Re: gnumeric man ssconvert : how execute ?

[Adrian Custer <acuster gmail com>]

Hello,

On Thu, 2012-02-23 at 11:00 -0500, Dick Bingham wrote:
> I am interested in converting Quattro pro files to open office-calc
> format. The Gnumeric manual suggests "using" 'man ssconvert '  to read
> the detailed instructions for the conversion.  
>
> Exactly how do I do this ? do I have to start Gnumeric first ? 



Ah, yes. This is hard if you do not recognize that ssconvert is a
program that is launched from the 'command-line'. Depending on your
operating system, there are different ways to open a 'terminal' or a
'console' where you can issue commands.

One of the commands available on the 'command line' on *NIX operating
systems is the 'man' command which shows you the manual page that you
specify as its argument. If Gnumeric is properly installed there will be
a manual page ('man page') for gnumeric which you can call with 

  man gnumeric

which has some cursory information about gnumeric. Similarly, from the
command line you can issue the command

  man ssconvert

to learn how to use it. 'man pages' usually provide short summaries of
some part of the operating system.  With man pages you can use the space
bar to move down and the 'q' key to quit. 




The synopsis part of the ssconvert manual page on my machine is

SYNOPSIS
       ssconvert [OPTIONS] infile outfile

       ssconvert [OPTIONS] --merge-to outfile infile1 infile2 ...

which suggests you issue the name of the command, any options you choose
(they are explained lower in the page), and the file names. So you would
want to do

  ssconvert --list-exporters

which will give you a list of the supported formats (I am not sure if
Quattro Pro is among them). Then, if it is, you might do

  ssconvert quattroprofilename.ext  office-calcfilename.ods

to convert a quattro pro file into an office-calc file.



But this all starts with getting to a command line, and that requires
you to look up how to do that on your operating system. On windows this
should be possible in the MSDOS shell but I do not know the details.

hope that helps,
  adrian

>  
> Question 2 : Elsewhere I read to the effect that the conversion uses a
> " Quattro Plugin".  How may I acquire this ? Also that python plays a
> role. I am not familiar with that nor its purpose within Gnumeric.
>  
> If I appear dense, please forgive. I have read the Gnumeric Manual; do
> have extensive experience using Quattro Pro ( spreadsheet) and written
> macros linking sheets. While I am amazed at the Mathematical and
> statistical capabilities of Gnumeric, my major interest at this time
> is being able to re-use the capabilities of the Quattro pro files I
> have.
>  
> What have I overlooked ?
>  
> Many thanks for your help and direction.
>  
>  
>
>
> -- 
> Have a Great Day !  Dick Bingham from DickBinFla gmail com
>
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