OVER 2 YOU, 127 (22/04/03)

RECIPE DATABASE

Can anyone suggest a database for storing recipes (without the need for programming skills) or an adaptable ready-made recipe program? I want to be able to scan in recipes from magazines, books, etc, to retain images, and sorting or searching by type, category etc. e.g. Starters, Main Course etc. Ideally it would also provide thumbnails of scans for easy identification, recall and printing.

J. E. Skeldon, via e-mail.

I have found this card file program at http://www.azzcardfile.com/ an absolute pleasure to use. Helpful downloads including some recipe files will get you started.
Roger Heap

For many years I have used a free form database called Infoselect -- you can put things in alphabetical order on the first line or mark a line to sort on that. I've found it extremely useful, versatile and easy to use -- any entry can be edited, added to. Searching also very simple. They don't have a UK reseller, but the website is: http://www.miclog.com/is/7/.  

Alex Suttie

Perhaps your reader should look here: http://dmoz.org/Home/Cooking/

Recipe_Management/

It is a list of various recipe database programs with links to the software companies and download sites.
Oozat

TWO INTO ONE

I work from home and have for some time rented two BT lines. One for incoming voice calls; the other for Internet and a dedicated fax machine. I would like to reduce to just one line, whilst retaining the discrete fax (rather than switching to a computer-based fax function). I tried a 'fax switch' some years ago but it proved useless. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can successfully manage phone, fax and answering functions on a single line?
Robin Wager, via email

I suggest that he looks at the following website: www.efax.com. There is a range of messaging services available ranging in cost from free to moderate charges.  I use their service and have a free "0870" number that forwards faxes/voice messages to me via an email attachment. 

Alan Holman

I too work from home and faced the same problem. The solution was simple, switch to ISDN, (ADSL is not available in our area). I now have one phone line for telephone, fax & email.  ISDN offers a 64k and a 128k baud rate, I find that 64k is quite adequate for normal emails and if you configure the ISDN network card correctly and load a fax programme (I use WinFax) everything is kept very tidy. It is even tidier if you run the whole of your communication system under Outlook (not Outlook Express) configured as a PIM.
Patrick Thomson

I assume the master jack is adjacent to the main BT socket if it is not then wire in a master socket in parallel to the main. Take from the initial or only main jack and wire out an extension socket then either put in a jack doubler and put fax plug and telephone plug into the jack doubler (if the fax is only used for outgoing calls then it can be left out and only plugged into the extension jack as required. The PC jack must only be plugged into the main jack or its parallel double. I moved from two lines to one and went cable, the BT line only gave me 36kbs, with cable I receive web connection at 42kbs I only have occasional use so going broadband is not a cost viable option.

P.E.G

I am familiar with the problem has in dispensing with his second line after installing broadband. I suggest he looks at BT Call Sign, which allows two numbers on one line. He can use one number for phone/answer machine, and the second for fax. The two numbers produce different ring cadences. The first number gives an ordinary UK burr-burr; the second gives one hiccup, followed by the normal USA-type one-second-on-two-seconds-off ring. If you are around you can use the appropriate machine to answer the type of ring, which you hear.  What you want, of course, is a device, which recognises the different ring patterns automatically, and routes appropriate calls to the right machine. At the present time I am not aware of anyone who sells a box to do this job, but the technical requirement is not difficult and it can surely not be long before one appears. Maybe someone out there is working on it already? BT Call Sign rents at £1.50 a month, so a broadband/ Call Sign solution can actually be cheaper than a two-line one. Call Sign seems to work happily over the telephone connection of a broadband "Modem".

Philip Thomas

MISSING FUNCTION?

In Excel 97-2000 there was a function called LastValue, which could report the last entry in a row or column [=LastValue(C:C)].  This was very useful but it is not available in Office XP, and I cannot trace a function that will replace it. At present I have one workbook, which is saved in the old format. Is there any way in which the function can be imported or reproduced in Office XP, or that I can create it for myself?

Anne Woodford, via email

I had a similar requirement in Excel 2000, which I solved by a combined DMAX and VLOOKUP formula. However I recently discovered a much simpler formula seems to work with a column of random or ordered numbers also containing odd blanks and even text. It is =VLOOKUP(n,B:B,1), where n is any number as long as it is greater than the maximum in the relevant column, B in this case.

Brian Johnson

It wouldn't be the first time Microsoft upgraded their products by
omitting useful functionality, but not in this case! The reason that LastValue() doesn't exist is that it never existed in the first place AFAICS - certainly not in Excel 97. What I believe has happened is that Ms Woodford was using a User-Defined Function developed by someone competent in VBA. In the course of migrating to Office XP this function has somehow got left behind. If she can track down the original set-up or the person who wrote the UDF, it should be fairly straightforward to copy it to her new set-up.

As a fix, provided her list of data is continuous – i.e. no empty cells in the middle of it - she can use the following formula in a cell (or as part of a longer formula): =OFFSET($F$7,COUNT($F$7:$F$2000)-1,0,1,1)
This assumes that the column of data starts in cell F7 - change the reference to suit - and simply counts the occupied cells down to F2000 - change this reference to suit and increase the 2000 if necessary to ensure one will always exceed the maximum length of the data list. (65536 will cover the entire column, but might make recalculation a bit slow) By using absolute references (the $ symbols) she can copy this formula to any other cell and it will continue to return the same result.
Use a similar approach if the data is in a row, e.g. COUNT($F$7:$IV$7) where IV is the last column on the sheet. LastValue() would be a very useful function. Unfortunately, I cannot immediately see how to code it robustly in VBA, so if someone does turn up a reliable UDF to do it, I'd like to know!
Kelvin Davis

SKETCH SOFTWARE

I recently came across a photo-booth type machine that took your picture and then turned it into a surprisingly authentic-looking pencil sketch, with a hand on the screen ‘drawing’ the picture. Does anyone know of a PC program that can do something similar?

Lew Fraser, via email

In response to Alan M. Pardoe (Over 2 You on April 8th), I have used Photoshop, and while his suggestion of using a filter does work, I feel that a much better result can be achieved by only using basic functions and not
filters.

Take the image, duplicate the image into a new layer (drag the layer in the layers window onto the 'New Layer' button). Select the two layers in turn and go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Select the topmost layer, and add a Gaussian blur of 2.5. Still on that layer, go to Image > Adjustments > Invert. Change that layer to 'Color Dodge', keeping it at 100% opacity.This gives a much nicer sketch effect, in my opinion at least!
Alex Rea

KEEPING TABS ON EXCEL

I regularly use Excel but with increasing age, I am finding it more and more difficult to read the tabs at the bottom of the sheets. Is it possible to enlarge these?

Jenny S., via email

Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Appearance, select 'Scrollbars' in the items box and change the font size as appropriate.  The tab sizes change as well - at least, they do in Excel 97.
David Landeryou

STATS PROGS

I am a very mature part-time student, trying to find a free or cheap software program that will carry out statistical analysis for variables that may occur in a questionnaire, and to be able to complete the analysis using percentages, bar charts etc.  There is one extremely good and comprehensive program called SPSS that is the domain of Sheffield Hallam University, but the licence will only last as long as you are a student there and they relieve you of about £25 each year for the licence.
Paul Farndon, via email

There is a package called ‘R’, which is similar to the S language, but it is a GNU project. The starting point for this is http://www.r-project.org/
David Jessop

CAN YOU HELP

I am a recently diagnosed type II diabetic. I am fairly disorganised and I wonder if anyone can recommend any software or web resources that will help me to understand and manage my condition.

G. Greenwood, via email

I wonder if anyone has successfully used Excel to automate a simple Squash league system - say 6 players per league with basic points system for scoring (6-1, 5-2, 4-3 etc.)? So far I've tried without much luck.

Simon Dennis, via email

I am using a Grid Computer, (Compass 2 No 1129) manufactured circa 1980 by Grid Systems Corporation, Mountain View, California. Grid Systems are now believed to be out of business. The computer is not IBM compatible and I use it mainly for word processing. I am now having problems with the memory, which seems to be filling up with rubbish. Does anyone know of a company, which has experience with this machine and can help me with my problem?

R. F. Coghill, via email