It is easy for end-users to type text into a cell and replace its current contents. Any of the following actions will signal to ESL that a user wants to enter data or edit the data in the current cell:

 

•Pressing the edit key, which defaults to F2.

•Pressing any printing key.

•Program control; for example, your program could initiate cell editing when the user double-clicks on a cell.

 

The current cell's contents (if any) are highlighted and the text cursor is at the end of the cell contents. To replace the existing text, the user just types the new text, then navigates to the next cell to be modified. To edit the current contents, the user can press the left-arrow key to move the text cursor to the desired position for editing.

 

When a user types a printable character to start editing, the current contents of the cell are replaced by the character(s) typed. If the cell has a formatted numeric value, in edit mode it will be displayed as an unformatted value. For example, if the cell usually shows the formatted value "($12,500.53)", when edited it would contain "-12500.53". When editing is complete, ESL reformats the value again.

 

If a user enters an illegal value in an integer or float cell (for example, "X" in an integer column) and presses Return, the table will beep and leave the original value unchanged.

 

Once cell editing has been started, users can edit the text of the cell using the arrow keys and all other keys allowed in an entry field.

 

The characters displayed as the decimal and thousands separators for formatted numbers when entering or displaying numbers are those set by the user via the Control Panel. Either may be a period, or comma, or any other punctuation marks the system permits.

 

To toggle the value in a Boolean cell, users can just press the space bar. To reset a Boolean cell to false, users can press Backspace. Other printing characters are ignored.

 

Any of the following actions signal to ESL that the user has finished editing the current cell:

 

Pressing the Enter key.

Clicking on any other window or control, or tabbing to the next control in the dialog box.

Using a navigation key to leave the cell.

Program control.

 

When editing cells containing numeric data, ESL only verifies that the cell contains the correct type of data. No other automatic validation is possible.

 

Cell editing may be canceled by any of the following:

 

Pressing the Escape key.

Program control.

 

Read-only cells do not appear differently from editable cells. The following table summarizes the effects of certain keys while entering text in a cell (only); otherwise, they retain their normal meaning in the dialog box or region.