Given the frequency of new releases to the game I have re-designed the Farm Manager to allow for updates as opposed to needing to download a new workbook and re-enter all the farm data. For those who are comfortable with editing a spreadsheet this should be an easy task, for those not well versed in editing spreadsheets I have step by step instructions on how to perform the tasks needed to update the sheets.
Most of the updates will only require a simple copy and paste of the new data into the cells on the data sheets, Changes to the Harvest Planner, Short Growth Calculators, and Limited Edition Seeds will require inserting rows on the sheet and copy/paste the data to the Crop Data sheet. If this sounds scary to you, don't worry, it is a very common task and easy to do.
The updates will be posted on a single spreadsheet for download. Open the Farm Manager and the update sheet with Excel and make the necessary changes. There will be specific instructions for the sheet, table, column, and row to place the new data. A reference to cell C10 would be the cell located in column C Row 10. You should be able to select a section of new data from the update sheet, copy the data, locate the cell where the new data will begin and with a click of the mouse and one keystroke it will be done.
The following images will show an illustration of what the new data sheet will look like and what you will see while performing the updates.
Above is a section of the update sheet, below is the section selected to copy. Notice how the cells are colored with the exception of the first cell selected.
How do I select a section and copy it? It is a simple thing to do, click the mouse in the cell C10, the one which has Dome Topiary I, hold down the Shift Key and click on the cell H10, on the bottom right with le in it. Next you can choose Copy from the Edit Menu or just use the Cntrl C key combination. The border around the selected area will then move, this is called the "Marching Ants". On the bottom left of the screen you will see 'Select Destination and press ENTER or choose Paste'. You are now ready to add the data to the Farm Manager sheet. If you did not select all the data or more than required the task can be aborted using the Esc key, you can then do it over.
Bring up the Farm Manager workbook, click on the appropriate sheet ( in this case the FarmData sheet ), locate and select the proper cell ( BE330 ), and press ENTER, the result should look like the following
In the event you placed the data in the wrong place BEFORE doing anything else the action can be undone by choosing Undo Paste from the Edit Menu or using the Cntrl V key combination. If all seemed to go well, go to the FarmInventory Sheet and the data should be visible on the bottom of the table. If all is well, save the workbook and procede to the next data to be added ( if any &$41; and repeat the process.
Inserting Rows on a Spreadsheet
In the event any of the crops sheets need to be updated you may need to insert new row(s&341; into the sheet between existing data. The most common occurance will be when there are new seeds, trees, and animals added to the store. The Limited Edition Seeds sheet is designed to pull new data added to the table on the CropData sheet to the bottom of the planner table for Limited Edition Seeds. Unlike seeds, trees and animals once placed on the farm are always available for harvest from that point on.
When adding new items to the HarvestPlanner Sheet I prefer to add the new data to the CropData Sheet first then move to the planner sheet to add the rows and copy/paste the formulas needed to pull the new items from the CropsData Sheet. This way I see the results and can double check the accuracy before saving the workbook. The following steps will show how to add the rows and copy/paste the formulas and formatting.
Begin with locating the row number above where the new row will be inserted. Excel by default inserts new rows above the selected position, the row number to select will be noted on the Update Sheet. Left click the row number to select the entire row.
Then either right click the row number to display the Pop Up Menu ( left image below ) or choose Insert Row from the Insert Menu ( right image below ). Repeat this step for each row needed for that particular section.
Next select the range of cells above the newly inserted row(s), copy and paste into the new rows, this will add the formulas and formatting the the new rows and if you added the new data to the CropData sheet you should see the new items appear.
Another quick method to accomplish this is to select the range of cells with the formulas and formatting and use the "Drag and Fill" feature to add the information to the new rows. This method is useful when there are several rows to work with. When you select the range of cells on the bottom right corner of the selected area you will see a small dot, place the mouse over this dot, click and drag to cover all the new rows, then release the mouse button. Done, quick and easy!
That is about all it takes to update the new Farm Manager. If there is anything you think to add to this brief tutorial to help others in using Excel or other spreadsheet programs please let me know. I have included a few links to some sites I have found helpful while developing spreadsheets. I have also included a link to the Microsoft Excel site although the others seem to be a bit more user friendly.