Auto filter / drop down menu in numbers or similar app

[Shaunyshaun1234]

Hi all,

Tried searching but the search tool is not the best.

I have imported an excel file containing an auto filter command (to show a row of data sorted by one of the columns if that makes sense).

This fucntion does not work in Numbers on the Ipad.

Can anyone help as I really dont want to have to drag along my lap top to my friends radio show just for this function.

Thanks

 

[twerppoet]

Not sure this will help:

You can select a column in Numbers by taping anywhere on the table, then tapping on the bar above the column. Once the column is selected tap on the bar again and you will get a popup menu. One of the options is Sort. Tap it and you can sort Ascending or Descending.

You can achieve combined sorts by doing this on several columns. Just choose each sort from least important to most. For instance if you wanted to sort a list of books by author then title you would sort the title column first, then sort the author column.

I doubt this is exactly what you wanted, but it may be a viable work around until you discover a better solutions.


Documents to Go is one of the most Office compatible of the Office suite apps, but I have no idea if it will import and use your filter. Perhaps someone else knows, or if you're willing to take a chance you could buy it and experiment yourself.

 

[Shaunyshaun1234]

Hi and thanks for the reply.


That may be a work around but if I give you a quick explanation of what I want it to do then it may help things.

My friend does a local radio show and often has requests emailed in to the show. Because it's only a local radio station, not all of the songs are saved on the studios computer. This means that he has around 30 CDs each with 20 odd tracks on that he has to sort through to find a song.

My plan is to put all of the CDs in to a ring binder and then create a spread sheet that shows information like cd number, track number, artist and song title. This way if someone requests back in black by acdc, he simply clicks on the drop down menu, selects acdc (or back in black) and he can instantly tell which cd it is and the track number.

This is why, ideally, he will be able to use a drop down menu. Unless someone knows another feature that can do something like this.

Thanks

 

[incapete]

You sound like you're trying to recreate a basic database which Excel can just about do but you might struggle with the ipad options.

I'm guessing they have a computer running somewhere? So there should be an option to create a basic webpage available on their local network (no Internet hosting) which can either display a proper db frontend if they have SQL or if it's very simple data you could load it into an array in JavaScript.
If you don't want to mess around coding you could try the excel export to web functions to generate the page.

Then they just browse to the page you've made and find the info there.

 

[twerppoet]

I can't come up with any way to do what you want in Numbers.

I could probably cobble together something usable in a database like Bento, but it still wouldn't work the way you outlined. I'll keep the problem in mind and if anything else occurs to me I'll come back and share it.

 

[Shaunyshaun1234]

Thanks for all the help guys.

The main reason I wanted to do it in numbers was so that I could take the Ipad into the show rather than my laptop.

But it seems that theres no way to do it whic is a shame.

Looks like I will stick to taking the laptop in rather than being a bit flash with the ipad!!

 

[twerppoet]

No problem. It was educational. I finally figured out how to use the Lookup function properly, and set up a table that you could enter the song title and get the the CD and Track number back. Unfortunately, unless you exactly matched the title as entered in the song title column the results were somewhat unpredictable.

There is probably a way to fix that, but I suspect a really complicated string formula is involved, and I'm not that curious.

 

[Shaunyshaun1234]

No problem. It was educational. I finally figured out how to use the Lookup function properly, and set up a table that you could enter the song title and get the the CD and Track number back. Unfortunately, unless you exactly matched the title as entered in the song title column the results were somewhat unpredictable.

There is probably a way to fix that, but I suspect a really complicated string formula is involved, and I'm not that curious.

Haha glad you found it useful.

Is there a lookup function in numbers on the Ipad? This could be used in some way if there is this function.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Have a look at the Numbers Help pages here, if you haven't seen them already


http://help.apple.com/iwork/1.3/mobile/interface/index.html#tan724868a9

Tim

 

[twerppoet]

Is there a lookup function in numbers on the Ipad? This could be used in some way if there is this function.

Yep. I ran across it when trying to help someone else with a problem. Had to use a completely different solution, but I never quite go over not being able to make it work. I'm stubborn, I am.

Here is the simple spreadsheet I made while playing with the idea, so you can play with it yourself if you want.

https://idisk.mac.com/mikelpotts//Public/Numbers Examples/CD Test.numbers

I discovered laster last night that you can use the wildcard '*' to get more accurate searches. but it only works if you append the wild card. If you put it before the search term it errors out.

You have to search for the first word(s), it must be a complete word followed by the *. Failure to do this, or entering the word wrong will still give you a result, most of the time, but it will probably be wrong. Pretty annoying. I suppose setting up a second formula cell that returned the song title as well would at least offer some kind of confirmation that you'd found the right title.

Edit: Liked that idea so much I went back and modified the sheet. Link now points to the new sheet.

The Match function works with wildcards before and after the search term. I'm sure that could be used instead, but I couldn't quite find the right combination of functions to turn the row number it returns back into a cell reference.

 

[incapete]

Is there a normal search/find tool in the app? In Excel at least this would search for partial text within a cell then jump to it.

 

[incapete]

In the time taken to do this fix you could have ripped the rest of the cd's.., it's only 30 discs, that won't take long!

 

[twerppoet]

Yes, under the wrench icon there is a Find option. It works pretty much the way find does in most documents. However it obscures most of the screen with the keyboard and the find widget. Usable, but less than ideal for the kind of quick lookup asked for.

I thought of mentioning it, but after playing with it I realized I wouldn't consider it a viable solution for the problem. Just too clumsy.

 

[Shaunyshaun1234]

Sussed it in the ends guys!

I realised what I was trying to do was a database. Had a look on the app store and found a free app called database. Its a bit long winded entering all the data in using the iPads on screen keyboard but it does the job perfectly.

Thanks again for all the answers!!

 

[twerppoet]

Glad you found a solution. A database should do the job nicely.