Any spreadsheets available for inclusion ?

[richmond62]

Probably, Craig.

At the risk of being accused of being a damp squib re datagrids I'd plump for tableField everytime.

[stam]

whatever works is for you is the right thing

[SWEdeAndy]

I really must chip in with one word here: PolyGrid!
I'm ditching most of my datagrids in favour of the PolyGrid widget now! It's an amazing addition to LiveCode! If you didn't get the Summer bundle, it's well worth paying for just the Polygrid.
(And the PolyList widget, which is even more amazing! The best thing that happened to LC for a long time!)

But for spreadsheet functionality, go PolyGrid!

[dunbarx]

Andy.

I have heard about this bundle a lot, but did not get one. Is the power of a polyGrid between that of a table field and a dataGrid? Is its learning curve more or less than that of a DG? A DG seems to have it all. What does the polyGrid offer that excites you so?

Craig

[SWEdeAndy]

I have heard about this bundle a lot, but did not get one. Is the power of a polyGrid between that of a table field and a dataGrid? Is its learning curve more or less than that of a DG? A DG seems to have it all. What does the polyGrid offer that excites you so?

The polyGrid is very similar to how the dataGrid functions, but since it's a single object widget, it's much faster than the dataGrid, and does not create a substack and is not made up of LC objects etc.

I would say the learning curve is smoother (or whatever is the right word) than the dataGrid's. I've learned how to create rather complex dataGrids, but still love the simplicity of the polyGrid. You don't need to care about behaviors or various template objects' scripts - all interaction can be handled in the polyGrid script.

What the polyGrid does NOT have at the moment:
- Live row reordering (that looks cool/intuitive)
- Swipe left/right (to reveal options for the row, for example)

So for one app that I have in the Apple AppStore, where both row reordering and swipe are features, the polyGrid is not yet a replacement of the dataGrid. But in a project for the client that provides my main income this year, where displaying large amounts of data with column width adjustment on the fly etc is important, and where new modules are constantly added, by cloning stacks containing dataGrids (which causes id clashes and shit) getting rid of dataGrids in favour of polyGrids is fantastic.

So, if you are working a lot with spreadsheet-relevant data, I would definitely recommend getting and trying the polyGrid.

But if that is not a main interest, and you can afford only one widget this year, I would say polyList! I plan to make a post with examples of how variously the polyList can be used. But that's for another thread...

[dunbarx]

Andy.

Please do post some gadgetry using polyWhatevers.

Craig

[stam]

I'm not sure, but suspect you have to own polyGrid if you want to test a stack with polyGrid (or it could be made standalone with polyGrid included I guess). This is the reason I'm mostly sticking with the default inclusions when creating stuff to share with others, even though I'd like to use polyGrid, polyGrid and powerButtons for example. Heck, I don't even use the very nice and free universalButton because I know people won't install 3rd party widgets just to check stuff out.

Of course, for my own projects I build into standalone I do use these, although in many cases the venerable DataGrid is hard to beat

Polygrid is for sure simpler - it's a widget rather than a group, which means you can only interact with a defined API and offers much less functionality than the data grid - it is roughly the same as a data grid table, not a form. So arguably a glorified tableField
But it does work well and it is fast.

PolyList is also very nice - it offers higher functionality than a data grid form, in as much as you can set multiple columns and it looks superb; and again it is.a widget, rather than a group. But setting up the 'prototype' object is a bit tricker and not as intuitive as the data grid form.

These are very nice additions to LC and I would argue they really need to be part of the standard license... maybe that will come in the future...

[SWEdeAndy]

These are very nice additions to LC and I would argue they really need to be part of the standard license... maybe that will come in the future...

Yes, I thought so too when they became available! This would be helpful for selling LiveCode to new users! I hope they will become part of the standard license later on.

I realise one more thing the dataGrid form does that neither poly widget does (yet): variable row height. So for e.g. a chat feature mimicking an sms/Messenger app, I would still need the dataGrid. It is indeed versatile (once you've tamed it... )

Still in love with both the polyList and the polyGrid though... Once you go poly...

[Klaus]

Here a lesson from the mothership, which shows the benefits of a PolyList and how to use it:
https://lessons.livecode.com/m/4071/l/1 ... h-polylist

[CAsba]

In response to Craig, I'm not familiar with table field or dataGrid, I only discovered LC in September. Would table field or data grid be able to do this:- a product listing that has a code, description, etc., and also its minimum purchasable quantity (be it in pounds, kilograms, pints, litres, inches, cms, all to be converted into metric within the listing, and cost), usual discount, markup, and a calculated price per unit, derived from the information included in the (one line) listing ? In this scenario, some fields would contain formulas for the calculations of data from other fields in the listing. Hope this makes sense.
Or, is there any way I could incorporate an external spreadsheet, Excel or Google or whatever, into LC which would work in a distribuable standalone on a user's computer that does not have the spreadsheet installed ?

[FourthWorld]

In this scenario, some fields would contain formulas for the calculations of data from other fields in the listing.

Are you looking for a way to allow the end user to define formulas? You could build that in LC too, but it's a lot of work.

If all you need is a grid display where some fields have values that are calculated, LC scripting can make those calculations easy to put into place.

[CAsba]

Thank you Richard, that.s good to know