[chirp_users] Chirp won't read CSV files correctly

[Dave VK2FDJS]

> I am not aware of these bugs in Excel that were mentioned. ...

There are (or were) bugs in Excel for CSV files, but these are not them.  :-)

Excel will write a CSV file that contains the information it knows to put in.  It will get this from two places:

1)  Cells that came from a CSV file,
2)  Cells that you've put values in.

So, the first 16 entries came in from the CSV file when it was read.  These lines had included the 5 trailing commas, so Excel knew there were empty cells in those rows that needed to be written out.

The remainder of the entries came from extra rows that you added (I assume).  There is no formal layout to a worksheet, so Excel has no way of guessing that you want all rows to have the same number of columns, or even that these rows are supposed to be the same width as what's in row 1 of the worksheet, which is simply another row of information.

I certainly couldn't put it any better than Tom, so: " It sounds like you are a relatively new user of Chirp, yet
using third party software to edit Chirp files is arguably one of the most advanced things you can do with Chirp."

Regards, Dave VK2FDJS
 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chris Nordstrom 
  To: chirp_users at intrepid.danplanet.com 
  Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2016 8:48 AM
  Subject: Re: [chirp_users] Chirp won't read CSV files correctly


  Tom,

  Okay, I just tested it again and it works as you say.  When I was getting the import errors before--caused by not having data in key fields--it appeared that it stopped at the default number--25--which was only limiting what I could see, not what was imported.  So it works fine.

  I am not aware of these bugs in Excel that were mentioned.  After creating my CSV file, I used a raw file viewer and did not see any extra characters or missing characters.  I am using Excel now to edit the CSV files and they import fine.  Is it true that there has to be a default value in rToneFreq?  And what about the errors I get when there are columns with header text but no data in the column?  Could this be caused by Excel?

  Regards, Chris W7CFN


  On 2/27/2016 11:57 AM, Tom Hayward wrote:

On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 11:33 AM, Chris Nordstrom <cfnordstrom at gmail.com> wrote:
But I could not find where it says you should delete column header text
for columns that contain no data and it also does not say that the
Memory Range entry on the edit window must match the number of rows you
are importing; the error you get doesn't lead you make this connection.
Did I miss this too?
Not sure what you mean about memory range view being related to the
number of rows imported. I've imported outside the currently selected
range many times and never had an issue. I just did it again now to
verify. The memory range view is just a view; it doesn't affect
imports.

Regarding the Excel bugs, there's only so much we can do about people
using 3rd party software to edit Chirp files and getting unexpected
results. As I said in my first email, I recommend editing Chirp files
with Chirp. When you edit with Chirp, it maintains all the proper data
in the proper columns. There is no need to delete headers or fill your own
defaults--it's all automatic in Chirp. Feel free to write some documentation
about the caveats you discovered when editing Chirp files in Excel.

Tom KD7LXL
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