Open .xmcd files

Beermat imports .xmcd worksheets (the XML worksheet format). The import makes a new .bbm file and leaves the original as it was.

Open one

File → Open… and choose the .xmcd file. It opens converted, as a new sheet, and Beermat lists anything it couldn’t bring across. Save keeps it as a .bbm file of the same name beside the original (if there is one already, Beermat asks where to save).

Convert from a terminal

With the beermat command:

beermat import design.xmcd

This writes design.bbm beside it (or choose the name with --out other.bbm), and lists anything it couldn’t bring across.

To convert a whole folder (in PowerShell on Windows):

Get-ChildItem *.xmcd | ForEach-Object { beermat import $_.FullName }

What comes across

Math, with names, subscripts and Greek letters as they were, and how each multiplication was drawn.
Text, with headings, bold and italic.
Programs, solve blocks, ranges, arrays, derivatives, integrals and sums.
Symbolic evaluations.
Areas, collapsed or not.
The sheet’s ORIGIN and tolerance.
Controls (check boxes, lists, text boxes) and data tables, as their current values.
Spreadsheet components, as tables: their input cells take the sheet’s values, and formulas that use only their own row or whole columns run. Other formulas keep the values last calculated, with a warning naming the cell.
Plots and pictures, as the pictures last drawn of them.

What to check

After importing, run beermat check on the new file, or look for red errors on the page:

Plots are pictures, so they don’t follow changed inputs. Make a new plot where you need a live one.
Spreadsheet formulas that use other rows’ cells keep their last values; the warning names the cell.
A row vector raised to a power is worked out element by element ([1, 2, 3]^2 is [1, 4, 9]). Older files may have computed it differently.
root may find a different root than the one saved in the file, both valid: give it limits to choose.
References to other worksheets aren’t imported; the warning says which.