Automatic text generation

[Peter Larsen]

Paul Smith wrote:
> Dear All
> 
> I have a long spreadsheet as follows:
> 
> X1    X2    X3    X4    X5
> 2    6    1    1    4
> 2    1    3    1    5
> 3    3    3    4    6
> 4    2    5    3    4
> 6    6    5    1    1
> 5    6    4    1    3
> 
> [...]
> 
> For each number and for each X variable, there is a small piece of
> text. I am looking for a program to replace, for each spreadsheet line
> and for each number therein, the respective text and create a phrase
> concatenating the pieces of text corresponding to the numbers. Is
> there some tool to accomplish this goal?
> 
> Thanks in advance,

Why not simply use the spreadsheet to do this?
You can calculate a text string as well as a nummeric result.
In open office, use concatenate, and then hlookup for each field.

Create a list with the text corresponding to your nummeric value. Give 
it a heading (very important) for instance "Text". Use hlookup to find 
the text based on an index (your value) - and remember to add 1, as the 
header is row #1. Then simply concatenate the dlookup results for each 
column, add spaces if you need. That'll result in a column with text 
that corresponds to your number.

I have a small example spreadsheet here, I can mail you if you're 
interested.

Regards
   Peter Larsen