Thank you for your interest in Formula One. This document provides general information about Formula One version 7.0.1. For the latest information, please visit the Tidestone web site at www.tidestone.com and follow the Java links.

Important Please read this document completely before using Formula One.

Contents

• Formula One Documentation
• Platforms and Development Environments Tested
• About the Installation Programs
• What Do the Installation Programs Do?
• List of Files
• Running the Workbook Designer
• Examples Included in the Installation
• Microsoft Excel Compatibility
• Known Issues
• Contact Information

Formula One Documentation

Formula One documentation in PDF format can be viewed or downloaded from the Tidestone website using the following links. We recommend developers read the Getting Started guide, which contains information about Formula One's public API. Developers can also access Javadoc-generated API help, installed with the product, from these links.

• Getting Started guide (771 KB) - Programmer's reference for installing the product, working with the AWT and Swing components' public APIs (including sample code), and upgrading.
• User's Guide (3.1 MB) - Guide to the Workbook Designer, Formula One's spreadsheet data entry and formatting tool.
• Function Reference (3.1 MB) - Guide to Formula One's 325 worksheet functions.
• Technical Guide (979 KB) - Programmer's reference for topics such as Java security, InfoBus, JDBC, add-in functions, and performance tuning.
• Adding the Formula One JavaBean to your IDE - Information about using Formula One in an IDE.
• Swing API documentation - Javadoc output for Formula One's Swing component.
• AWT API documentation - Javadoc output for Formula One's AWT component.

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Platforms and Development Environments Tested

Formula One 7.0.1 has been tested and is known to run reliably on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Solaris 2.6, and Macintosh OS 8.5. Other platforms that support JDK 1.1.5 or better should be capable of running Formula One.

We recommend that developers use version 1.2.2 or higher of the Java2^(tm) platform, which can be obtained from Sun's web site at java.sun.com.

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About the Installation Programs

Formula One provides three installation options: a Windows self-extracting executable, a class file for installing on other platforms, and a shell script for UNIX customers who install Formula One from the CD. (Due to technical problems, this shell script is not available in the Internet download.)

Note The Formula One installer requires that a Java platform be located in your PATH. While the installer will run on JVMs back to the 1.1.5 version, we recommend using Java2^(tm). For information on how to set up the PATH, please visit www.tidestone.com and follow the links to the Support section.

Windows self-extracting executable

• Double-click on F1J7Setup.exe located on the CD or in the directory where you downloaded it. Follow the instructions in the Installer to install Formula One.

Macintosh installation using setup.class

You need to use the JBindery utility on Macintosh to run the Formula One installer. JBindery is provided with the Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ) SDK. The SDK can be downloaded from the Apple website at devworld.apple.com/java/.

1. Launch JBindery.
2. In the Command panel of the JBindery dialog, in the Class Name field, enter the following command:

       setup

3. Click on the Classpath icon to display the Classpath panel, then click Add .zip file.
4. In the navigation dialog, locate the setup.class file on your system. Select it and click Open.
5. Click Run to start the installation.
6. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation process.

Other platforms - setup.class

1. Copy the setup.class file to your system.
2. Change to the directory that contains setup.class.
3. At the command prompt, type:

       java -cp . setup

4. Follow the installation instructions.

UNIX shell script (available only on CD)

1. Open a command prompt or file manager.
2. Change to the root directory of the CD-ROM.
3. Execute the following command to start the installation:

       setup.sh

4. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation process.

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What Do the Installation Programs Do?

The installation programs performs the following tasks during the installation process:

• Allow you to identify the components you want to install, select a directory to hold the program files, and a folder in which to place the program on your desktop.
• Copy the files to your hard disk.
• On Windows platforms, it creates icons for the standalone designer, readme (this document), and the Uninstaller in the start menu.

Note Previous versions of the Formula One installer installed documentation files in PDF format along with the software. Tidestone has removed the PDFs from the 7.01 installer to make the download smaller. You may download these PDFs free from the documentation page on the Tidestone website at www.tidestone.com. They are also available on the CD.

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Alphabetical List of Files

• chart_types.html - A list of the chart types available in Microsoft Excel and their Formula One equivalents.
• excel_compatibility.html - A list of the areas in which Formula One is incompatible with Microsoft Excel.
• f1bean.html - Documentation on how to add Formula One to several Java IDEs.
• F1Help.jar - Formula One user documentation in JavaHelp format.
• F1J7.exe - Windows executable that launches the Formula One application.
• F1J7AWT.jar - The AWT version of the Formula One bean and applet.
• F1J7AWTDesign.jar - The AWT version of the Formula One bean, applet, and application.
• F1J7Swing.jar - The Swing version of the Formula One bean, applet, and application.
• F1JLicen.html - The Formula One license agreement.
• F1JSplit.class - Class file that splits F1J7Swing.jar into modular .jar files.
• features.html - A list of Formula One's features.
• function_readme.html - Explanations of situations in which Formula One's worksheet functions are incompatible with Microsoft Excel.
• infobus.jar - The classes for the Infobus extension to Java.
• jh.jar - JavaHelp JAR file. Contains the JavaHelp system.
• readme.html - This document.
• Uninst.isu - A Windows-specific log file the Windows uninstaller uses to remove the software from the computer.
• examples/ - A directory containing code examples.
• help/swingdoc/index.html - Formula One Swing API help in JavaDoc HTML format.
• help/awtdoc/index.html - Formula One AWT API help in JavaDoc HTML format.
• servlets/ - A directory containing servlet code examples.

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Running the Formula One Workbook Designer

Once you have installed the product you can run the Workbook Designer, Formula One's spreadsheet data entry and formatting tool. There are actually two Workbook Designers: one that corresponds to Formula One's AWT component, and one for the Swing component.

The Workbook Designer can be accessed from applications or applets that display worksheet cells and that are deployed with the appropriate Formula One JAR file (F1J7Swing.jar and F1J7AWTDesign.jar). To display the Designer, select a worksheet cell and press F3. The Workbook Designer will appear in a new window.

The Workbook Designer can also be run as a standalone application. See information below on how to launch it on different platforms.

Running the Swing Workbook Designer on Windows

• Double-click on F1J7.exe, which is installed by the Windows installer. You may also click the Start button and choose the Formula One menu from the Programs menu list.

Running the Swing Workbook Designer on Solaris

A shell script that launches the Designer is included with the installer.

1. At the command prompt, switch to the installation directory.
2. Execute the following command:

       ./f1j7

Note: If you chose a JRE less than 1.2.x when installing Formula One for Java you will have to modify the f1j7 shell script created by the installer to include swingall.jar on the classpath. Since Swing is an extension to JDK1.1.x you will need to get the Swing library which can be downloaded from Sun's website. The swing library has to have the javax.swing.* packages, instead of the com.sun.swing.* packages.
For example: The shell script created when installing with JRE 1.1.x might look like:

exec /usr/java1.1/bin/jre -Dinstall.root=/home/F1Java/ -cp /home/F1Java/F1J7Swing.jar:/home/F1Java/jh.jar:/home/F1Java/f1help com.f1j.swing.designer.Designer "$@"

You would need to add swingall.jar to the classpath to enable this shell script to be executed successfully. The contents of the modified script file are listed below:


exec /usr/java1.1/bin/jre -Dinstall.root=/home/F1Java/ -cp /usr/local/lib/swingall.jar:/home/F1Java/F1J7Swing.jar:/home/F1Java/jh.jar:/home/F1Java/f1help com.f1j.swing.designer.Designer "$@"

Running the Swing Workbook Designer on All Platforms

• Execute the following command from the directory that contains Formula One 7.01:

      java -cp F1J7Swing.jar com.f1j.swing.designer.Designer

• To include the JavaHelp documentation, execute this command:

      java -cp F1J7Swing.jar;jh.jar;F1Help.jar com.f1j.swing.designer.Designer

Note: On Solaris and other UNIX platforms, replace the semicolons (;) in this command with colons (:).

   java -cp swingall.jar;F1J7Swing.jar com.f1j.swing.designer.Designer

Running the AWT Workbook Designer on the Macintosh

The Swing Designer does not run reliably on the Macintosh JVM, but Macintosh users can launch the AWT Workbook Designer from the desktop by using the JBindery utility to create a launchable application that packages the Formula One classes. JBindery is provided with the Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ) SDK. The SDK can be downloaded from the Apple website at devworld.apple.com/java/.

1. Launch JBindery.
2. In the Command panel of the JBindery dialog, enter the following string in the Class Name field:

       com.f1j.designer.Designer

3. Click on the Classpath icon to display the Classpath panel.
4. Click Add .zip file.
5. In the navigation dialog, locate the F1J7AWTDesign.jar file on your system. Select it and click Open.
6. In the JBindery dialog, click Save Settings.
7. In the Save Settings dialog, enter the name you want to give to your launchable application. Then click Desktop to save the application to the desktop.
8. Click Save to save the launchable application.
9. In the JBindery dialog, click Run.

A clickable icon for the Workbook Designer appears on the desktop. You can leave the icon on the desktop or place it in any folder on your system.

Running the AWT Workbook Designer on All Platforms

1. Open a command prompt and switch to the directory that contains F1J7AWTDesign.jar.
2. Execute the following command:

       java -cp F1J7AWTDesign.jar com.f1j.designer.Designer

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Examples Included in the Installation

The example files are located in the "Examples" directory of the installed files. There are two sets of examples, one for the Swing API using F1J7Swing.jar and one for the AWT API using F1J7AWTDesign.jar.

Formula One Swing API Examples

• swing/samples/add-in - This directory contains examples of add-in functions that extend the capability of Formula One. To use an add-in function, place the compiled class file into your classpath. The names of add-in functions are case-sensitive.
  • concat - These two functions concatenate strings. They demonstrate two ways of handing threading issues when constructing add-in functions.
  • mydosum - This function is a custom version of the SUM function. It demonstrates how to handle cell references and ranges in an add-in function.
  • iseven - This function demonstrates a very simple add-in function that returns TRUE if the argument is an even number.
• swing/samples/apps - This directory contains applications that utilize the Formula One API.
  • hr - This directory contains an application that demonstrates how to read in and write out a VTS file.
  • edi - This directory contains an application that demonstrates how to read in, write out, and print VTS, XLS, and TXT files. It reads in any pre-formatted EDI file in the VTS, XLS, or TXT file format.
  • format - This directory contains an application that demonstrates how to use the CellFormat object to format a spreadsheet.
• swing/demos - This directory contains demonstrations of Formula One in Web based applications.
  • swing/demos/amortization - This shows how to use Formula One to in a simple Web-based application. It converts spreadsheets to HTML or JPG files on the fly using servlet and page-compilation technology.
  • swing/demos/calculate - This is a page compilation demo that takes a loan amount and calculates a monthly payment.
• swing/welcome - This directory contains a simple application and applet that displays a spreadsheet with formatted text in one of the cells.

Formula One AWT API Examples

• awt/com/f1j/demo - This directory contains examples of specific Formula One functionality.
  • attach - This demo shows how to attach two views to the same workbook.
  • autofilllist - This demo shows how to setup autofill lists to help speed up data entry.
  • cellformat - This demos shows how to modify the CellFormat object.
  • definedname - This demo shows how to setup defined names to reference cells in the worksheet.
  • externref - This demo shows how to reference data in another workbook using external references.
  • freezepanes - This demo shows how to freeze rows and columns so they don't scroll when the view is scrolled.
  • getlockoptimization - This demo shows how to optimize recalculation times by use of the getLock method.
  • headings - This demo shows how to change row and column headings.
  • lockcells - This demo shows how to setup Cell Protection to lock certain cells within a worksheet.
  • populateoptimization - This demo shows how to optimize the process of populating the spreadsheet grid.
  • setentryoptimization - This demo shows how to optimize the process of populating the spreadsheet grid with numbers by using the setNumber method.
  • validation - This demo shows how to setup a validation rule.
• awt/customdesigner - This directory contains an example of customizing the Formula One designer.
• awt/edi - This directory contains an application that demonstrates how to read in, write out, and print VTS, XLS, and TXT files. It reads in any pre-formatted EDI file in the VTS, XLS, or TXT file format.
• awt/format - This directory contains an application that demonstrates how to use the CellFormat object to format a spreadsheet.
• awt/hr - This directory contains an application that demonstrates how to read in and write out a VTS file.
• awt/welcome - This directory contains a simple application and applet that displays a spreadsheet with formatted text in one of the cells.
• awt/worksheet - This directory contains an applet and servlet that demonstrate how to use Formula One to allow clients to use spreadsheets stored on a server through a web browser.

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Microsoft Excel Compatibility

While Formula One has a high degree of compatibility with Microsoft Excel, there are a few differences between the products. Excel Incompatibilities contains a detailed list of the differences.

A special Functions ReadMe document explains issues relating to the compatibility of Formula One's functions with Microsoft Excel.

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Known Issues

General Issues

• Visual Cafe, Visual Age, and other IDEs do not notice changes you make in the Formula One JavaBean when you are using the customizer. This results in your changes not being saved in the serialized bean. This is a problem in the IDEs. To work around this, change something else on the form or window (move the control over a pixel and then back, for example), then save changes. When upgrading Formula One, we recommend you write out workbook data from serialized Formula One projects in VTS files before upgrading. After the bean is upgraded, read the VTS file back in, then re-serialize.
• HTMLWriter does not output column span/width or row height information.
• Some objects don't yet read/write from/to Excel 97/2000.
• Some printed output sometimes gets cut off. This is a problem with Java not handling the unprintable area for a printer. The data gets shifted over by the unprintable area and can then get cut off. The workaround is to adjust the margin width downward. This is Sun bug number 4252108.
• The "Windows" look and feel is listed as an option on platforms where is it unavailable. This is a problem with the JVM returning "Windows" as a valid look and feel even when it is not.
• On Windows NT systems, using the "Arial Black" font with "Bold" and "Italic" attributes can result in distorted characters. This is a problem with the Sun JVM.
• On the Solaris platform, the "Save" dialog cuts off the "Save" and "Cancel" buttons. This is a problem with the JVM on Solaris.

Java2^(tm) Issues

• Printing may produce extremely large spool files that could overrun the memory of the printer. This is a limitation of the Java2^(tm) JDK.
• Sometimes when the "Bold" and/or "Italic" attributes are applied, the font will not change immediately or at all. This is a problem with the Java2^(tm) VM. This is Sun bug 4197959.
• There may be some issues with the use of Formula One as a JavaBean inside of Visual Cafe. In particular, the serialization of some Swing components written from JDK 1.1 are not compatible with JDK 1.2. This might cause problems when using JBook as a bean inside a JFC application.
• There may be some issues with the use of Formula One inside JBuilder and JDeveloper.
• When running the AWT Workbook Designer under Java2^(tm), worksheets containing lots of text paint extremely slowly. This is because of a performance problem in the Graphics.drawText() method in Java2^(tm). The problem does not occur in JDK 1.1.x. Sun Microsystems' bug number 4262200 covers this issue.
• Applet developers using Swing cannot currently access the Formula One applet through JavaScript. This is because the Java Plug-in, required for Swing applets, does not support JavaScript. This is a limitation of the plug-in.
• Applets containing Formula One will not run in Netscape Navigator on the Macintosh because Netscape's JVM is not fully compliant with JDK 1.1. For more information, see http://developer.netscape.com:80/source/oji.html.
• In Designer Help, graphics sometimes display incorrectly (stretched). This is a known issue in JavaHelp. The workaround is to display another help topic, then return to the topic with the display problem.
• In Designer Help, the first few lines of some help topics are duplicated. This is a known issue in JavaHelp. Scrolling the window removes the duplication.
• In Designer Help, scrolling sometimes causes null pointer exceptions. Sun's bug number 4283923 covers this issue.
• In Designer help, graphics within the help file sometimes display and sometimes do not. The problem can be fixed by un-jarring the help content file (F1Help.jar). Sun Microsystems' bug number 4261526 covers this issue.

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Contact Information