Delimited files

Importing data from a CSV/delimited text file

The process begins by selecting New File Data Source from the File→New→New EasyCatalog Panel menu option.

EasyCatalog will now examine the file to determine the best settings for importing your data. For the majority of users, the settings determined by EasyCatalog will suffice.

Example CSV file

"Code","Brand","Model","Name","Price"¶
"11SS","Sony","ST-SE370S","ST-SE370S Silver","76.90"¶
"11T2","Sony","ST-SAESN","ST-SAESN Red","278.48"¶

Let's analyze at the above example CSV file:

• The first line contains the names of each of the columns, so the First Record Contains Field Names check-box should be set.

• The Field Delimiter is the character used to separate each field in the file; in this example, a comma.

• The Record Delimiter is the character used to separate each record (text line) in the file; in this example, a carriage return.

File Data Source configuration dialog box

Name

The name wich will be used to identify this data source.

Location

Shows the path to the selected file, and allows a new file to be chosen. Use the Reveal button to go to the file in Windows Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Macintosh).

Content

The menus in this area allow you to specify how the file is structured. When importing a file for the first time, EasyCatalog will attempt to automatically determine the correct settings for each of these pop-ups by inspecting a sample of the file.

Setting	Description
File Encoding	Specify the type of file being used —either ASCII or Unicode. EasyCatalog provides full support for importing unicode files and can import UTF-8 and UTF-16 encoded Unicode files.
Field Delimiter	Specify the character that’s used to separate each field in the file.
Record Delimiter	Specify the character that’s used to separate each record in the file.
First record contains field names	Typically, most data files contain the names of the columns in the first row/ record. If your data file does not contain this information, un-check this box. Default field names will be assigned to each column when the data isimported. It is strongly recommended that field names are included in your data file to ensure the links to fields in the document are not broken if extra columns are added to your data at a later date.
Automatically Detect Type of New Fields	When this option is set, EasyCatalog will attempt to determine the type (whether the field is alphanumeric, numeric, etc) of each field. Turn this option off to default all fields to alphanumeric.

Sample

Each time any of the Content settings are changed, the Sample pane will change to show how the file will be imported using the current configuration. If you are unsure of the settings to specify, you can experiment until the desired results are shown in the Sample pane.

The Sample pane is also used to allow columns to be selected to specify column data type/content information. Select a column in the table to activate the settings in the Field Information pane. Note that clicking anywhere in the column will highlight the entire column.

Field information

Select a column in the Sample pane to enable the Field Information options:

• Key. Before importing your data, you need to define a key column. The content of this column determines the uniqueness of each records being imported, and the choice of key field is critical to the successful operation of EasyCatalog. EasyCatalog will attempt to automatically determine which of the columns could be used as a key by looking for columns containing unique values. However, it is critical that you confirm that the correct column has been chosen before working with your data source. To define a key field, select the column in the Sample panel and check the Key checkbox. For further information, see key fields.

• Formatting fields. Wherever possible EasyCatalog attempts to set the type of each field by looking at the content of each column. The field type can be adjusted using the Options... button.

Once you are happy with the configuration options, press the OK button to import the file. If the configuration is correct, a new EasyCatalog panel will open showing a spreadsheet-style view of your data.

Further information on working with the EasyCatalog data panels can be found in the Panels chapter.