Is there a way to import an entire csv file into a single field for parsing within FM8?

There are ways to fake it.

1. Rename the file's extension to ".txt"

Put into a folder by itself

Import Folder, Text files

2. Use AppleScript on a Mac to read the file into a variable and set a field to that.

3. Use command line on either platform to do much the same as above. On Windows you'd probably need a plug-in to get text returned of above; not really sure; such as the free Abstrakt Shell plug-in, which works fine on Mac OS (for now, not Universal Binary, but then neither is FileMaker, yet); and it probably works on Windows, though they don't say for FileMaker 7.

4. Use Troi File plug-in to read the file.

5. Just import into a FileMaker table, then do whatever you need to do, and/or reassemble/move the data to where you want it. There are various tools to help do this. Replace works on all found records, to break down a field into several pieces. You can then use a Loop to put it together, or Copy All Records, or the Custom Function GetRows (at Brian Dunning's web site, but by Bruce Robertson; it's an awesome CF -).

3. Use command line on either platform to do much the same as above. On Windows you'd probably need a plug-in to get text returned of above; not really sure; such as the free Abstrakt Shell plug-in, which works fine on Mac OS (for now, not Universal Binary, but then neither is FileMaker, yet); and it probably works on Windows, though they don't say for FileMaker 7

Ai, Fenton my dear friend. Always with the plugins for Windows

VBscript is just a powerful as AppleScript. Anything you can do with AppleScript I can do with VBscript.

The only extra hoops is that FMI didn't give us a way to set a field value directly from the outside. Keeping that in mind the VBscript would have to substitute all CR/LF characters with something else, trigger a FM import script and FM should then substitute the changed characters back to CR/LF.

Ok, thanks Fenton. VBScript it is.