Subject:
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Re: Standardized Inventory File Format?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.db.inv
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Date:
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Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:54:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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690 times
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On Wed, 22 Sep 1999 21:16:23 GMT, "Robert Munafo"
<munafo@gcctechNO.SPAMcom> wrote:
> In lugnet.db.inv, Gary Williams writes:
> > [...]
> > Obviously we'd need to agree on a delimiter between fields. Spaces can be
> > used, but if the color is specified by name, then it couldn't have spaces in
> > it (e.g. dark gray).
>
> I solve that problem by using *3 or more spaces* as the delimiter. If you want
> to delimit the next field, you must always use at least 3 spaces in a row. This
> allows things like color names to include spaces and allows for a little human
> error as well.
Are there many programs that support multi-character delimiters in their
import function? I'm fairly certain Excel and MS-Access do not. The point
of making a standard format is to make the data more accessible to
everyone. Not just coders.
I suppose non-programmers could load the data file into a text editor
first, and search'n'replace all the tri-spaces with a comma.
Steve
Seems like we've gone around on this point before, but maybe not.
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Standardized Inventory File Format?
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| Steve Bliss wrote in message <37ea300b.59491442@l...et.com>... (...) People may end up with multiple commas if there happens to be a gap of six or more spaces, then. Of course after replacing ' ' with ',', they could replace ',,' with ','. It might (...) (25 years ago, 23-Sep-99, to lugnet.db.inv)
| | | Re: Standardized Inventory File Format?
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| (...) It doesn't do much good if the use of commas makes it so the columns don't line up. You want these inventory files to be easy to read by humans, and that means the columns need to line up! If we use commas as delimeters, we also need to add (...) (25 years ago, 23-Sep-99, to lugnet.db.inv)
| | | Re: Standardized Inventory File Format?
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| Op een zekere dag, te weten Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:54:23 GMT, klom blisses@worldnet.att.net (Steve Bliss) in het toetsenbord en schreef ons: (...) Excel (97) at least can import multi-char delimeters. In the import-window, you can choose the delimeter (...) (25 years ago, 25-Sep-99, to lugnet.db.inv)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Standardized Inventory File Format?
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| (...) I solve that problem by using *3 or more spaces* as the delimiter. If you want to delimit the next field, you must always use at least 3 spaces in a row. This allows things like color names to include spaces and allows for a little human error (...) (25 years ago, 22-Sep-99, to lugnet.db.inv)
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