Database Export Problem

[Scott Clausen]

I have a database in FMPRO9v3 that I want to export to excel. I have shown all records and then exported them.

However, when I view the exported list some records are missing. I can see the records in the FMPRO database but they don't show up in the exported excel sheet.

I've been away from FMPRO for a while so it may be a senior moment but any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[PamRotella]

[color:blue]The export you described seems to be fine.

From my extensive experience with database-to-Excel exports, I strongly suspect that this is a parsing issue. FileMaker isn't as bad as some databases at exporting to text or Excel, but I rarely see a large export to a different format that is flawless. Usually there are a few lines that have another record stuck to the end of them, or fields that are blank and somehow the data to the right of them move over to the left -- thus throwing off the column integrity, etc.

What I'd do would be to take a value (unique or rare if possible) from one of the missing records, and do a search on the exported Excel spreadsheet. If the record made it into Excel, you'll be able to find where it's hiding. You can also look for record lines that are too long.

If this doesn't help, perhaps you could try exporting to a comma-delimited or tab-delimited file before opening it as an Excel file. (I know that defeats the purpose of exporting directly to Excel, but it might be the only way to get the results you want.)

There are other possibilities, like corruption or some change in the found set undetected in the scripting, etc. But without being there to look over your shoulder, my guess is that the records are probably stuck onto the end of another line.

Just the joy of interfacing with MicroSoft products...

:soap:

[PamRotella]

[color:purple]Another thought -- if you're dealing with a multi-talbe FileMaker file, be sure that you're on the right table while exporting...

:wired:

[DR]

Did you do a "show all records" before doing your export?