export field contents = unicode, i want ansi

[Curtis_B]

I'm trying to use filemaker to auto generate some php programs for me on the fly. The end result is the php code being dumped into a global field, and exporting the field contents. Unfortunately for me, the text output is unicode, and that doesn't jive with my webserver. If I manually change the text formatting from unicode to ansi the resulting .php file works fine. I'm wondering if there is a workaround so I don't have to change this manually. I appreciate your wisdom. Curt

[neocodesoftware]

i had this same problem on windows. export field contents saves as unicode.

i solved it by:

1. exporting field contents to file.uni

2. using mooplug shell command to "type file.uni > file.txt" which converts unicode to ansi

3. more info on the type command here: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/type.php#Unicode

4. more info on mooplug here: http://mooplug.com/docs/functions/moo_shell

[TheTominator]

Assuming that your table contains at least one record...

Go to Layout[Layout based on table containing your global field]

# Browse to only one record

Enter Browse Mode

Show all records

Omit Record

Show omitted

# Export tab-delimited file

# Export only the global field

Export Records[]

[comment]

The best way, IMHO, is to export as XML and use a custom XSLT stylesheet to transform the output to the desired format (this could probably also eliminate the need to assemble the code into a global field).

# Export tab-delimited file

This is not the same as exporting a global field (apart from the encoding). Most notably, any carriage returns in the field will be converted to vertical tabs.

[TheTominator]

This is not the same as exporting a global field (apart from the encoding). Most notably, any carriage returns in the field will be converted to vertical tabs.

Oh yes. Of course. Thank you for pointing that out. I forgot that the poster needed good handling of carriage returns in a PHP file.

There is an alternate method which doesn't involve expertise with XSLT (and often special work to get the EOLs to come out right with Windows).

Create a dedicated table to use for text file export.

Create one field in this table to hold the line of text that you create with a script.

Export this one field from all records as a tab-delimited file.