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Excel Camera Tool

· 2 min read

It's not like it seems. It's not about embedding a webcam into Excel. You can create a 'window' to view other parts of a spreadsheet.

This is really useful if you want to be able to see the values of certain cells when on another worksheet. You can also use this to create a custom ready / view only dashboard.

Click the link below to download an example.

Excel-Camera-ToolDownload

The Camera tool is not shown by default.

Right click on the ribbon and select Customise the Ribbon

Change the Choose Command from drop down to All Commands and then scroll to find the Camera tool.

Choose where to add the too, it must be added to a custom group.

Click New Group, and then click Rename to change it's name.

The example here is added to the Insert Tab.

Click Add to add the tool.

Click OK when done.

You will now have the camera tool.

Select the cells you want to have viewed by the camera.

In this example it will be the total row of the Sales column.

You'll see the marching ants around the selected cells.

Now select the position you want the camera output to be displayed.

Draw the area (don't worry it will resize to fit the contents automatically).

In this example we have switched to the costs worksheet.

Now if you change and of the values you can see the updated cells on the sales sheet.

Touch input on secondary monitor in Windows 11

· One min read

When using Windows 11 on the desktop (and sometimes Windows 10) the touch input will default to the primary / main monitor.

Often you want to attach a secondary monitor that has a touch screen.

Windows 11 hides the calibrate option away under the Tablet PC settings as it believes that a desktop cannot act as a tablet PC.

To get to the Tablet PC settings press the Windows key and search for Control Panel.

Change the view by to Large Icons

You should now see Tablet PC Settings

Click on Setup in the Configure section.

Press enter to move to the next screen. Touch the screen when the one to use as a touchscreen is shown.

You have now configured touch input for Windows 11 on a secondary screen.

Note you can only use one touchscreen currently with Windows 11 at the time of writing.

Adding multiple non Steam games to Steam

· 2 min read

Steam is a place where a lot of people have a lot of their digital games. However there are also a number of different games clients and Epic Games in particular offers free games every week.

It's convenient to have them in one location, especially if you use Steam Link to play your games remotely. That's where Boilr comes in handy.

Boilr is a tool that adds non steam games into your steam library.

Simple go to the site here and download Boilr.

Run the file.

BoilR will find most of your other games automatically.

In order to download the images for use with the applications you will need a SteamGridDB api key.

Check Only download images for BoilR shortcuts

Set your Steam Location which is usually C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam on PC

I'd recommend checking Stop Steam before import and Start Steam after import.

When you're ready head back to the Import Games tab and click the button at the bottom of the window.

A searching for images prompt will appear

As will a command prompt showing the progress and activities being carried out by BoilR

When it's finished Steam should restart.

BoilR will have set up some new collections in Steam for the different game clients.

You should now see the different game that have been installed with artwork.

Click on a game to play it. This also work in Big Picture mode and through remote play.

Installing an Android APK

· 2 min read

APKs (Android Package) are a file format that is used to distribute Android Applications.

Android has the advantage that you can create your own APKs and install them on devices.

You do need to enable the ability to install APKs from unknown sources to do this.

This does have security risks and should only really be done on development devices.

The steps can change slightly depending on the device manufacturer and version of Android, but it's usually in settings.

Often when you try to install an APK it will ask you if you want to change permissions. Android 12 allows you to set this as you install apps.

Connect your Android Device to your computer.

Open the Notification panel on your device.

Click on the USB notification.

Change the USB preferences to File Transfer.

You can now copy files to and from your device.

Find the APK you want on your computer.

Copy the APK

Go to This PC

Select your device.

Go into Internal shared storage

Select the folder to copy to (Download) is good.

Go to your devices File Manager and open the folder you copied the APK to.

Select the APK

If you get a security warning click settings. WE are going to allow installing files from unknown sources.

Select Allow from this source / unknown sources.

Select Install

If there is a message about being blocked by Play Protect select Install anyway

Go to your app list. You will find the Application installed.

Click the icon and the app will run.

Welcome

· One min read
Andrew J. Thawley
Digital Technology Teacher

Docusaurus blogging features are powered by the blog plugin.

Simply add Markdown files (or folders) to the blog directory.

Regular blog authors can be added to authors.yml.

The blog post date can be extracted from filenames, such as:

  • 2019-05-30-welcome.md
  • 2019-05-30-welcome/index.md

A blog post folder can be convenient to co-locate blog post images:

Docusaurus Plushie

The blog supports tags as well!

And if you don't want a blog: just delete this directory, and use blog: false in your Docusaurus config.

Collecting Customer Feedback

· 2 min read

Collating feedback from users is really important to develop products that meet the needs of your audience.

If what you are developing does not have a need there is little point in developing the product.

Remember a survey needs to collect data that can be analysed to provide information.

Feedback helps projects to be successful.

Create a personalised message where possible.

Explain how much time the survey will take and thank the participant.

Questions have clear answers that can be easily analysed.

Where possible closed questions (choose from an option) are used.

Key words are highlighted.

Different shaped selection boxes are used for questions where only one answer can be selected and those that can have multiple options.

Matrix style questions can be used to gather information on a scale quickly.

Ranking questions are often used to gather information on peoples perceptions and feelings. Items that are often more intangiable.

Sometimes there are questions tha limit the number of answers. This is to encourage the participant to think about their top areas.

Often there is an option other where users can add their own answers. This can make analysis of the data more challenging.

Where a survey is long, it is a good idea to split it over multiple pages. Each page should have a focus where similar questions are asked.

Be clear with your questions.

Make sure that you include a None option where relevant.

When a question allows people to choose from a range, give them clear options to choose from.

From large companies versions of these surveys you can get an idea of where they are looking to invest their resources in the future.

At the end of the survey give the participant the option to add any additional information they want to.

This makes them feel as though they have been listened to more.

Make sure that the Done / Finish survey button is clearly labelled.