In a nutshell, the sample text file contains a consistent eight (8)
spaces between data characters. I suggest a semi-manual process for your
first time out of the gate:
(a) open the .txt file in Excel
(b) Search/Replace the eight-space blocks with '|'
(c) save the file as a .txt file
(d) open Excel and import the file with Data/TXT/CSV (the recent version
of Excel will automatically sense the '|' as a custom delimiter; with
older versions, you declare '|' as the delimiter)
(e) [Load] the delimiter-parsed data into Excel
(f) do whatever cleanup you need to do
(g) save as an .xlsx file
(h) use Gateway to import the .xlsx file, indicating line #2 as the
first line.
The virtue to this approach is that you have an opportunity (step "f")
to review and cleanup the data before attempting input
------ Original Message ------
From: "Steve Johnson" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: 11/17/2020 3:10:02 PM
Subject: RE: [RBASE-L] - Import File
Jim,
My first thought would be to import the file into Excel as a text file
and see what happens. If it is a fixed width file, Excel will show it.
I routinely import a fixed width text file with about 12 columns from
the City into Excel where one has to mark the width points so the file
will import correctly into individual cells. The markers (vertical
lines) can be tricky to place if the file contains numbers, which will
look like a run-on sentence. So you kind of have to know what the data
is. In my case, markers are placed between the second and third
character to the right of a decimal point, indicating a dollar amount.
If a space is present following the second character, that is usually
reserved for the ‘minus’ symbol, then the marker goes between the blank
and the next character. Yes, the minus symbol is to the right of the
dollar amount in this system. To make this even more interesting, 4
columns are related to the City property identifier (district, ward,
block, lot numbers) which are literally run on. I know the format, so
I can place the markers correctly. The City originally sent me a
layout file indicating the column widths and their headers. But just
easier to mark in Excel during import. After my import, I clean up the
data a little then import it into Rbase as an Excel file. Apparently,
Baltimore still manages property taxes on an old IBM mainframe.
The only point to the above is to see what you have, which may be of
some help if you have not figured it out already.
Steve J
From: 'jim schmitt' via RBASE-L [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2020 1:01 PM
To: rbase group
Subject: [RBASE-L] - Import File
Hi, Group:
Need some assistance today. I have worked previously with Exporting
files, but have not worked with Importing files. Now I have a
potential new customer who wants me to Import data from another system.
I have enclosed the tab delimited test file (only two records), but
cannot get it to load. Using RBX5E.
Test File attached.
Do I need to set up a table in the database with the same names as in
the test file ?
Is this truly a tab delimited file ? Nothing seems to be working ?
Maybe the file has Covid....
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Jim
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