ÿþ - mystery

[pryjda]

I am having difficulties explaining this one.

my hopes are that some one in this forum has seen this before. I appreciate any guidance offered.

I have created a script that creates .txt files from my FM database. each record is named after the record number xxxxxxx.txt . A little html scripting is then added for my import to my ecommerce web site. the text files look great but when the *.txt files are loaded on to the web, the mysterious "ÿþ" characters appear before my text.

I have been trouble shooting this problem now for several weeks. with no success. below is an example of my FM created text file: (this is exactly what FM makes for me)

##################################################

TV/Radio/Lantern with Weather Alert

F E A T U R E S

• 5" solid state UHF/VHF black and white television, Powerful halogen spotlight and AM/FM/weather band radio with Automatic Storm Alert warning alarm

• 7 channel NOAA weather frequencies warn of dangerous weather conditions and emergency information

• 120 volt AC and 12 volt DC power adapters included

• Built in hand crank provides back-up power for all radio functions and LED area light

#################################################

Now if i copy and paste this information into a new *.txt file or create a new text file from scratch, loading to the web is no problem what so ever. I ma only having this problem with the FM created files. ?

Has any one seen this type of behavior before?

could i be creating my exported files wrong.

Please put your heads together and let me know if you have any ideas. I don't want to manually create 25,000 files every month.

Thank you all for viewing my post and an extra THANKS to anybody who could help.

[Ted S]

pryjda,

I'm going to make an assumption that you are using EXPORT FIELD CONTENTS rather than the regular everyday export function (File > Export Records...). I've experienced similar "weirdness" when using Export Field Contents and pushing the output to an Active Server Page (ASP). I *think* this happens because Export Field Contents uses the UTF-16 format (unicode) whereas the regular export is UTF-8.

You *may* be able to overcome the problem (if you are indeed using Export Field Contents) by choosing the plain old Export Records instead.

[pryjda]

Thank you for your help.

actually i guess i could trace this back, my field contents is actually created by 2 steps

Here is my my field calculation:

"" & description_headline & "

" & "¶" &

"" & description_subhead & "

" & "¶" &

"" & description_internet & "

" &

If(IsEmpty(description_features); ""; "F E A T U R E S

" & "¶" & "" & description_features & "")

Here is my export script:

Loop

Set Varriable [$path; value:"servername/directory/directory/"& ITEM_INFO::ROITNO & ".txt"]

Export Field Contents [iTEM_INFO::HTML4infor Copy; "$path"]

Go to Record/Request/Page [Next; Exit after Last]

End Loop

Thanks again

[pryjda]

Well, although i was not able to get an export . recodes to work for me, i have devised a plan to work arround.

What i have done was created a simple .bat file to automatically convert these Unicode files to ASCII files. Using DOS to convert the files for me all in a batch.

c:>chcp 1252

"active code page: 1252

TYPE localhostdirectoryrecordnumber.txt > localhostdifferentdirectoryASCIIrecordnumber.txt

Thanks a lot to Ted for pointing me in the right direction. I never knew where to stard.