The SpreadSheet node is capable of displaying matrices and vectors of data, as well as scalars. The vectors or matrices does not have to be of equal length. All the data that is set on the input port, ``matrices'' will be displayed in the spreadsheet. Figure 3.4 shows a typical setup.
As can be seen in figure 3.4, there is three sets of data on the input port. The names of the data objects on the input port is shown in the top row. The data objects in the example are:
Figure 3.4 shows an example of the column-wise view-mode. The other view-mode is row-wise, and in that case the names of the data objects would be displayed on the left-most column of the spreadsheet. The ``order_single'' vector from the example would have been displayed as one row in the spreadsheet, with seven elements. The ``M1'' matrix from the example would have been displayed as four rows with six columns. Switching between the view-modes is accomplished through the View menu, or by using the shortcuts ``Ctrl + O'' for switching to the column-wise view-mode, or ``Ctrl + R'' for switching to the row-wise view-mode.
It is possible to make single selections in the spreadsheet. There are three different ways of making selections:
Once you have made a selection in any of the ways mentioned above, it is possible to select the Edit-menu's option Copy (the same result is achieved by using the shortcut ``Ctrl + C''). Then all the selected data is copied to your platform's clipboard system. Then it is possible to paste the selection of data into, e.g., a spreadsheet system like Gnumeric or OpenOffice.org and do further data analysis there, or any other system that accepts pasting textual data. Please note that for large sets of data, the Copy action will take some time.
It is possible to save all the data that is contained within a
spreadsheet. By using the File-menu's option Save data...
or pressing the shortcut ``Ctrl + S'', you will be asked to
enter a file name to save the data to. The filename's extension
decides what kind of format the data contained within the spreadsheet
will be saved in. The spreadsheet supports the same formats for saving
as the Output nodes does. If the extension is not recognized, an error
message will be displayed, and no data will be saved.