How Excel 2000 creates a data list

How Excel 2000 creates a list of data:

In Chinese Excel 2000, sorting and filtering data records takes place through a list of data, so you should create a "list" before you can manipulate it. A list is a series of rows of data that contains related data in a worksheet, such as the "Employee Payroll" set up earlier, which contains rows of data that can be browsed and edited like a database. This is similar to using the Chinese visual FoxPro 6, except that you can easily use a list as a database in Chinese Excel 2000, and the list is automatically treated as a database when you perform database operations, such as querying, sorting, or summarizing data. and use the following list elements to organize your data:

• The columns in the list are the fields in the database

• The column labels in the list are the names of the fields in the database

• Each row in the list corresponds to a record in the database

What is the difference between a list and an electronic report?

In fact, there is no big difference, the first row of the former contains column headings, the latter is a database containing the data, but also the title! So you can easily create a list of data. such as "name", "Age", "title", "Salary" in the employee's payroll, these can be used as column headings in the list, and a list of the cells is set up by using mouse to select the range as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Select this area to create a list of data

In fact, if you select an area, Chinese Excel 2000 will automatically create a list when you need it, except that the list will contain all the cells, and the column headings that you automatically find are not necessarily correct.

Note: You can only create and use a single list of data on each worksheet. You should also avoid creating multiple lists on a single worksheet, because some of the list management features (such as filtering) can be used only once in a single list of data.

Once you've set up your list, you can also continue to enter data in the cells it contains. Whenever you enter data, the beginner should follow the following guidelines:

1. Place data items of the same type in the same column

When designing a list, you should make each row in the same column have the same type of data item. This is reflected in the previous establishment of the "Employee Payroll", which can be seen by beginners at a glance.

2. Make list independent of other data

In a worksheet, you should have at least one blank column and one blank row between the list and other data to help you detect and select the list in Chinese Excel 2000 when you perform sorting, filtering, or inserting an automatic rollup.

3. Place critical data at the top or bottom of the list

This avoids placing critical data on the left and right sides of the list. This data may be hidden when you filter the list in Chinese Excel 2000.

4. Note that rows and columns are displayed

Before you modify the list, make sure that the hidden rows or columns are also displayed. Because if the rows and columns in the manifest are not displayed, the data may be deleted.

Figure 2 Entering the Borders tab

5. Note the format of the data list

As mentioned earlier, the list needs to be labeled, and if not, it should be created in the first row of the list, because Chinese Excel 2000 will use column labels to create reports and find and organize data. A column label can use a font, alignment, format, pattern, border, or case type that is different from the data in the list. Before you type a column label, you should format the cell as text.

6. Use a cell border to highlight a list of data

If you want to separate the list labels from other data, you can use cell borders (not spaces or dashes).

The steps are as follows:

Step one, right-click the selected cell, and then select Format Cells from the shortcut menu to enter the Format Cells dialog box, and then click the Borders tab.

Step two, after clicking the Outside Border button, select a line style from the Styles List window in the line area, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Selecting a border line style

Step three, select the color of the border line from the color Drop-down list, and then click the edge of the border line in the preview window, see Figure 4.

Figure 4 Click the edge of the border line you want to use

Step four, click on each edge that you want to use a border line, click OK, and then click anywhere outside of the list in the Working window of the Chinese Excel 2000 to see the border line you're adding to the screen, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 The results of the above operations

7. Avoid blank rows and blank columns

Avoid placing blank rows and columns in the list, helps you detect and select lists in Chinese Excel 2000, because extra spaces at the beginning and end of a cell affect sorting and searching, so do not type spaces in front of or behind the text in the cell, instead of typing a space by indenting the text in the cell.

Figure 6 Entering the data record sheet