Importing from .csv problem.

[Starkiller]

Hello. I've been searching for a good Filemaker forum to answer my question. So here I am.

Im trying to import from a .csv. I created a filemaker project whose fields names exactly match some of the fields in the .csv to be imported, unfortunately the 'view by: matching names' is greyed out. The other options are not greyed.

Why are they greyed out and how do i rectify?

repeat: the names in the project exactly match some of the names within the .csv. Not all of them (around 20% are matched up exactly).

The Filemaker version that im using is 6. I also tried it in developer 5.5, but still no dice. The platform that Im using is Windows 2000.

thanks.

[Starkiller]

Just to let everyone know, I contacted tech support since no one seemed to be able to answer my question.

After talking with them and tinkering around I came to the conclusion that the 'matching names' option is only avaiable when importing a merge or filemaker pro file. In order to import from a .csv, you need to manually match up the field names a create a custom import order.

In Version 7 of FMP, you can use the 'ignore first record (field names)' option in order to import the .csv file using the matching names.

FMPv6 or earlier doesn't support that.

[Fenton]

How about if you opened it first with Excel, then matched names, then changed it back to .csv. Would it keep the order? I don't know, but might be worth a try.

[SteveB]

What Fenton suggests does work. For whatever reason FM treats a CSV differently than a .Mer file. If the file is .mer, matching names work, so just change the name back.

Steve