Dropped Fields in Export

[Stanley - stanlyn.com]

Hi Mike,

Currently I do the export in record number order.  So wonder if I add a
string to record #1's empty fields like "EMPTY" and remove it later by
replacing "EMPTY" with "".

Do you know if the output export file's structure is defined on what the
actually data looks like from the first record it processes, and holds true
for all subsequent records?  My documents doesn't talk about any of this...

Thanks, Stanley





-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Schwartz [mailto:mschw at athenet.net] 
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2015 5:22 PM
To: 'Stanley - stanlyn.com'; filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
Subject: RE: Dropped Fields in Export

> Using ScO Unix and filepro 5.0.14.
> 
> FilePro's export is dropping fields when the field(s) is empty for all
records.  Is
> this normal?  What would cause this behavior?  What should I do?
> 
> Thanks, Stanley
> 
> The code below creates a file with 64 delimited fields instead of 73.  
> It
starts
[snip]

     Yes, as I recall you are correct.  If the last fields of a record are
blank, the rest of the .CSV record is truncated.   Usually this doesn't
cause any problems, but I recall having to write an export to dump a CSV
file to Peachtree Accounting a few years ago after I discovered the
Peachtree import  wasn't working because the last few "empty" fields weren't
on the filePro exported record.  

     I solved it in that case by adding an "X" or some such thing in the
last field to be imported.  This caused all the rest of the missing fields
to show up.  As I recall, the last field was a comment field or some such
thing so that was a quick fix.

     When writing some exports for an insurance company where the last
fields were missing, I think I used the"'-X" option on the filePro export
command, but then I had to insert the quotes and commas to make the record
look like a comma delimited file.  

     If neither of these options helps you, tomorrow morning (Monday) I will
look back on the code I wrote and let you know how I fixed it.  

Mike Schwartz