James - I like your ideas on enhancements to the UNLOAD command and I hope you'll submit an enhancement request on the RDCC site.
Regarding your creation of the view using the double-quotes, you can do it in R:BASE using a command file: First, create your view normally then UNLOAD STR FOR viewname to a text file. Modify the text file to replace your single-quotes with double-quotes and add: DROP VIEW viewname SET QUOTES=NULL SET QUOTES=" CREATE VIEW viewname ... WHERE column = "value" SET QUOTES=NULL SET QUOTES=' RUN this text file to create your view. Then the view definition will be stored properly in the database. The only caveat is if you do a complete UNLOAD of the database you need to be sure to run this external text file each time so the view is recreated properly. You do NOT need to do this after normal RELOAD - just a full UNLOAD. I keep a special file with all views that have special things like this and just routinely re-run it when needed. Sami ____________________________ Sami Aaron Software Management Specialists 913-915-1971 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Bentley Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 5:25 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: How do I make NULL truly NULL? Rachel, Works properly for me in latest version 7.6 windows and 7.6 DOS. What I would like to see is an enhancement to the unload command to UNLOAD DATA FOR table/view as ASCII|CSV DELIMIT=char QUOTE=char NULL=ON|OFF the enhance would allow override the default DELIMITER and/or QUOTE character or using NULL character just for this statement without having to issue SET COMMANDS. This would apply to the output data NOT to any of the equivalent values used in tables or views. I would be really nice if you could also define by using (CHAR(##)) ON right side of Equal Sign; i.e. DELIMIT=(CHAR(44)) I recently had to do a workaround when I modified a view for data being exported Microsoft WORD. Word requires that you use " to enclose text that contains the DELIMIT comma that I use. Prior to this I would SET NULL ' ' and SET QUOTES=". When I modified the view I put in text surrounded by SINGLE QUOTES. Needless to say VIEW now failed because the text was not surrounded by DOUBLE QUOTE character. I had to use the SINGLE QUOTE and make the correction in a text editor external to RBase. Jim Bentley --- Rachael Malberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I seconded that. when issuing the following... > > set null '' > GATEWAY EXPORT CSV test.CSV + > SELECT * FROM ContactAddress OPTION COL_NAMES ON + > |QUALIFIER '|SEPARATOR ,|REC_SEP CRLF + > |SHOW_PROGRESS ON |ACTION OPENVIEW > > > then open the file in note pad, all my null fields = ' ' > not ,, > > Dennis? or Steve? what is missing? > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Matthew Burke > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 3:04 PM > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: How do I make NULL truly NULL? > > > Now I'm wondering if perhaps I need to export in another > way. I did >set null ' 'ß(there's a space between the single > quotes) > > > > And after doing that, using my previous example. > > > > > a > b > c > > 1 > text > -0- > text > > > > > .is now exporting to a csv as. > > > > "text"," "ß(four spaces between the quotes),"text" > > > > Matthew Burke > > Pioneer Bank - IT Department > > Computer Systems Technician > > 505-627-4415 > > > > This email contains PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL information > intended only for the use of the addressee(s) named above. If > you are not the intended recipient of this email, or the > employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the > intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. > If you have received this email in error, please notify us by > replying to this email and delete this email from your > records. Thank you for your cooperation. > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Dennis McGrath > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 12:10 PM > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: How do I make NULL truly NULL? > > > > Matt, > > > > Have you tried exporting as ASCII when NULL = ' ' (a space) > > Try it and look at the generated file. > > There will be no spaces between the commas for a NULL value. > > This is exactly what you need. > > > > Here are my rules for the use of the NULL setting: > > ALWAYS have NULL='-0-' EXCEPT: > > When exporting data as ASCII, CSV, etc. > > When editing with a form > > When printing a report > > > > If you do not have NULL='-0-' and you edit tables manually, > you will never get a null entered in text fields. > > Try as you might, the value will always be a space. > > > > The exact opposite is true in forms. If null='-0-' not only > will your forms look ugly, but you won't know the difference > between NULL and '-0-' > > > > When Unloading data and structure from RBASE, ALWAYS set > NULL='-0-' > > > > RBASE has worked like this as long as I can remember. > > > > Dennis McGrath > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Matthew Burke > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 12:46 PM > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: How do I make NULL truly NULL? > > > > Well here's my problem with how it seems to work. I > understand the need to visually separate null from a blank > space within R:Base. So sure, when I open a table within > R:Base show me some kind of value, -0- will do just fine. > However when I export data from my table to say... and basic > csv text file. That data should not be represented by a -0-, > but nothing at all, in my opinion. That way if I want to use > the data in another database, or as in this case a third party > wants to use it in another database, they can do so without > the other database having to understand that -0- = null. I > thought about setting NULL = ' ' but even that wouldn't work, > because even then the third party database would still have to > know that null = ' '. I'm certainly no database guru and I > really appreciate all the help I receive from you guys and > gals. My only other database experience lies with MySQL and > it's always been my understanding that null = nothing at all. > > > > So I guess ultimately I don't really need to know why R:Base > uses text representation for null, but I need to know if there > is a solution I can use to make null = nothing at all or > empty. Basically if 'empty' was or possibly is a valid > command, the logic I want to accomplish is R> set null empty. > Is this possible? > > > > To further explain what I want, here's an example. > > > > Let's say we have a table with one row containing three > fields of data; a, b, and c. > > Field b is null in this case. Something like this. > > > a > b > c > > 1 > text > -0- > text > > > > > As my R:Base is setup now, if I were to export this data to > a text file (csv) I get: > > "text","-0- ","text" > > > === message truncated === Jim Bentley American Celiac Society [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 1-504-737-3293 ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ OMG, Sweet deal for Yahoo! users/friends:Get A Month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. W00t http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text2.com
