grid editors and renderers

i'm having issues with renderers and editors.
heres what i have tried, it doesn't error, but it does do what it's
expected to do :\
is there any better documentation out there? the demo doesn't answer any
of my questions as to HOW things work. I all i want is to be able to
control what gets inputed to the grid.. didn't think id' have so much
trouble
and how do i update non string data in a cell? SetCellValue() is for
string data only and i haven't seen anything else that will do the job

        self.TakingsGrid = wx.grid.Grid(DailyEntryPanel,-1)
        self.TakingsGrid.CreateGrid(18,13)
        FloatRenderer = wx.grid.GridCellFloatRenderer(8,2)
        self.TakingsGrid.SetDefaultRenderer(FloatRenderer)
        FloatEditor = wx.grid.GridCellFloatEditor()
        self.TakingsGrid.SetDefaultEditor(FloatEditor)