Re: Help Making Sense of .csv Files

[Alan B]

Hello Linda,

I opened the file, "Active Provider Directory 20220902", in Calc. The
columns I'm seeing with lots of spaces are additional details like
ADDRESS2, OTHER SPECIALTIES, OTHER LANGUAGES. Not a surprise they wouldn't
be completed.

Things you are interested in, like speciality and location, have values for
every row of the file I imported.

Columns, PROVIDER NAME, ADDRESS 1, CITY, STATE, ZIP, COUNTY, PROVIDER TYPE,
PRIMARY SPECIALTY, OTHER SPECIALTIES, CONTRACTS and a few more have values
in every row of the sheet.

Using Calc "AutoFilter" it is a few clicks to filter by CITY and PRIMARY
SPECIALTY, for example.
e.g. filter for city = "Athens" and primary speciality = "Allergy and
Immunology". Applying those filters gets four results out of the 270,993
rows in the file.
Not sure how you're opening the file.

If you're not opening the file in Calc, that's step 1.

#1 Find the downloaded file and right-click it then click "open with Calc"
or "Calc" on the menu. If that's not there, look for the "Open with" option
on the menu and click that. The submenu that opens will have Calc on the
list. Click it.

#2 Calc will present a "Text Import" dialog before the data is displayed in
the spreadsheet. In that dialog set "Separator Options" to "Separated by"
and be certain the ONLY option checked is "Comma". Then click "OK"

#3 Now that the file is open before you click Data > AutoFilter on the
menu. The column titles on the first row will now have little downward
pointing triangles next to each title. Click on those as needed to filter
the list to see only what you want.

VERY IMPORTANT step saver if you want to refer to the file again. The file
is still .csv. AutoFilter cannot be saved in .csv.
#4 Click File > Save on the menu. A warning about "Confirm File Format"
will appear. Click the "Use ODF Format" button and then click the "Save"
button.

Next time you want to use the file, open the spreadsheet file (ODF format
file), not the .csv file, and your AutoFilter will still be in place and
ready to use.

On Thu, Feb 9, 2023 at 1:26 AM Linda Hull  wrote:

> This isn't a usual "I can't do x or y" problem. It might be an OO doesn't
> open it right?  I would like it if someone could help me make these files
> readable. Barring that, I need some specific doctors.  The data seems to be
> all spread out in these .csv files.  They ought to be lists of doctors,
> including specialities and other information, so that one could find a
> doctor.  When I open the file: Active Provider Directory 20220902 (59.27
> MB), I get a page with huge spaces and nobody seems to have entered the
> data correctly.  Am I wrong?
> I would like to be able to find doctors by different parameters, such as
> specialty and location.
> 'Find' works. 'Find all' does not, for me.  The file is on this page:
> https://dch.georgia.gov/providers/provider-directory
> From:
> https://dch.georgia.gov/how-do-i
> It's the government, who knows what they intended to do?
> They don't answer their phone.
>
> Linda
>


-- 
Alan Boba
CISSP, CCENT, ITIL v3 Foundations 2011

Re: Help Making Sense of .csv Files

[Gerry Dutchie]

 Hi Linda,

I have checked the first csv-file on the website you mentioned. It seems a 
normal file although not all the fields are filled with data. Hence probably 
your impression of 'huges spaces' in between data?

It is a comma delimited csv file, this means that de fields (e.g. name, 
address, town, etc)  are seperated by commas and all information of one doctor 
is put in one long line whereby the bits and pieces are seperated by comma's.

OpenOffice can seperate these lines into columns:

1. On your desktop you will find the OpenOffe icon.
2. Use File Explorer (I work on Windows) or similar for your operating system.
3. Drag the downloaded csv file and drop it on the OpenOffice icon.
4. OO will respond with a dialogbox in with you tick Comma under 'Seperated' 
and remove any other ticks that may be there. The dialog will show you the 
results allready.  (Other csv files may use ; or tab as delimiter, which you 
also find in the dialog).
5. Click OK. The file will be distributed over columns. The first line shows 
the names of the fields, e.g. what data is presented in the column.

Now you can proceed to work with it as you are used to, using lists; e.g. sort, 
search etc.

Good luck & kind regards from The Royalk Kingdom of The Netherlands ;-)))

Gerrit
On Thursday, 9 February 2023 at 07:26:31 CET, Linda Hull 
 wrote:  
 
 This isn't a usual "I can't do x or y" problem. It might be an OO doesn't
open it right?  I would like it if someone could help me make these files
readable. Barring that, I need some specific doctors.  The data seems to be
all spread out in these .csv files.  They ought to be lists of doctors,
including specialities and other information, so that one could find a
doctor.  When I open the file: Active Provider Directory 20220902 (59.27
MB), I get a page with huge spaces and nobody seems to have entered the
data correctly.  Am I wrong?
I would like to be able to find doctors by different parameters, such as
specialty and location.
'Find' works. 'Find all' does not, for me.  The file is on this page:
https://dch.georgia.gov/providers/provider-directory
From:
https://dch.georgia.gov/how-do-i
It's the government, who knows what they intended to do?
They don't answer their phone.

Linda