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Info

Information valid from AMI version 8.0 SP 8 12 and 7.2 SP 4


Summary

This article details the functionality of the Table Editor.

Select the content of a cell to edit it. Use Control-click or a long click to select one or more cells.


Table of Contents
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Rows, Columns and Cells

Selecting Columns, Rows and Cells

You can select rows and columns by clicking on their header cells (leftmost column for selecting rows, topmost row for columns). You can select multiple rows and columns with Ctrl/Cmd + click and Shift + click.

To select a range of cells (as opposed to a set of rows or columns), click on a cell and hold until the cell is highlighted. Move the cursor while still holding down the mouse button to select adjacent cells.

Moving Rows and Columns

You can move selected columns left or right:

  • Image Removed Move selected columns one position to the left
  • Image Removed Move selected columns one position to the right
  • Image Removed Move selected columns as far left as possible
  • Image Removed Move selected columns as far right as possible

You can move selected rows up or down:

  • Image Removed Move selected rows one position upwards
  • Image Removed Move selected rows one position downwards
  • Image Removed Move selected rows as far up as possible

  • Image Removed Move selected rows as far down as possible
  • Removing Rows and Columns

    Select (error) Image Added to remove all the selected columns.

    Select (error)Image Added to remove all the selected rows.

    Adding New Rows and Columns

    Select Add to add a new row or column. By default, Add will prompt you to select references to include in the new cells, but you can also choose to add empty rows or columns. If you switch to adding empty cells then that will remain the default action for Add until you re-open the Table Editor.

    Select (error) to add a

    Select Image Added to add an empty column to the left of the selected column, or (error)Image Added to add a an empty column to the right of it.

    Select (error)Image Added to add a an empty row above the selected row, or (error)Image Added to add a an empty row below it.

    Add references...

    If you have selected a row, you are presented with a dialog that lets you select objects, either from a browser or from the clipboard. After selecting Next, the second dialog lets you reorder those objects. 
    The third dialog lets you select attributes of the objects you have chosen. The final dialog lets you reorder the attributes.
    One row will be created for each object you selected, and the cells of the new rows will contain references to the attributes you chose.

    If you have selected a column, the same four dialogs are presented to you, but you select attributes first and objects second.

    Add empty rows/columns...

    Select the number of rows or columns to add, and whether to insert them before or or after the current selection point.

    If the table is empty, select both the number of rows and columns to add.

    Duplicating Cells, Rows and Columns

    You can copy and paste a cell, range of cells, or one or more rows or columns. Your selections do not need to be contiguous, but you cannot select both rows and columns at the same time.

    Duplicating Rows

    Select the rows to be duplicated then select Image Removed (Copy) to copy rows to the AMI clipboard.

    To paste, select target rows then select Image Removed (Paste) to paste according to these rules:

    • If there are the same number of rows selected as there are on the clipboard, the rows on the clipboard replace the selected rows
    • If there are more rows selected than there are on the clipboard, the rows on the clipboard replace the same number of selected rows, with the remaining selected rows being unaffected
    • If there are fewer rows selected than there are on the clipboard, the selected rows are replaced by the same number of rows from the clipboard, with the remaining clipboard rows being inserted as new rows immediately after the last selected row.

    Duplicating Columns

    This is exactly the same as for rows, but with columns selected.

    Duplicating Cells

    Select a single target cell to paste cells into a table. Select Image Removed (Paste) to paste the cells on the current page of the AMI clipboard, with the selected cell corresponding to the top left one of the incoming cells.

    If there is not room in the table to fit all the cells on the clipboard an error dialog is displayed: create new rows and/or columns to make room.

    Creating and Destroying Straddles

    Moving selected Rows and Columns

    Select Image Added or Image Added to move the selected row or rows up or down one row, or select Image Added or Image Added to move the selected row to the top or bottom of the table.

    Select Image Added or Image Added to move the selected column or columns left or right one column, or select Image Added or Image Added to move the selected column to the left or right edge of the table.

    Add references...

    Select Image Added to add references in columns, where objects are listed from top to bottom.

    Select Image Added to add references in rows, where objects are listed from left to right.

    Both these options will open a wizard with these steps:

    1. Select the objects.
      You may not select more objects than there are selected columns or rows, as applicable.
      If you choose to Include Attribute Name as Heading then that will take the place of an object. 
    2. Optionally, change the order of the objects.
    3. Select the references you wish to insert.
      You may not select more references than there are selected rows or columns, as applicable.
      These can be Attribute, Asset Relation, Price or Smart Attribute references.
      You can specify text to insert before the reference (Prefix), after the reference (Suffix) or to replace any unresolved references (Text If Missing).
      For Price references you must also specify which Price Style to use.

    The references you insert will have implied values for Structure, Parent and Language. You can change these with the Update Tags function.

    Merging and Unmerging cells

    A straddle is formed from a rectangular block of contiguous cells. Select Image Removed Image Added (StraddleMerge) to merge selected cells into a single, larger cell (a "straddle"), whose content matches the top left merged cell. you You can merge an existing straddle with neighbouring cells and straddles.

    If you select a single straddle, then Image RemovedImage Added changes to Image Removed Image Added (UnstraddleUnmerge). This reinstates the cells that were previously merged to form it. They will be empty apart from the top left cell, which will have the content of the straddle.

    References and content

    Blanking cell content

    Select (error)Image Added to remove all content from the selected cell or cells.

    Editing cell content

    Select the content of cells Double-click on a cell to edit it its content using the attribute editor. The click should be quick, because otherwise it will be interpreted as selecting the cellSee Attribute Editor screen for more information.

    Editing an Empty Table Attribute

    When you select an empty instance of a table attribute you can choose to create a new table based on a Table Style or to build the table manually, using the Table Editor.

    When the Table Editor opens for an empty table attribute it shows this image:

    Image Removed

    Add is enabled, and selecting it opens the Add Rows dialog by default. From then on, the process is identical to adding rows to an existing table.

    You can also choose to create a table from a file with the Import from file... option. Select a CSV file to create a table. The content of the table's cells will be unreferenced text.

    Undoing Changes

    The Table Editor keeps a list of all the changes you have made in it (including copying elements to the clipboard) since the last time the table was saved. Select Undo to completely reverse your last change, 

    You can undo your uncommitted changes one at a time by selecting Undo repeatedly, and changes can then be reapplied by selecting Redo. In this way it is possible to completely reverse all your changes, and then reapply them all again.

    Info

    Redo is disabled as soon as you make a new change and all your "undone" changes are lost.

    If you save changes by selecting OK or Save then Undo is no longer an option

    using the Table Wizard or with a number of empty columns and rows.

    Rebuild Table

    Select Image Added to discard all the columns and rows in the table and open the Table Wizard.

    Convert to Manual Table

    Select Image Added to change the table from one based on a table style to a manual table. Any changes to the table style originally used will no longer affect the table.

    Update Tags

    Select Image Added to change the Structure and/or Language values for the references ("tags") in the selected cells. 

    You can change the Structure value to either be "implied", where it will be based on whichever context is used to publish the table, or the the current structure of the object instance where the table is being edited.

    You can change the Language value to be "implied", or to the current language version of the table attribute being edited, or to a specific language version. Note that choosing "Change to the current language" is in effect a shortcut equivalent to selecting the current language from the "Change to a selected language" list.

    Table settings

    The tabs on the right of the table editor set options for cells, rows, columns and the entire table.

    Selection

    These settings affect only the selected cells.

    Block Align

    The content of the cell will have its horizontal alignment (H-Align) set relative to the longest line of content in the column:

    Image Added

    V-Align

    The vertical alignment of content within a cell.

    H-Align

    The horizontal alignment of content within a cell.

    Colour

    The Agility colour applied as the fill for the cell.

    See Agility Colours for more information.

    Shade

    The percentage intensity of the fill Colour.

    Border

    Select Edit Border to specify the width and colour of the border for a contiguous range of cells.

    The border can be applied to all the selected cells or just around the outermost selected cells, the "group of selected cells".

    Image

    These properties only affect cells that contain images.

    • Scale to Fit - adjust the size of the image to fit the cell
    • Scale - apply a percentage scaling to the image
    • Inset - specify an inset value for the cell, measured in the units selected on the View settings. This will set a gap between the cell's frame and its content.

    Row/Column

    Row

    A row or range of contiguous rows may be set to have special properties that take effect if the table is split.

    Tip

    A table must have its Can Split Table property enabled before it can be split.

    Tables placed as InDesign "Native" tables cannot use any of the Agility table splitting functionality and must use InDesign's table splitting functionality.


    • Heading - these rows will be repeated at the top of every segment of the table if it's split.
    • Sub Heading - these rows will appear below Heading rows if the table is split.
      If there are more than one set of Sub Heading rows then only the most recent set will be repeated.
    • Optional Split Point - if the table has to split then it will split below this row.
      If the table has more than one Optional Split Point then only the most recent will be used.
    • Mandatory Split Point - the table will always split into a new segment at this point
    • Normal - the row has no special properties

    Auto Row Height

    This will adjust the height of the row to fit its resolved content.

    End Row

    This designates the row to represent the content, geometry and styling to be used for the last row of a tables based on a table style. It has no effect on a manually created table.

    Row Height

    This is the height of the row in the units selected on the table's View settings.

    Column

    • Column Width Lock - whether the column's width can be adjusted if the table's Width Lock is enabled. If Column Width Lock is enabled then it will not be adjusted.
    • Column Width - the width of the column in the units selected on the table's View settings.

    Table

    • Can Split - whether the table can be split into multiple segments when it's published.
      A table's Heading rows and its most recent Sub Heading rows will be repeated at the start of each new segment of the table.
      Only tables placed as Agility tables can be split in this way; tables placed as InDesign tables must use Adobe's table splitting functionality.
    • Width Lock - whether the table's width is fixed to its current Table Width value or can adjust as the width of columns are adjusted.
      If the table has Width Lock enabled then adjustments to one column will also affect the width of other columns to keep the table's width constant.
    • Table Width - the current width of the entire table, measures in the units specified on the table's View settings.
    • Table Height - the current height of the entire table, measures in the units specified on the table's View settings.

    View

    These settings only affect how the table appears in this editor. They do not have any effect on the table when it is published.

    • Font Size - the size of text to display in this editor.
    • Units - the unit of measurement to display in this editor.
    • Show Reference As - how to display references in the editor:
      • Resolved Values - show the current value of the reference as it would appear when published.
      • Reference Names - show the name of the attribute used in the reference.
      • Object Names - show the name of the object used in the reference.