So these folks say they need information in "CSV format, pipe delimited".

What the heck do these terms mean? And can FMP accommodate them?

CSV is Comma Seperated Text (not sure where the "V" comes in). Yes FM can do that. Have no clue as to what "Pipe delimited" means. . . Anything that can be CSV can usually be Tab Delimited as well. Maybe "Pipe" is another term for tab?

I would just be honest and say "Hey, i have no clue what you mean by Pipe Delimited so fill me in you pompous jerks!!!" Except say it a little nicer

Jeremy

ps - okay, so this response probably served no real purpose.

[This message has been edited by yafreax (edited March 08, 2001).]

I think CSV and pipe delimited are really mutually exclusive. I think they may not know what they are asking for as the export is either comman delimited or pipe "|" delimited (shift forward slash). Don't be afraid to ask a question. This is one of the benefits of being an "old guy" in the business, you kind of loose the fear of looking stupid (having done so much of it)!

You can do it in FM, but you'll have to build a calculated export field that is the concatenation of the field you wish to export (field1 & "|" & field2 & "|" & field 3...).

-bd

OR,

that's a benefit of bieng a Gen-Y guy (ya know, the Gen after Gen-X), we have no fear of asking either. Not sure if it's because we're comfortable with ourselves or if we're just brash and abrasive. . . hmmmm...

yafreax

quote:

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Originally posted by danjacoby:

So these folks say they need information in "CSV format, pipe delimited".

What the heck do these terms mean? And can FMP accommodate them?

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You need to have them be more specific as to what they need and why.

I would guess that they are looking for a file that seperates values by a comma, and records by the pipe "|" character, rather than the typical paragraph character normally used.

The best way to accomplish this is to export to CSV and then use a text editor to replace the paragraph character with the pipe character.

On the other hand, the customer may have no clue what they are talking about, which is too often the case.

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Thanx for the replies -- the customer has been using Access and exporting their info to their "home office" (the home office needs the "CSV/Pipe delimited").

Funny thing is, the exported data they sent me (as a demo) was clearly comma-delimited, with paragraph breaks between records, and with the quotation marks around each record, but the home office also says they don't want the quotation marks.

I think I'll ask them what gives.

By the way csv stands for 'comma seperated variable'!

That is one reason why I like tab delimited text files. The use of ""'s around data is supposed to allow commas to be embeded in the text. The problem is that a lot of applications ignore the ""'s and break at the wrong commas! Don't ya love nonstandard standards.

-bd