Ability Spreadsheet - Revision history

Dan Tobias: /* Sample files */

2020-02-11T14:11:50Z

‎Sample files

Dan Tobias at 23:16, 24 April 2018

2018-04-24T23:16:51Z

Jsummers: Category:Microsoft Compound File

2014-11-15T01:07:37Z

Category:Microsoft Compound File

Dan Tobias: /* Identification */

2014-06-04T03:57:39Z

‎Identification

Dan Tobias at 22:29, 3 June 2014

2014-06-03T22:29:28Z

Dan Tobias: /* Sample files */

2014-01-19T20:35:47Z

‎Sample files

Dan Tobias at 19:45, 19 January 2014

2014-01-19T19:45:02Z

Dan Tobias: /* Sample files */

2014-01-19T19:43:55Z

‎Sample files

Dan Tobias: /* Sample files */

2014-01-19T19:43:18Z

‎Sample files

Dan Tobias: Created page with "{{FormatInfo |formattype=electronic |subcat=Document |extensions={{ext|aws}}, {{ext|ast}} |released=1994 }} '''Ability Spreadsheet''' (AWS for documents, AST for templates) is..."

2014-01-19T18:09:35Z

Created page with "{{FormatInfo |formattype=electronic |subcat=Document |extensions={{ext|aws}}, {{ext|ast}} |released=1994 }} '''Ability Spreadsheet''' (AWS for documents, AST for templates) is..."

New page

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|extensions={{ext|aws}}, {{ext|ast}}
|released=1994
}}
'''Ability Spreadsheet''' (AWS for documents, AST for templates) is the native format of the Spreadsheet program in the Ability Office suite, though this program also supports some other, more widely-used formats.

Templates appear to be in a similar format to documents, though slightly larger.

Current versions of Ability Spreadsheet can read and write files of the current 6.x format and earlier 4.x and 1.x formats.

In the 6.x format, the characters of text within the spreadsheet appear to be in a 16-bit encoding, little-endian; probably 16-bit [[Unicode]] or [[UTF-16]] (ASCII characters show up as their normal values with extra 00 bytes between them to fill out the 16 bits). This is similar to [[Ability Write]]. The 4.x format (as with Ability Write) seems to store only ASCII, in 8 bits. However, oddly, the 1.x format (as seen when you save a file that way in the current program) seems to have 16-bit Unicode, meaning they perhaps started that way, reverted to ASCII, then resumed Unicode use later. Or else the 1.x save format doesn't work correctly and the files won't really work in that old version.

== Identification ==
Files appear to begin with the hex bytes <code>D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1</code>. However, so do files in Ability Write, so you can't easily tell the difference other than by file extension.

== See also ==
* [[Ability Database]]
* [[Ability Office PhotoPaint]]
* [[Ability Write]]

== Sample files ==
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread4.aws Spread4.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 4.x format
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.ast Write6.ast] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.aws Write6.aws] - Test template in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/cashflow.aws cashflow.aws] - Another 6.x document; sample cash flow spreadsheet

== Other links ==
* [[Wikipedia:Ability Office|Wikipedia article on Ability Office]]
* [http://www.ability.com/ Ability Software site]

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 == Sample files ==
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread1.aws Spread1.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 1.x format
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread1.aws Spread1.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 1.x format
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread4.aws Spread4.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 4.x format
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread4.aws Spread4.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 4.x format
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.aws Spread6.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.aws Spread6.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.ast Spread6.ast] - Test template in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.ast Spread6.ast] - Test template in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/cashflow.aws cashflow.aws] - Another 6.x document; sample cash flow spreadsheet
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/cashflow.aws cashflow.aws] - Another 6.x document; sample cash flow spreadsheet
 == Other links ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:07, 15 November 2014
Line 33:		Line 33:
	* [[Wikipedia:Ability Office\|Wikipedia article on Ability Office]]		* [[Wikipedia:Ability Office\|Wikipedia article on Ability Office]]
	* [http://www.ability.com/ Ability Software site]		* [http://www.ability.com/ Ability Software site]
		+
		+	[[Category:Microsoft Compound File]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:29, 3 June 2014
Line 12:		Line 12:

	In the 6.x format, the characters of text within the spreadsheet appear to be in a 16-bit encoding, little-endian; probably 16-bit [[Unicode]] or [[UTF-16]] (ASCII characters show up as their normal values with extra 00 bytes between them to fill out the 16 bits). This is similar to [[Ability Write]]. The 4.x format (as with Ability Write) seems to store only ASCII, in 8 bits. However, oddly, the 1.5 format (as seen when you save a file that way in the current program) seems to have 16-bit Unicode, meaning they perhaps started that way, reverted to ASCII, then resumed Unicode use later. Or else the 1.5 save format doesn't work correctly and the files won't really work in that old version.		In the 6.x format, the characters of text within the spreadsheet appear to be in a 16-bit encoding, little-endian; probably 16-bit [[Unicode]] or [[UTF-16]] (ASCII characters show up as their normal values with extra 00 bytes between them to fill out the 16 bits). This is similar to [[Ability Write]]. The 4.x format (as with Ability Write) seems to store only ASCII, in 8 bits. However, oddly, the 1.5 format (as seen when you save a file that way in the current program) seems to have 16-bit Unicode, meaning they perhaps started that way, reverted to ASCII, then resumed Unicode use later. Or else the 1.5 save format doesn't work correctly and the files won't really work in that old version.
		+
		+	The format appears to be a variety of the OLE2 [[ Microsoft Compound File]].

	== Identification ==		== Identification ==

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 * [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread1.aws Spread1.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 1.x format
 * [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread4.aws Spread4.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 4.x format
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.ast Spread6.ast] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
+* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.aws Spread6.aws] - Test document in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.aws Spread6.aws] - Test template in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
+* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/Spread6.ast Spread6.ast] - Test template in Ability Spreadsheet 6.x format
 * [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/cashflow.aws cashflow.aws] - Another 6.x document; sample cash flow spreadsheet

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 |formattype=electronic
 |subcat=Document
 |extensions={{ext|aws}}, {{ext|ast}}
 |released=1994

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 == Identification ==
-Files appear to begin with the hex bytes <code>D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1</code>. However, so do files in Ability Write, so you can't easily tell the difference other than by file extension.
+Files appear to begin with the hex bytes <code>D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1</code>. However, so do files in Ability Write, so you can't easily tell the difference other than by file extension. And it seems that other OLE2 files do as well, so it isn't actually distinctive.
 == See also ==

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 Templates appear to be in a similar format to documents, though slightly larger.
-Current versions of Ability Spreadsheet can read and write files of the current 6.x format and earlier 4.x and 1.x formats.
+Current versions of Ability Spreadsheet can read and write files of the current 6.x format and earlier 4.x and 1.5 formats.
-In the 6.x format, the characters of text within the spreadsheet appear to be in a 16-bit encoding, little-endian; probably 16-bit [[Unicode]] or [[UTF-16]] (ASCII characters show up as their normal values with extra 00 bytes between them to fill out the 16 bits). This is similar to [[Ability Write]]. The 4.x format (as with Ability Write) seems to store only ASCII, in 8 bits. However, oddly, the 1.x format (as seen when you save a file that way in the current program) seems to have 16-bit Unicode, meaning they perhaps started that way, reverted to ASCII, then resumed Unicode use later. Or else the 1.x save format doesn't work correctly and the files won't really work in that old version.
+In the 6.x format, the characters of text within the spreadsheet appear to be in a 16-bit encoding, little-endian; probably 16-bit [[Unicode]] or [[UTF-16]] (ASCII characters show up as their normal values with extra 00 bytes between them to fill out the 16 bits). This is similar to [[Ability Write]]. The 4.x format (as with Ability Write) seems to store only ASCII, in 8 bits. However, oddly, the 1.5 format (as seen when you save a file that way in the current program) seems to have 16-bit Unicode, meaning they perhaps started that way, reverted to ASCII, then resumed Unicode use later. Or else the 1.5 save format doesn't work correctly and the files won't really work in that old version.
 == Identification ==