Checklists

[kellym]

Cannot unlock spreadsheet in Excel 2007. Asks for password to unlock.

Disregard, I guessed the correct password had something to do with the company.

 

[akarmy]

Thanks for the hint KellyM. Now that I unlocked the sheet, looks like the issue is the data validation on those title fields is "field = 40" instead it should be "field <= 40". If you want to update for version 3.

 

[dynonsupport]

Here is v3 of the tool. This one uses actual scripts to save directly to the checklist format. No cutting pasting, and manually saving needed.

It also allows you to use names that are not exactly 40 characters

Keep the feedback coming!

http://dynonavionics.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=downloadfile;file=SV_Checklist_Creator_v3.xlsm

 

[jauen]

Is it me or is this just the most convoluted way to create a text file? I have Excel on iPad, Excel Online for Windows and Excel for Mac.

The Checklist Creator will not run on any of that because it contains Macros and requires Active X. Do I really need to buy the full desktop Windows version of Excel as well, just to create a text file?

Seems like hitting a nail with a pile driver.

 

[dynonsupport]

That's why we made checklists a text file- so they could be edited and created on almost any device. We have example files that anyone with a text editor can edit.

However, they do have some structure that must be followed, and for many people a graphical interface like Excel works better. It hides the need to understand any of the logical structure needed in the text file. For the large percentage of people with access to Excel, this just works.

This tool should work just fine on Macs with Excel 2011 or later, which support VBA. I see we did use ActiveX for the SAVE button. We can remove that for V4.

Choices!

 

[jauen]

I agree! I like graphical interfaces as well. It helps to prevent errors. But why limit the choice of graphical interface to one, that only runs on the full desktop version of Excel for Windows?

 

[dynonsupport]

Jeff,
It should run on a Mac desktop as well.

Do you know how we could make it run on the online versions? It needs to run some custom code or it isn't going to work. It isn't just saving a CSV.

If we wrote our own EXE it wouldn't run online or on a Mac or iPad either....

 

[dynonsupport]

Here's V4 with a form control for the Save button instead of ActiveX. Does that make it work better on a Mac desktop?

http://dynonavionics.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=downloadfile;file=SV_Checklist_Creator_v4.xlsm

 

[jauen]

Thanks. On the Mac I could view it as read only due to the Active X requirement. The online version cannot run macros or active x.

I'll check out this version on the Mac. Need about an hour. Shoveling lots of snow here. Thanks for the support and quick response.

Have you considered a simple html5 interface. It's basically a format converter. That would run on any browser.

Jeff

 

[dynonsupport]

Excel was a fast way to get a step beyond the text editor. The issue with an on-line tool is saving and loading so you can actually revise over time. We'll take a look at HTML5 though and see where it gets us.

 

[paulduns]

We have posted an update to our user documentation, which includes a more thorough description of how to create a checklist file via a text editor, avoiding some of the snags of file format etc. You can find the new documentation excerpt here: https://dynonavionics.com/docs/support_software_choice.html labeled "Checklist creation documentation (manual excerpt)"

 

[jauen]

On v.4 on Excel for Mac there is progress. I can load it. Macros work fine. I am not getting the 40 character error (and I appreciate the dialog showing me what the truncated version will look like).

When I click on save I get an error "Run Time Error '1004': Method 'GetSaveAsFilename of object '_Application' failed

Thanks for the txt version as well.

- Jeff

 

[dynonsupport]

Jeff,
I don't have a MAC handy until Monday. If you can check the attached, it uses a different method for the GetSaveAsFilename that Microsoft says will work on a Mac.

We'll get it working!

--Ian

 

[n456ts]

Same here on Mac OS X 10.8.5 and using Microsoft Excel 2011.  Screen shots attached. The second one is after clicking on debug.  This was version 4 of the file.

 

[n456ts]

It works further, but which format to save is not clear. I've attached a screen shot. This is version 5 of the file.

 

[n456ts]

If I choose "windows comma separated text", it gives this following error after clicking save.
-- I believe it's the same result for any format..

 

[vlittle]

If I choose "windows comma separated text", it gives this following error after clicking save.
-- I believe it's the same result for any format.. 

You are not supposed to save the file in a new format, just keep it as xlsx or xls.  What you do is select the checklist text and copy it (ctrl-c) or right click copy.  Then you create or open a plain text file on your computer and paste-special or past-as unformatted or plain text.

You can do further edits in the .txt file if you wish.

I see Kirk has a video on the entire process, worth viewing. It does require that you have better than average skills in Excel.

 

[jauen]

When I click SAVE, it brings up the Save Dialog box. If I try to save it as xlsx, I get an error: Run Time Error 429 Active X component can't create object.

It does not generate the text file as in the example in the Video. There is no Output File tab/sheet

Also, CONTROL Q does nothing and of course COMMAND Q quits the app.

 

[dynonsupport]

We've changed the tool and are in the process of updating the video to match. If you follow the instructions in the white box on the Excel sheet they are correct. The video is not.

The upside is that you just need to hit SAVE now and you will directly save the exact file you need right onto the USB stick. There's no more cutting, pasting, or CTRL-Q'ing.

The downside is that it doesn't work on a Mac because it uses scripts and some of the calls in those scripts aren't available on a Mac. We need them because they allow us to save in UTF-8 format which is what supports extended characters. We'll be seeing if we can fix that.

Neither version works on the Openoffice or LibreOffice due to the macros in all versions of the Checklist tool.

 

[n456ts]

The downside is that it doesn't work on a Mac because it uses scripts and some of the calls in those scripts aren't available on a Mac.

Yes, that's what my post above is about.  It doesn't work when I follow the written instructions. V5 doesn't work on Mac OS X.  There is additional ambiguity on the format option when attempting to save.  This needs to be addressed in the written instructions.  There is also a slight alignment error with the "save" button as seen in the screen shots I posted.