When you open or create a file in Formula One for Java, you also open or create a workbook. Workbooks store data, formulas, workbook formatting information, and workbook-specific information such as printing and calculation attributes. You can open multiple workbooks simultaneously. Formulas in one workbook can refer to cells in other workbooks.
A workbook is a collection of individual worksheets. Worksheets allow you to show and analyze data. You can manipulate data on several worksheets simultaneously and base calculations on data from multiple worksheets stored within the same workbook.
You use worksheets to separate information into groups based on how you want to use the information stored in the workbook. Say you have a database that includes year-end sales figures. You want to break down the figures into quarterly time periods to present to your manager. You could do one of three things:
Unless your database is very simple and small, keeping the figures in one worksheet creates a large, cumbersome worksheet, making it difficult to display or distribute the data. Splitting the data into separate workbooks takes up more memory and makes data access less convenient. Storing the data in the same workbook separated into four worksheets plus the master database makes the most sense -- data is more easily displayed and distributed, takes up less memory, and is more easily accessed.
