[Gretl-users] decimal separator bug

[Allin Cottrell]

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007, Sven Schreiber wrote:

> For locale-using users, I would suggest to make the error message of the
> define-new-variable dialog more informative: For example: "The symbol
> ',' is invalid in this context; if you used it as a decimal separator,
> you must use '.' for this dialog (sorry for the inconvenience)".

Yes, that's a good idea.

> An unrelated minor issue: Isn't it strange that to create a new variable
> (by manually entering values, not via formula) one has to
> 1) select an (arbitrary) existing variable,
> 2) click edit values
> 3) choose add new variable in the dialog window?

Hmm, that hadn't occurred to me.  I suppose that when you choose 
"define a new variable" there should be an intermediate dialog: 
"Define using formula" versus "Enter values" (or similar).

Meanwhile, there is a work-around.  Use the formula, e.g.,

x = NA*const 

then right-click on x and "Edit values".

Well, on second thoughts an intermediate dialog is probably not a 
good idea.  Defining a new variable by typing values is likely to 
be a relatively rare choice, and an extra dialog step would just 
slow things down most of the time.  Any clever suggestions?

One possibility, if it's not too obscure: add a check-box to the 
define variable dialog, something like "Force the result to be a 
series".  Then you could enter "x = NA", "x = 1" or whatever, then 
open the new series for editing.

Allin.