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A5 Import of Excel/DBF file format problem

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    A5 Import of Excel/DBF file format problem

    I'm having a problem re-importing an A5 Invoice.dbf file that I open in Excel 2000 and make no data changes excpt to resave the same file agian as Invoice.DBF file format .Then open the file in A5v7 and the field types are changed. The original 5 fields that are date/numeric/char/numeric/char which end up being all character after the above steps. Note I am not using any import genies, just straight openning of DBF files in Excel and A5. FYI - some of the field are blank if that helps.
    Has anyone experienced this type of problem?
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Peter

    #2
    totally confused

    Originally posted by pk9
    I'm having a problem re-importing an A5 Invoice.dbf file that I open in Excel 2000 and make no data changes excpt to resave the same file agian as Invoice.DBF file format .
    - so you're not really re-importing, you are just accessing the same dbf file in Alpha after the save. Why are you saving it in Excel if you aren't making any changes?

    Originally posted by pk9
    Then open the file in A5v7 and the field types are changed. The original 5 fields that are date/numeric/char/numeric/char which end up being all character after the above steps. Note I am not using any import genies, just straight openning of DBF files in Excel and A5. FYI - some of the field are blank if that helps.
    Has anyone experienced this type of problem?
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Peter
    - I have seen the issue of inconsistent field types for .xls files saved as .dbf in Excel. I have noticed tha if the first cell of a column is blank, the .xls is saved as .dbf, the field type will be character upon opeining it in Alpha. Just one of the joys of working with a Microsoft product.
    There can be only one.

    Comment


      #3
      Stan,
      On prior attempts I used Excel to open Invoice.dbf and copy some field data from one field to another and then save Invoice.dbf it caused problems as noted above. Then to test it out if the copy was the cause, I only opened in Excel and resaved the file as DBF format without changes, I got the same error. So is A5 not reading the DBF file correctly or is Excel changing field types by looking at the first row and assessing what type of data it is and change the fields to Char types.

      Peter

      Comment


        #4
        I believe that when you import, the first row of data must have a value in each field. This is how the import utility figures out the data type.

        Comment


          #5
          Ed,
          Are you refering to Excel

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by pk9
            Stan,
            On prior attempts I used Excel to open Invoice.dbf and copy some field data from one field to another and then save Invoice.dbf it caused problems as noted above. Then to test it out if the copy was the cause, I only opened in Excel and resaved the file as DBF format without changes, I got the same error. So is A5 not reading the DBF file correctly or is Excel changing field types by looking at the first row and assessing what type of data it is and change the fields to Char types.

            Peter
            Easy enough to test.

            Take my attachment and either add it to a database or create a new database and add it there.
            View the table
            Open it in Excel
            Close without saving
            Open again in Alpha, all is fine.

            Open again in Excel, format columns to autofit
            Save in Excel
            Open in Alpha
            Field types are preserved but field widths are changed

            Delete the values in a_num, a_date, and a_logical in the first record
            Open again in Excel
            Save in Excel
            Open in Alpha
            a_num, a_date, and a_logical will now have been changed to character fields

            Not an Alpha problem as Excel is saving the fields as character based on the values in the first row, the width of the column, etc.

            If you don't save, opening an closing in Excel has no effect and thus I conclude that Excel is changing the .dbf structure information.
            There can be only one.

            Comment


              #7
              Stan,
              Prior to your post, I made sure that all row 1 (record1) fields have values and I retried. This time it worked as you noted. In summary Excel checked first row to eval field type and if field has no data it makes field a char.
              Thanks Stan for your help

              Peter

              Comment

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