$Id$

ReadMe for CVSEdit
==================


* Introduction

CSVEdit allows to edit .csv files and similar files containing 
whatever-separated values. 
Several format variants are supported and easily used.

Editing includes ...

+ browsing and editing data in a spreadsheet-like table widget

+ renaming columns

+ creating columns and rows

+ deleting columns and rows

+ moving columns and rows

+ duplicating columns and rows

+ searching for text with several options
  (replacing is not yet implemented, seems rather out of scope)

+ sorting rows by a single column
  (only alphabetically and numerically, we do not compete with spreadsheets here)
  

CSVEdit is ...

+ lightweight (compared to spreadsheets applications)

+ is QT 4.5 based and runs in 32 and 64 bit Windows and Linux
  (OS X is not yet supported but should be very easy for Mac developers)

+ a Clazzes.org open source project licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

+ Packaged in English with German translations
  (other languages welcome as .ts and/or .qm files)


* Key Feature: meta data persistence

CSVEdit supports storing format details, column names etc. in files named
  data-file-name + ".csvedit-meta"
just beside the data file itself.

When opening files, existing meta data files are respected.
If no meta data file exists or extended opening is used, the format 
dialog appears which allows to save format details, i.e. create
the .csvedit-meta file for later re-use.

When saving files, a .csvedit-meta file is always saved silently.

In this aspect it is more useful than spreadsheets who are a pain to 
use for simple csv files with "foreign" format details, i.e. "other"
column separation characters, "other" character sets and so on.


* Key Feature: Settings persistence

Although CSVEdit does not have a settings dialog yet, some useful bits
are nevertheless stored in settings (via QSettings).

These include:

+ last n open files (n=15 for now)

+ last n searched texts (n=15 for now)

+ which toolbar is shown or hidden (w/o position for now)

+ main window geometry

 
* Key Feature: Dumbness towards data meaning

All data are treated as simple strings.

There are no attempts to "recognize" numbers (with decimal point),
dates (Gregorian or whatever), times, amounts (with currencies).

While this prohibits i.e. sorting by date, it absolutely
ensures that data are not change by some obscure "intelligence".

Considering this "dumbness" a feature also means this is on purpose and we
consider it an advantage and distinction of CSVEdit compared to spreadsheets
applications. 


* Key Feature: row and cell operations w/o marking pain

All per-row and per-cell operations work without having to mark the whole row
or column and therefore without losing the selection.
(Some operations might still "destroy" the selection, but most do not.) 

Considering this policy a feature also means this is on purpose and we 
consider this an advantage and distinction of CSVEdit compared to spreadsheets
applications. 


* Installation / Uninstallation / Upgrading

The clazzes.org PPA at Ubuntu's Launchpad and clazzes.org's download area
http://download.clazzes.org/csvedit/ provide binary packages for several
Ubuntu and Debian releases and Windows, all in 32 and 64 bit variants.

The windows installer is available in 3 fashions:
csvedit-*-setup-amd64.exe for 64 bit Windows.
csvedit-*-setup-i686.exe for 32 bit Windows on CPUs P4 or later with SSE2.
csvedit-*-setup-i586.exe for 32 bit Windows on older CPUs before SSE2.

Uninstallation in Windows is possible via Start menu as well as Windows' 
Software list and deinstallation mechanisms.

While it is - in general - always recommended to uninstall an old version
of an application before installing a new version, for now CVSEdit can be
installed over itself without any problems.
A possible future version that really requires uninstallation of the old
version will cover this topic in it's own installer.  


* FAQs

Q: How about default settings?
A: Simply use one ore more empty files as templates.


* Known Bugs

None.