RE GUI

[Cooper, Ben]

I always enter the data in Excel first in my preferred manor.  I then create
a new sheet within Excel that pulls out the relevant columns in the right
order for Survex.  I then save that sheet as a csv file.  I create a .svx
file with the relevant standard statements (such as *CALIBRATE) and then
include the csv file.  This way, I get all the benefits of Excel data entry,
and all the flexibility of a text file.  It sounds complicated, but in fact,
once one has been set up, it's very easy.
- Ben Cooper

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Lake [mailto:Mike.Lake@uts.edu.au]
Sent: 26 February 2002 23:13
To: survex@survex.com
Subject: Re: RE GUI


Graham Mullan wrote:
> As far as data input is concerned, one of the great joys of  Survex is
it's
> between 1953 and 1985). While it is true that entering data into something
> other than a text file might be quicker, Survex is far and away superior
> when it comes to closely following the original paper format(s).

Actually I have found that entering daa into a text file is usually
faster than any GUI system. GUI's can be fast if they have keyboard
shortcuts but as soon as you have to reach for the mouse - down goes
your entry speed. I tend to use gvim for enetring survex stuff.

Following the original paper format is also good and the use of
*equates, *begin, *end etc and being able to arrange heirarchical data
is superb. I am not sure if Olly would appreciate this but I liken
Survex to LaTeX  or Word Perfect with it's "reveal codes" compared to
survey packages that have all their data locked up in a  a jail behind
some GUI interface that may or may not be any good a la M$ Word.   

Mike