File Types
Each of these data files can have the .txt file type, which is what is needed if you want to edit them using Embedded Word. They also each have their own file type which you may want to use if you donít care about editing them, but want to keep them separated by type so itís easier to find the one you want. Both file types have the same text contents and can be used interchangeably.
If you tap Save New File, Update File, or Read File, youíll get the following dialog box which is asking you to chose which data component you want to work with:
Full State
This is the same as the Start file, but you can save different complete states to work in different calculating problem environments.
Data Set
This saves just the data set as a text file with a single column of numbers.
Values can be normal decimal or scientific notation, but cannot be hex or any of the time formats.
|
Values |
|
5.000000000000000000e+000 |
|
8.123455999999999100e+000 |
|
0.000000000000000000e+000 |
Memories
The columns are all separated by tabs in the file, the name column is used to name memories, the display is how to display the value. The display value is not used for determining the value, that is completely done by the Value column, this is just for display in the memory list.
Values can be normal decimal or scientific notation, but cannot be hex or any of the time formats.
|
Value |
Name |
Display |
|
1.110000000000000000e+002 |
"Memory One" |
"111.0000_" |
|
2.220000000000000000e+002 |
"" |
"222.0000_" |
|
3.330000000000000000e+002 |
"Memory Three" |
"333.0000_" |
Constants
Each row in the following table is one text line, the columns are separated by tab characters, and the line ends with a normal line end for a text file. The table shows multiple lines for some entries, but that is just so it fits in the margins, in the actual text file, each is a single line. This would be a 3 line file.
|
Key |
Cursor |
Value |
Button |
Term |
Info |
Help |
|
7 |
0 |
4.356e+004 |
"Ac2Ft" |
"Ac2Ft" |
"Ac2Ft: sqFt per acre" |
"43560" |
|
7 |
0 |
4.046873e+003 |
"Ac2M" |
"Ac2M" |
"Ac2M: sqM per acre" |
"4046.9" |
|
7 |
0 |
4.046873e-001 |
"Ac2H" |
"Ac2H" |
"Ac2H: hectares per acre" |
"0.40469" |
Column 1 (Key) is used to specify which dropdown key the constant should appear in. The keys are numbered 1 to 7 in the order they appear, left to right, on the keyboard. These all appear under the Misc key, a value of 6 would be under the Time key and so on. When constants are assigned to dropdown keys, they appear after all the functions under that key. Note that this key assignment is to the dropdown key, to assign a constant to one of the programmable key caps, use the normal key mapping mode in the Options dialog.
Column 2 (Cursor) is always 0 for constants, it is used to position the cursor for function access definitions.
Column 3 (Value) is the value of the constant. Values can be normal decimal or scientific notation, but cannot be hex or any of the time formats.
Column 4 (Button) is the text for the button caption if the function is assigned to a button by key mapping.
Column 5 (Term) is the text to appear in the command box for this constant.
Column 6 (Info) is the text that appears in the dropdown to briefly explain what the conversion does.
Column 7 (Help) is actually up to 10 tab separated columns, each displayed as a separate line to give more extensive help for the conversion. There are two each shown in the example, but they have been put on separate lines to conserve space, in the file each table row would be a single text line with tabs between them. The Help texts would be in separate columns, so the total for this example would be 8 columns in each line. Each row can have from 0 to 10 help text columns.
Workdays
As discussed above these should not be edited or created outside Napier.
Graduated Rates
This shows the first two complete schedules, each with 10 brackets of which 5 are used in the first which has an unlimited to bracket, and one in the second, which has a single, limited bracket. The complete file has 8 schedules, for a total of 80 lines. Each line has 4 entries, tab separated.
|
Schedule |
Bracket |
Percent |
Ceiling |
|
0 |
0 |
0.000000000000000000 |
10000.000000000000000000 |
|
0 |
1 |
0.100000000000000010 |
20000.000000000000000000 |
|
0 |
2 |
0.200000000000000010 |
30000.000000000000000000 |
|
0 |
3 |
0.299999999999999990 |
40000.000000000000000000 |
|
0 |
4 |
0.400000000000000020 |
|
|
0 |
5 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
0 |
6 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
0 |
7 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
0 |
8 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
0 |
9 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
0 |
0.074999999999999997 |
75000.000000000000000000 |
|
1 |
1 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
4 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
5 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
6 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
7 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
8 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
|
1 |
9 |
0.000000000000000000 |
|
Column 1 (Schedule) is which of the 8 schedules this applies to, they are numbered 0 to 7 (not 1 ñ 8).
Column 2 (Bracket) is which of the 10 brackets in the selected schedule this is, they are numbered 0 ñ 10.
Column 3 (Percent) is the value to apply to this bracket. Note that this expresses percents as a decimal, so unlike the user interface, in this file format, 10% is shown as .1 not 10
Column 4 (Ceiling) is the top of each bracket. For the last bracket (if it has no ceiling), and for all subsequent unused brackets, just leave the ceiling empty. If the top bracket is limited e.g. US Social Security, enter the max value, and leave all the ceiling entries for the following brackets blank.
Program Code and Access - Paired Files
Adding your own VBScript programs to Napier is discussed more below, this section is about how to read them in (and write them back out if you should want to).
The program code is just a single file with as many functions and subroutines as needed. It is a straight text file, with either a .vbs or .txt file type. There is no special formatting requirements other than those imposed by VBScript itself.
Paired Files
When you create a VBScript program file and give it a name, say ìStockAnalysis.vbsî or ìStockAnalysis.txtî , you should also create a function access file named ìStockAnalysis.A.txtî which defines what functions are in the file and how to use them. When program code files are read in, Napier looks for a file with the same name, but with ì.A.txtî (dot A dot txt) as the type, and reads it to allow access to the code from the user interface. Note: the quote marks are just for clarity here in the documentation, donít use them when naming files.
This is a function access file ìLorentzM.A.txtî that allows access to two functions defined in the VBScript code file ìLorentzM.txtî. In this example, the text in the table appears on more than one line in each row so it will fit on the page, in the actual file, there is one line per row with the entries all separated by tab characters. This example would have two lines in it.
|
Key |
Cursor |
Value |
Button |
Term |
Info |
Help |
|
6 |
-1 |
0 |
"Lrnz" |
"Lorentz( )" |
"Lrnz: Lorentz eq" |
"(frac c) =
dilation" |
|
3 |
-5 |
0 |
"DLoad" |
"DLoad( , , )" |
"DLoad: Load data set" |
"(idx, cnt, val) load
data" |
This file format is identical to the one used with constants, discussed above.
Column 1 (Key) is used to specify which dropdown key the function should appear in. The keys are numbered 1 to 7 in the order they appear, left to right, on the keyboard. The first (Lorentz) appears under the Time key, the second (DLoad) appears under the data key. When VBScript functions are assigned to dropdown keys, they appear in the function list before the built in functions for that dropdown key. Note that this key assignment is to the dropdown key, to assign a function to one of the programmable key caps, use the normal key mapping mode in the Options dialog.
Column 2 (Cursor) is where the cursor should be located relative to the end of the text in the Term column. If you want the function to automatically be loaded with the Val reference when the function is entered before any other edits to the command line, use the special value of 1. Other positive values are used for internal purposes, and shouldnít be used with your functions, nor are they guaranteed not to change in the future.
Column 3 (Value) is not used for functions, for constants, it is the value of the constant.
Column 4 (Button) is the text for the button caption if the function is assigned to a button by key mapping.
Column 5 (Term) is the text for the function to appear in the command box. For functions that take arguments, it is convenient to include the parentheses, spaces and commas for them, and to locate the cursor (with the Cursor column value) at the position of the first argument.
Column 6 (Info) is the text that appears in the dropdown to briefly explain what the conversion does.
Column 7 (Help) is actually up to 10 tab separated columns, each displayed as a separate line to give more extensive help for the function. The examples have been put on separate lines to conserve space, in the file each table row would be a single text line with tabs between them. The Help texts would be in separate columns, so for this example, there would be two help columns for the first line and 4 help columns for the second. Each row can have from 0 to 10 help text columns.