember that existing text will not be affected until it is reformatted.

Wrap

Turn on to make text wrap automatically at the right margin, or off for no wrapping.

You may want to switch off wrapping with a spreadsheet or database.

Decimal places

Determines the default display format for number slots returning floating point numbers.

Set to 0 to 9 decimal places, or F for floating format. In floating format, as many significant figures as possible in the column width are displayed.

The result of displaying 12345.67890 in different formats with a column width of 12 in a monospace font is shown below:

0 12346
2 12345.68
5   12345.67890
6 1.234568E4
F 12345.6789

Negative numbers

Set to Minus to display negative numbers with a minus sign or Brackets for financial bracketed notation.

The result of displaying -12345.67890 in each format is shown below:

Minus -12345.68
Brackets   (12345.68)

Thousands separator

Determines the global setting of the thousands separator.

Use the arrow icons to set it to a comma, a full stop, a space or none (no separator).

The result of displaying the same number in each format is as follows:

, 1,234,567.89
. 1.234.567,89 (the decimal point becomes a comma)
space   1 234 567.89
none   1234567.89

Insert on Return

With this option switched on, PipeDream splits the line whenever you press and joins the line when deleting left at the beginning or deleting right at the end. Text will be automatically reformatted after deletions made using the Delete Word and Delete Character commands or the Backspace key.

Date format

Set to English for English-style dates (30.10.91), American for American-style dates (10.30.91) or Text for textual dates (30 Oct 1991).

The date format set in the Options dialogue box will also be used when you type @D@. Note that the text format for @D@ is different to the text format for number slots; in number slots, the month is abbreviated to its first three letters.

Leading characters

Type in up to 4 characters to be displayed in front of a number slot.

£ appears by default.

The leading characters you specify in the Options dialogue box are not displayed in slots until you 'turn on' leading characters by applying the Leading Characters command to the slots in which you want the leading characters to appear.

Trailing characters

Type in up to 4 characters to be displayed after a number slot.

% appears by default.

The trailing characters you specify in the Options dialogue box are not displayed in slots until you 'turn on' trailing characters by applying the Trailing Characters command to the slots in which you want the trailing characters to appear.

Grid

Displays your document within a grid layout. This is most appropriate for numeric or tabular information.

Note that the grid will only be printed if you use a RISC OS printer driver.

When you have set all the options you require, click the OK button or press Enter.

For information on See
Saving Options settings Saving Choices
Template Files