Seperator when importing to multiple selection

[martinw]

Hi,

I want to import from a CSV-file, but one of the fields in the database is a multiple selection field. What is the seperating character for this (ascii code)?

I can't seem to get it working...

Thanks,

[Lee Smith]

Hi Martin,

I saw your post yesterday, but didn't have time to respond until now.

I think the reason no one else has responded is because your request isn't very clear. It almost sounds like we came in in the middle of a conversation.

Perhaps more detail of what is you are trying to do, and a sample of the raw data will help us.

HTH

Lee

[ernst]

I think he means either a repeating field or a field with a valuelist displaying as checkboxes.

Ernst.

[Lee Smith]

Hi Ernst,

I'm not clairvoyant like you. I found it easier to just ask for clarification when I not sure what a poster is after. I have wasted too much time in the past by guessing wrong.

It's time for NPU to participate now.

Lee

[BobWeaver]

On the assumption that the CSV file was created by Filemaker, and the fields in question originally contained line breaks or were repeating fields, then carriage return characters export as ASCII 11 vertical tab characters; values in repeating fields are separated by the ASCII 29 character.

[ernst]

Lee Smith said:

It's time for NPU to participate now.

Hey Lee,

Who is "NPU"

Wondering...

Ernst.

[Lee Smith]

Hi Ernst,

Ha, ha, ha,

I really don't know. I usually type, or copy and paste a poster name. I remember that I typed this for a poster somewhere who had used the name of NonProfitUser (NPU). Perhaps I had a mind fart an typed it here too by mistake.

It should have read: "It's time for Martin to participate now."

Sorry for the confusion,

Lee

[ernst]

Well it looks like Martin has become NPU. (Non Participating User)

[chicares]

I'm trying to write a script in Excel to seperate data that will be exported into FM checkboxes. The file wasn't created by FM rather it's a collection of data taken from Access that's seperated by commas. What ASCII character do I need to seperate the data names? I've tried 11 and 13 but neither seems to work, any ideas on how I can seprate the data so it imports correctly into FM? Thanks.

Casey

[BobWeaver]

First off, I would export it as tab delimited to prevent quotation marks from being added. Then, in the field that is to be imported as checkboxes, the items should have ASCII 11 characters separating them. I've attached a sample database and tab delimited data file that demonstrates the format and import method.

Import Example.zip

[Lee Smith]

Hi Bob,

Very nice.

I had to open the file up in BBEdit and save it as BBEdit file before FileMaker would import it. I tried every allowable file type available first.

Must be a Windows thing?

Lee

[BobWeaver]

I created it on a Mac (OS9). If you are using OSX you may have to open then save in order for the system to resolve the file type. I've seen this happen on OSX before. In Windows, there may be an issue with missing linefeeds but I don't think Filemaker cares about them.

[Lee Smith]

Sorry Bob,

OS 9.2 what program are you using for the text?

[BobWeaver]

I used SimpleText.

I wonder if it was a problem because I zipped it instead of stuffing it, and the Finder info was lost. Must experiment more.

<<Time passes>>

Yup, that's what it was. Zipped files lose the creator & type info whereas stuffed files don't. Hmm, learn something new everyday.

[Lee Smith]

Hi Bob,

This is disturbing:

[color:"blue"] "Zipped files lose the creator ..."

I have been using the Zip (.zip) Compression here since I learned that a lot of folks had a problem opening the Stuffit (.sit) format.

I wonder if this happens in reverse. I.E. if we use .sit format, do they lose the creator on the Windows platforms?

Lee

[BobWeaver]

I've been zipping files to make them more accessible to Windows users too, since they seem to be somewhat resistant to using Stuffit. When I unzip a file with the .fp5 extension, the system seems to recognize it as a Filemaker file. On Windows, there is no equivalent Creator information, everything is determined by the file extension. So, as long as you put .fp5 on the end of the filename, it should be okay. I probably should have named the data file data.txt rather than data.tab.