Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with table

Using Base & numbering

Salmonberry — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:10:29 -0800

Auto-generated numbers using Open Office base. Can it pick up where I left off? Hi there. I'm trying to create a simple database for storing purchase orders. Right now everything is done in Excel and information has to be re-input in 4 different spreadsheets. So I am attempting to build something I can use.

Currently we're up to PO number 1525. Ideally I'd like to have Base start with order number 1526 & keep going from there. Is that possible? And I'd like that PO number to be the primary key to avoid dupes. Is that also possible? I've looked high and low and can't get it to auto-generate without getting errors when adding a new record.

Thanks!

Where is this table from?

carter — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:31:40 -0800

Where in the world is this table (1 2) from? We got it at a yard sale. It's octagonal, about 27" in diameter, and 6" high, and it has metal ornamentation attached to the top. We were thinking South Asia, or perhaps North Africa, but really have no idea. Any help much appreciated!

Antique hinge

davidriley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:29:39 -0800

What type of hinge is this? It came from a cedar folding card table. The three hinges wore out over time and snapped like this one. I'd like to replace them. More photos:

http://yfrog.com/ekhinge02j
http://yfrog.com/4rhinge03j

Thanks so much!

Subleasing tenant cosmetically damaged my table. How much, if any, of her deposit should I keep?

evadery — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:54:35 -0800

Subleasing tenant cosmetically damaged my table. How much, if any, of her deposit should I keep? I am in my late 20's and I had a tenant stay at my place for 4 months in the summer as I subleased another place with my fiancee (in town for the summer). She paid her rent on time, was courteous, kept the place in good condition, and all in all a good fit. Unfortunately, she left hair products on my antique wooden dining room table (passed from generation to generation) and left a large black waxy stain on it around the size of two fingers held together, but in an irregular pattern.

It was very noticeable, and compounding the problem, as I tried to remove it, I stripped some of the red from the previous refinishing of the table several years ago. So, before it it was pretty obvious and bad, and now it is very obvious and bad.

I have received a handful of quotes pricing out the cost of fixing the table, and the general guesstimate is around $300-$350 (not including transport of the table top, which may or may not fit in my car, and would cost $130 round trip at my favourite place). All parties say that touching up the area would be visible and not ideal, and the entire top of the table should be redone, but none of the legs, etc. The entire top would need to be redone regardless of whether I had removed some of the colouring, as the removal of the wax would necessitate the full work.

Other relevant facts:
-The tenant gave me a deposit of $825.
-The room is shared with a roommate, but I don't think there is any debate about who caused the damage.
-There are very slight discolourations on the table from resting glasses, etc, but before the wax I would have not considered getting it refinished under any circumstances.
-I will get it refurnished due to this problem, either now, or when I move out of my apt into a house (estimated time-10 months from now). I would not have gotten it refurnished otherwise.

So, hivemind, what should I do, and what is fair under the circumstances? If I did the work now, what percentage of the final cost should the tenant be charged? Thanks.

Teak table & plexiglass, separated by a common ??

Lemurrhea — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:48:03 -0800

How do I attach plexiglass to a teak dining table? Just moved, and I found a great deal on a teak dinner/kitchen table. The combination of teak + my carelessness means that I need to protect it. So I have a piece of plexiglass, 3mm (just under 1/8'') thick to go on top.

1. Clearly I can't just lay it down on top of the table. How do I attach it?

2. What else do I need to know about keeping the table safe, even with the plexiglass? I'll be using trivets/runners for hot dishes of course.

3. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be using normal glass cleaner stuff to clean plexiglass. What do I use?

I've got hammer, screwdrivers, drill, other basic stuff. I'm reasonably competent physically if I know what needs to be done, but I have no clue what that is.

Thanks!

Coffeed Table.

furnace.heart — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:15:30 -0800

I cannot for the life of me find a photo (or any other mention) of this coffee table. The coffee table is white (or light natural colored wood) with coffee ring stains all over...they start very dense in the middle, and get sparser as you move towards the edges...i'm not sure if the table was made or found.

May have been in MAKE or Readymade magazine? Can't find it on either's online versions though...Flickr is coming up bust too.

I need at least a photo, But i need as much information as possible. Trying to convince Mrs. furnace.heart it would be a worthwhile project, and look good in our home.

How can I attach legs to a table?

AAAAAThatsFiveAs — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:10:52 -0800

[CarpentryFilter]: What is the best way to (re)attach legs to a table? I inherited a lovely old table from a friend's father, and would like to refinish it.

I started by removing the rickety pull-out leaves from table, which made the whole situation less wobbly. Following this, I removed this leaf crosspiece thing with the intention of connecting the table top directly to the legs/apron(?).

What is the best way to attach this base to this top (underside here)?

I was considering using screws and small brackets, but found some talk online about the expansion/contraction of wood not lending it to being bolted together. FWIW, the tabletop is 31 1/2" x 44 1/4" x 3/4", and the apron is 2 3/4" long, and 3/4" thick.

Additional Pictures:
Close-up of table corner
Side-view of table

I have minimal carpentry experience, and the following tools at my disposal: Power drill/screwdriver, hammer, visegrip, all manner of wrenches, and a Home Depot two blocks away.

Thanks MeFites!

(Bonus question: What kind of wood is this, anyway, and what sort of stain/finisher would you recommend?)

What was this table/cart used for?

secretsecret — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:18:15 -0800

Can anyone identify this antique table/cart? It's raised and lowered using a crank. At first I thought it was an old gurney or casket dolly, but it's not long enough to be either.

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv354/ohwhocaresman/photo.jpg

How do I seal this table surface?

peachfuzz — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:36:00 -0800

Dining room table + open grain wood + real life = :( Please help me to not destroy my one nice piece of furniture. I scored a really beautiful vintage dining table off Craigslist - it's a Danish modern piece in great condition, with fantastic lines and the cleverest hidden leaves and some seriously elegant construction. I love it.

The table surfaces are all of some beautiful open-grained hardwood. Lovely! But it's apparently very porous/sensitive in places (even a warm coffee cup leaves a ring). I don't mind using coasters if I'm just setting something down for a second, but I want to feed people on this with some regularity and without fuss. Plus, we live in a teeny open house, so it meets laptops and books and and bits of little projects throughout the day. What can I do to protect the table top?

1) It would assume it's got SOME type of finish on it already, but the top isn't really smooth or satiny-feeling - it's got texture along the different areas of wood, which I don't mind and would actually like to preserve.

2) I don't really want to abuse it - I can continue putting down a long runner for serving platters and of course continue to use hot pads and trivets for hot things, but I'd like for someone to be able to put a wineglass down by his plate without feeling bad.

2) I would REALLY hate to use a tablecloth (or placemats).

3) I am a furniture idiot.

So, can I wax it? Seal it with something? I don't mind if I have to redo it every once in a while, and I'm not necessarily worried about preserving value. I want to use and enjoy and share this lovely thing in daily real life, is all.

Or if this is a terrible idea or a futile hope, please tell me so - and how you manage to keep the dining table surface good-looking.

ProductFilter: Looking for a ~2ft high table to put over my lap to put keyboard/mouse on

catquas — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:55:44 -0800

I am trying to find/make a table that is about 2 feet high that I can put my keyboard and mouse on. The depth is irrelevant, but the length shouldn't be longer than say 4 feet. Also, would like it not to have any cross-beams or anything so I can stretch my legs out under it. A table bit enough to put a computer on also might be helpful, but I could also put my computer on a different table. If I did the latter, than the table would not have to be that sturdy.

The ideal for me would be a fold-up table, but that's not necessary. I am also willing to build one as a last resort, but nothing that takes much more than putting some nails or screws in a couple of places (Home Depot) can cut the wood.

Adjustable-height legs would be ideal.

I need this for the sake of getting a good ergonomic position.

Above all I am looking for something very simple and cheap, as long

Thanks in advance!

generating tables using mako templates

zippy — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:01:42 -0800

Using a Mako template and CSS, I need to generate a m x n grid display from a variable length list of elements. For simplicity's sake, let's say what I want is a 2 x n table, but I'm fine with unordered lists as long as they appear on screen aligned as if they were in rows and columns.

What does the logic look like in mako to create such a structure? I'm having trouble figuring out when to start a new row or close and old one, while still keeping the template simple and readable.

Please spell things out and use small words as I'm new to both Mako and CSS (but somewhat conversant in Python), and keep me from the temptation to hard-code a solution for a fixed length list of elements.

I have me an xls table, I do!

monocultured — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:59:09 -0800

I have an xls file I got from a survey I created on Google docs. Now I want to make it pretty without copy-pasting every bloody cell into an Indesign document… So, using Apples Numbers, I'm trying to change a ≈30×20 table which looks like this:



__________| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |

Timestamp | A1 | A2 | A3 | A4 |

Timestamp | B1 | B2 | B3 | B4 |

Timestamp | C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 |

Into something that looks like this, with each question on a separate page:

Q1:
A1
B1
C1
D1

Q2:
A2
B2
C2
D2

etc.

As well as a version with each timestamp/user on a seperate page:

Q1:
A1

Q2:
A2

Q3:
A3

etc.

Having looked through the Apple tutorials on Numbers as well as browsing the Google docs forums, I'm stumped. Oh ye wizards of tabular data, aid me in this time of need!

I could use Neo Office or any other data-shuffling method (maybe this can be manhandled by egrep in Textwrangler?) as long as I get a result that is printable / pdf-able.

All the answers are of different lenght, (as in B1 might be "yes" while B2 is three paragraphs long) which need to be accounted for. If there's a way to set type, style and so forth at the same time, that would be dandy!

Where to find extra large cloth for poker table?

Alec Loudenback — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:26:42 -0800

Poker table cloth fabric (velveteen or similar) that is larger than 60" wide? I'm looking to build a poker table top/cover for our dining table, which is 60" by 60." I've been doing my research and don't think it would be too difficult to build, however I am having trouble finding a fabric that would cover that area and have room to go over the side and staple to the plywood's underside.

The largest I've found is 60" wide at this site, but I don't think that 60" alone is wide enough.

Can somebody recommend a place that sells velveteen (or something similarly suited for poker) online in sizes greater than 60" wide and/or point me in a direction for a local store in the South Denver/Denver area?

Many thanks in advance!

What was this musical cups game I played in the 80s?

c:\awesome — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:14:55 -0800

When I was little (think 80s), a neighborhood friend taught us a musical co-op game that was played with one plastic cup per person (maybe?), and at least 4 people (though it could go up much higher as long as the number were equal). Basically, it went like this:

You'd sit in a circle, so that there was always someone opposite you, and have a flat surface in front (a card table worked well for 4 people, picnic table for more) where the cups would lay, upside-down.

The first person would start with a *clap* *clap* of the hands, followed by three slaps on the table, one more *clap*, and then you'd pick the cup up with your left hand, slap it against your right hand, slap it on the table, pick it back up with your right, with maybe a few more claps or slaps in between, and pass it to the next person. The person on your left is doing this too, and pretty soon the entire table is clapping and slapping cups in unison to the beat.

There was no drinking involved.

Did anyone else play this? What was it called? Are there any videos online of this? Help!

Super easy HTML table editing for a computer newbie?

Kirklander — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:48:53 -0800

What's the easiest way I can set up a Wordpress site for a client so that he can edit an HTML table of information? So this guy had me convert his business site to Wordpress. It was only later, when he demanded to edit site content using Microsoft Word and Excel, that I realize: dude is going to have serious trouble with anything that isn't super-simple.

On one of his pages, an old school HTML table lists addresses and phone numbers places where you can buy his product. Right now it's an old school HTML table. I'd like for the guy to be able to add and subtract new rows in the table.

But I could only find a clunky plugin that handles tables in a not-so-friendly way. Another thing I tried was switching Wordpress to an alternative text editor that recreates all the Microsoft Word functions. But then this was a double-edged sword because it made the entry of regular posts confusing for the guy--too many options to change font color and stuff.

Maybe I should be thinking of some modern alternative to tables? Like some website that does it for you?

Any ideas much appreciated...

I am just looking for a place to put my stuff...

Brettus — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:21:34 -0800

Camping/OutdoorFurnitureFilter: Tent advice, also I am looking for a very specific type of camping/outdoor table that has eluded me for over a year now, details and picture inside. This table is approx 2 feet tall, has a cloth top that droops down a bit (which creates a nice concave surface). On either 2 or 4 of the corners there are drink holders. The metal legs are attached to the table at each corner and then criss cross to create what looks like two teepees stacked on top of each other (ultimately, leg design is not a requirement).

I have been trying to find a place to buy one of these forever - I have been to Bass Pro Shop, Gander Mountain, Dick's Sporting Goods, numerous websites - I think it still exists, but searching for "camping table" yields lots of metal, rollup tables.

The key thing I am looking for a is a cloth top that creates almost a bowl. Drink holders are a plus. The table is great for holding small things around a late night campfire - cigarettes, keys, flashlight, s'more ingredients, etc.. I would love it if someone could point me in a direction where I can attain one of these.

I have drawn a very crude picture here.

Also - on the camping tip - I am looking for recommendations on a 6 - 8 person tent. Does anyone have one that they are in love with? I love pockets, cubbies and functional doo-dads so a tent with Batman-esque storage compartments are a plus.

Thanks in advance again to the mefi community, your answers have yet to let me down.

Adventures in Data Interoperability

agentofselection — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:20:25 -0800

How do I convert a large raster image into a table for analysis and manipulation? I have a bunch of raster-format GIS data (e.g. DEMs, satellite imagery) which I would like to perform a regression analysis on (among other things) in a statistics package. I have often started with a table, performed my analysis, tacked some parameters onto the top of the table, and had ArcGIS treat the table as a raster. This time, I'm starting with a raster, and I want to convince my stats package that it's a table. (If it helps, image formats available include .bmp, .jpg, .jp2, .img, .png, .tif, and ESRI GRID.)
So, briefly: help me convert a raster into a table, where every entry in the table represents one cell of the raster. (I am aware that this will be a very large table.)

MySQL problem on Yahoo hosting

Astro Zombie — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:24:00 -0800

MySQL problem I am attempting to create a new user in MySQL, with Yahoo as a Web host. When I go to Privileges, I get this message:

Warning: Your privilege table structure seems to be older than this MySQL version!
Please run the script mysql_fix_privilege_tables that should be included in your MySQL server distribution to solve this problem!

My Google fu has failed me. I have no idea how to repair this problem in Yahoo. Help! Thanks!

Serious MySQL table repair help

Mo Nickels — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:22:20 -0800

Are there uncommon ways to repair a corrupt MySQL table? I have a MySQL database that is experiencing some serious corruption. Using the standard instructions, I have repaired all of the tables but one. No matter how many ways I try those instructions on the ornery table, in all cases either a) nothing happens or b) the data file is emptied, which is, obviously, not the result I want. I linked to the instructions above because I wanted to make it plain I have tried *all* of the instructions there, on two different servers (one BSD, one Mac OS X), and have had no joy including use of "REPAIR TABLE tbl_name USE_FRM"). Also, I do not have a good backup. I have only the corrupt database table to work with (it's somebody else's server--they are highly unsavvy).

In its default corrupt state, I get the following when I check the file:

check  	warning  	Size of datafile is: 4791392       Should be: 0

check 	error 	Wrong bytesec: 0-0-0 at linkstart: 0

check 	error 	Corrupt

The "should be" size is wrong. This means there's some discrepancy between the MYD, MYI, and .FRM files. If I repair the file with MySQL, I get

repair  	info  	Wrong bytesec:   0-  0-  0 at 0; Skipped

repair 	status 	OK

This makes the file 0 bytes, which is wrong. Then I restore the copy of the corrupt file and try all the steps on the MySQL repair page. They do not solve the problem, so I am looking for other ideas and other solutions.

Can I make an Excel chart from only one column?

niles — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:06:28 -0800

How can I create a chart in Excel 2007 showing the number of times a certain value occurs in a column? This seems like it should be really simple, but I can't for the life of me figure this out.
I have an excel spreadsheet with about 150 rows of marketing data that I'd like be able to chart, but with only a single column of data per chart. Maybe this is possible with Pivot Tables? I can't figure that out.

Here's an example: Column H has the cities everyone lives in. I want a chart showing how many people live in a given city. I could obviously count this out by hand ("Ok, that's 5 for San Diego.."), but I can't help but think Excel should be able to do the heavy lifting for me. I'm fine using macros/VBA, but this seems so simple! Famous last words, I know.

Let me know if I need to clarify this.

Stumped by VBA-ising an array formula in Excel

Mokusatsu — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:20:18 -0800

How to do a VBA version of the following array formula in Excel? The following array formula (entered with ctrl,shift,enter) will produce the string 'Bank statement'!H842, which is the name of a cell I would like to be able to manipulate via VBA: {="'Bank statement'!H"&MATCH(C1&D$39,'Bank statement'!A:A&'Bank statement'!C:C,0)} It creates a string out of the values in the cells C1 and D$39 and looks those up in an array made out of the A and C columns of the sheet 'Bank statement'.

Its function is to find the row of a payment from a certain payer on a certain day, and then return the address of the cell in column H of that row.

i.e. it will find the payment from Joe Bloggs on the 15/3/2008 for example, and return the address of the cell in column H on the row that payment appears.

This formula will put the address of that cell, which I'd like to use as a range variable in VBA.

I'm completely stumped by trying to make it work though. I've tried for a day or two to do it, asked every Excel VBA related usenet and Yahoo group and not gotten a solution. I'm more confident in MeFi though. :)

A macro I can run from a button click will suffice for now, but if I could have my every wish granted I'd also like to be able to make a pivot table hyperlink-clickable, so I could click on any entry in that pivot table (pivot table consists of payments arranged by date and payer) and navigate to that payment.

Creative wedding table centerpiece ideas that don't involve flowers or candles?

supercrayon — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:24:06 -0800

Creative wedding table centerpiece ideas that don't involve flowers or candles? The place I'm having my reception is a heritage home and prohibits the use of candles, flowers, or glitter inside. So I'm having a hard time coming up with centerpieces for the reception tables because almost everything I look at involves either...flowers or candles. Any ideas anyone? I'm also working (as most brides are I guess) with a fairly limited budget, so cheapy ideas are most welcome.

Seeking a table for behind our couch to act as desk

forthright — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:46:42 -0800

Furniture filter: we are looking for a specific table for behind the couch that we saw in a vacation rental house years ago, but have still never seen something close enough for our purposes in a store, nor in on-line searches. I suspect we are just not looking in the right places, so I am prepared to feel stupid. Details within. In the rental house the table was behind the couch at approximately the level of the top of the couch back. It was a heavy metal frame with glass top but had *no* cross bracing, so you could pull up a chair to the table and work at it (given an adjustable height chair or stool) without having something in the way of your knees or feet. We have also occassionally seen something like this in hotels, but never in stores.

For our purposes the table should be approximately 60 inches wide, 32 inches high and 18 inches deep. It does *not* have to be metal and glass.

Note that many of the tables we see in stores have cross bracing or are not deep enough (intended more for a flower vase than to sit at and pay bills with your laptop). Or they are too deep (more like dining tables). And of course we are *not* talking about low coffee tables (even though I know there are some that have tops that can pull up to a higher level). We are basically just looking for a flat table of a specific width, height and depth with four legs and nothing else.

We have wandered all through our local Ikea, furniture stores, furniture sections of Department Stores, etc.

The way our room is laid out we just think this kind of table would be best, and we'd be willing to believe it doesn't exist if we hadn't seen one in existence!

I don't have the skills to build a furniture quality piece. I suppose we can consider having one custom made, but before we go that route I thought I'd see if my MetaFilter friends could help out.

By the way, if there's an official term for what I am describing, please lay that on me too.

Where can ten of us eat brunch in Toronto?

ManInSuit — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:08:32 -0800

TonontoBrunchFilter: Where can eight to ten people get a table brunch, in Toronto, on the weekend, preferably in the west end. We are in Toronto. My friends like brunch. I like brunch. But a lot of other people like brunch, too, and so places are crowded, and it can be pretty much impossible to get a table for 8-10 people.

We eat a lot at the Cadillac Lounge. But my friends are tired of going there all the time.

Thing is - it seems that while there are lots of brunch places, there aren't lots where you can reliably seat a large group during the weekend brunch rush. (The Caddy is generally great for this).

Got any suggestions? We mostly live around Queen/Dufferin, so this part of town is good, but we can bike around, too.

Our restaurant tastes vary, so anything from filthy diner to fancy-pants will equally please and upset some of us. Really, we just want to sit town together on a Sunday (or Saturday) at 11:30.

Ideas?

Bisected Picnic Table

Tube — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:35:19 -0800

Why is there a wooden beam that bisects this wooden picnic table top? I searched Flickr for photos of picnic tables, but I didn't find others with this feature. My two best guesses are that it's designed to keep people from sleeping on top of the table, or to keep skateboarders from launching themselves off.

Does anyone know for sure?