On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 3:39 PM richard coleman <rcoleman.ascen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dave, > > I concur with Alain. > > On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 3:22 PM Dave Caughey <caugh...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Always naming the file as ".csv", regardless of the delimited used, was a >> bug that was fixed. >> >> In my case it was a bug that was created. > > >> The problem with always naming a file as ".csv" is that Excel then >> blindly assumes that the file actually does contain comma-delimited fields, >> and bypasses the Import From Text Wizard, so if you use anything other than >> commas (e.g., you want TAB separators), then Excel won't split your file >> into multiple columns correctly. Therefore, before the bug was fixed, you >> had to manually rename all of pgAdmin's "export to file" outputs to >> ".txt". (Exactly what you don't want to have to do, too!) >> >> No, both Alain and myself *now* have to rename the .txt files to .csv > files. In my case it's because LibreOffice won't open it in Calc with a > txt extension, but instead try to open it in Write. If I leave it .txt I > have to; manually start Calc, then select the file, then try to import it. > If it's named .csv a simple double-click opens the file in Calc and in the > CSV import wizard that correctly handles files delimited by comma, tab, ~, > |, ;, or anything else you like. > Yeah, that's definitely unfortunate, but I think accommodating Excel's lame behaviour far outweighs accommodating LibreOffice's lame behaviour, given the relative number of users of the two programs. Clearly, this would be solvable by including a "default extension" (e.g., ".csv" or ".txt") that would probably make everyone happy, but it seems that simply going back to the old buggy behaviour would be worse for a lot more people than it would help. > >> Note, if your file is ends with ".txt", then simply doing a "File" | >> "Open" in Excel will automatically/correctly invoke the Import from Text >> Wizard, and let you pick the delimiter you want (and it does a good job of >> auto-detecting). Easy! >> >> And, if you don't want to use commas as your delimiter (for any number of >> reasons), then you can change that in pgAdmin by going to "File" | >> "Preferences" | "CVS/TXT Output" and choose your preferred delimiter (e.g., >> Tab, "|", etc.), and thereafter that's what pgAdmin will always use when >> you do an "export to file", but will give it an ".txt" extension so Excel >> won't screw up opening the file because it's expecting commas as delimiters. >> >> Currently the *only* options pgAdmin4 gives me are; semicolon, comma, > vertical bar, or tab. I can apparently just type whatever I want, but > that's hardly obvious. And comma is a very bad choice for European > countries where sixteen hundred point fifty-two would be written as 1600,52 > as opposed to 1600.52 on this side of the pond. You might be suffering > from just a touch of Americentric bias. > > >> Cheers, >> Dave >> >> >> On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 1:25 PM Alain Dupeyron <adupey...@yahoo.fr> wrote: >> > >> > Hi, >> > >> > I'm using frequently the download file function in the query tool. In >> previous version of PgAdmin4, I select field separator ";" and file was >> always generated with extension .csv and can be opened directly by Excel in >> one click with correct columns ! >> > >> > Now I have always .txt extension (since 4.28 or before, I'm in PgAdmin >> 4.29 for now) but the .txt file do not open directly in excel >> > I Have to launch excel and open it but colums are not detected in my >> French excel, I have to convert data...(idem with TAB >> separator)...fastidious ! >> > Or I have to save the file from the browser, then navigate to file, >> then I change its extension to .csv, confirm and then the file is opened >> correctly...fastidious ! >> > >> > When I choose field separator "," in PgAdmin, then file is generated >> with extension .csv but colums are not detected in French Excel (comma is >> the decimal number separator in France...) >> > >> > => How can I "force" or choose in Pgadmin to always generate file with >> extension .csv independently of selected field separator ? >> > >> > >> > 2nd point: Can we choose file encoding of generated file too ? it's in >> UTF-8 now (was plateform dependant in PgAdmin 3?) >> > accentuated characters are not detected corretly by french excel >> (expecting by default my Windows-1252 plateform encoding), I have to import >> file in excel and to select the right utf8 encoding in a huge encoding >> list... >> > >> > Other approach : copy from query result then paste in excel and save >> the file myself... >> > accent are ok but column header are missing, I need to select the >> option on each new query tab "copy with header" => there is no pgAdmin >> preferences for that point ? (was in PgAdmin 3) >> > >> > >> > Yes we can blame Excel/Windows and csv format but it's the only >> download format proposed here for spreadsheet tool and only theses 2-3 >> configurations are missing to parametrize it as expected by end user >> platform... >> > >> > Thanks >> >
