RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-24 Thread Barry Brevik
>If you create an HTML file and name it with a .xls extension Excel will
open
>it quite happily and adjust columns to fit all by itself.

Wow! You are right! How cool is that?

That is pretty cool. I noticed that a  in a  results in visually
correct data in Excel, but generates an extra row, when what I really want
is a taller cell. I'll bet I can find a way to work around that.

I found that if you put a-
 
 
 table {border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #c0c0c0;}
 td {border: 1px solid #c0c0c0; vertical-align: top;}
 

...in the  of the doc, you will get a pretty good likeness of the
normal Excel grid work.

Thanks for the great tip.

Barry
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? Perl's SpreadSheet::W riteExcel Module

2005-10-24 Thread Barry Brevik
>If perl is an option, you may want to look into
> the spreadsheet module

Duh-oh!

I didn't think of that. I love Perl... I use it as often as possible, and
I'll even call it from UV. I developed an email module to take a UV
generated seq file (properly formatted) and use it as an email template,
with which it then talks to our internal mail server on port 25 and relays
the msg.

Barry
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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? [ad]

2005-10-24 Thread Don Kibbey
One of my "hits" here is an application that can extract the contents
of an invoice from our U2 system and produce as an Excel spreadsheet
with multiple tabs.  The main users of this appliation are our billing
and collections staff.  They love being able to send a client the
spreadsheet representation of a disputed invoice without knowing
anything more than the invoice number.

As for formatting data within Excel, I recommend a standardized
approach so that your business always provides the same type of
output.  If you provide the users with csv files, you run the risk of
"eric the excel wiz" generating some spiffy colors and font selections
that are much different from what "bill the boss" would like to
present to the clients.

Generating formatted excel spreadsheets with vb6 or .net is not
difficult.  There are many examples out on the net from which to draw
from.
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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? Perl's SpreadSheet::WriteExcel Module

2005-10-23 Thread John Godzina

Tony Gravagno wrote:


Mark Johnson wrote:
 


Tony:
What's the fastest path for someone who's been providing
the CSV's for the last 10 years and wants to deliver
something more complete. I don't want to spend a lot of
my client's money on packages. 
   



When I originally offered the NebulAnalysis package it was only about $600
per server, which would satisfy the needs of an entire office.  As it is
today your time=money cost is going to be a lot higher than that no matter
what DIY solution you choose.  I only mention this because in retrospect it
seems everyone assumes a package is going to cost a fortune so they don't
even bother to ask about price.  But onward we go...

The fastest path for someone who doesn't know how to code with Excel, IMO,
is to create a nice looking Excel document, then Save-As XML.  That XML is
now a document template.  Break it up into header, detail, and footer
sections, and replace any data with unique text like place marker.  In
BASIC, read the header and use it as a base for a new document.  Loop on
the detail template, populating it with live data and adding it to the XML
stream.  When done, add the the footer and write the doc.  You can kick off
a process to open Excel, read the XML, then Save-As an Excel XLS file.
This final file is what your users would use.

If I were to write a new one-off Excel integration routine, I might take
that approach because it's easy for almost anyone to admininster and
extend.  It allows end-users or a qualified IT person to create a nice
Excel document in a comfortable WYSIWYG manner.  The MV side is just
filling in the blanks without any understanding that it's creating an XML
or Excel document.  In fact this is good OOP, Model-View-Controller (MVC)
form, separating the UI from the rules, and the output could just as well
be a web page, Web Service, or any other medium.

For someone who does know how to code with VB, VBA, or a .NET language, the
best approach (maybe fastest too, depending...) would be to write an Excel
add-in for templates created by users like this, to extract data directly
from databases and/or run programs to generate such data.  The sheets would
be populated without reformatting into XML or writing BASIC code to do
string manipulation.  This is the approach I personally would take for a
real project or a new product.  (Inquiries welcome of course.)

The new Office 12 will allow us much better access into the internals of
Excel and other apps, so the above methods are good and stable for the
foreseeable future.

So those are the fastest solutions depending on one's experience.  The
right solutions involve learning the tools of the trade and keeping up with
technology rather than to try to get away with doing as little as possible
and using 10 year old methods to satisfy the needs of modern end-users.
The more end-users see Pick people using ancient methods, the less faith
they have in our abilities.  Their new solution will be to go pay someone
premium buck to do things right rather than waiting for their MV guys to do
it on the cheap.  As proof of this, I have a client right now who (no
kidding) has a $300K budget to make major changes to their MV app, but if
they can't get that done they have a $1Millon budget to re-write using MS
technologies.  Personally I think we Pickies should be doing things the
right way, and charge fair market value in the first place.  In the end,
everyone wins.

 


The assumption is that the users are using Excel. I've
taken some other advice on this forum to generate HTML
which has had some success but is limited in ease of
adding fields or making changes. Perhaps this is my
opportunity to get into XML. 


Thanks
Mark Johnson
   



XML does afford some more versatility than HTML.  Check it out and make
your own decisions from there.

HTH
TG@ removethisNebula-RnD.com
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If perl is an option, you may want to look into the spreadsheet module 
on cpan (
http://search.cpan.org/~jmcnamara/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-2.15/lib/Spreadsheet/WriteExcel.pm  
)


After your pick process (or whatever) creates a csv file, run a perl 
script to use that file as input to create an *.xls file.  If you have a 
little knowledge of perl, you can be up an running in under a day 
creating basic scripts.


John
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-23 Thread Tony Gravagno
Mark Johnson wrote:
> Tony:
> What's the fastest path for someone who's been providing
> the CSV's for the last 10 years and wants to deliver
> something more complete. I don't want to spend a lot of
> my client's money on packages. 

When I originally offered the NebulAnalysis package it was only about $600
per server, which would satisfy the needs of an entire office.  As it is
today your time=money cost is going to be a lot higher than that no matter
what DIY solution you choose.  I only mention this because in retrospect it
seems everyone assumes a package is going to cost a fortune so they don't
even bother to ask about price.  But onward we go...

The fastest path for someone who doesn't know how to code with Excel, IMO,
is to create a nice looking Excel document, then Save-As XML.  That XML is
now a document template.  Break it up into header, detail, and footer
sections, and replace any data with unique text like place marker.  In
BASIC, read the header and use it as a base for a new document.  Loop on
the detail template, populating it with live data and adding it to the XML
stream.  When done, add the the footer and write the doc.  You can kick off
a process to open Excel, read the XML, then Save-As an Excel XLS file.
This final file is what your users would use.

If I were to write a new one-off Excel integration routine, I might take
that approach because it's easy for almost anyone to admininster and
extend.  It allows end-users or a qualified IT person to create a nice
Excel document in a comfortable WYSIWYG manner.  The MV side is just
filling in the blanks without any understanding that it's creating an XML
or Excel document.  In fact this is good OOP, Model-View-Controller (MVC)
form, separating the UI from the rules, and the output could just as well
be a web page, Web Service, or any other medium.

For someone who does know how to code with VB, VBA, or a .NET language, the
best approach (maybe fastest too, depending...) would be to write an Excel
add-in for templates created by users like this, to extract data directly
from databases and/or run programs to generate such data.  The sheets would
be populated without reformatting into XML or writing BASIC code to do
string manipulation.  This is the approach I personally would take for a
real project or a new product.  (Inquiries welcome of course.)

The new Office 12 will allow us much better access into the internals of
Excel and other apps, so the above methods are good and stable for the
foreseeable future.

So those are the fastest solutions depending on one's experience.  The
right solutions involve learning the tools of the trade and keeping up with
technology rather than to try to get away with doing as little as possible
and using 10 year old methods to satisfy the needs of modern end-users.
The more end-users see Pick people using ancient methods, the less faith
they have in our abilities.  Their new solution will be to go pay someone
premium buck to do things right rather than waiting for their MV guys to do
it on the cheap.  As proof of this, I have a client right now who (no
kidding) has a $300K budget to make major changes to their MV app, but if
they can't get that done they have a $1Millon budget to re-write using MS
technologies.  Personally I think we Pickies should be doing things the
right way, and charge fair market value in the first place.  In the end,
everyone wins.

> The assumption is that the users are using Excel. I've
> taken some other advice on this forum to generate HTML
> which has had some success but is limited in ease of
> adding fields or making changes. Perhaps this is my
> opportunity to get into XML. 
> 
> Thanks
> Mark Johnson

XML does afford some more versatility than HTML.  Check it out and make
your own decisions from there.

HTH
TG@ removethisNebula-RnD.com
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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? [ad]

2005-10-23 Thread Bruce Nichol

Goo'day, Mark,

At 20:44 23/10/05 -0400, you wrote:


Tony:

What's the fastest path for someone who's been providing the CSV's for the
last 10 years and wants to deliver something more complete. I don't want to
spend a lot of my client's money on packages.


Have you considered (a) the "terminal emulator" path or (b) DOWNLOAD?

I appreciate that there are sites out there infinitly larger than the 
environments we get involvred in, and that there are managers out there who 
will spend a dollar or two in getting a better solution, but way down here 
at the market we're in, CSV or some such seems to be "solution of choice" 
to most of our sites.


Sure, we've had people look at expanding their bailiwick to include data 
communications twixt UV and "desktop" products, but in most situations, the 
available paths have been discounted - too much money or too complicated 
with the introduction of  middle-ware  - "We're not computer geniuses.  We 
want something simple". They forgot "and as cheap as possible"


We've had some success with MV-aware terminal emulators with "import" and 
"export" functions, with UV and wIntegrate, but the per-user cost of 
wIntegrate vs Dynamic Connect (no "import" or "export") normally limits the 
implementation of wIntegrate to one or two desktops per site (Errr 
Should I mention what is now called "commercial OpenQM" with its bundled 
AccuTerm 2k2?   With all its "private functions")


With UV we also had lots of success, where implemented, with Cedarville 
Uni's DOWNLOAD - now, that's at the *right* price - but it needs a 
"complete" in-house person to keep the outlay *really* low... Users 
tend to spend a deal of money over time "automating" their 
requirements. to the extent, we found, where it falls into disfavour 
'cos of the "outside" (me) cost to produce "what we want"..  Not 
prepared to invest in training for staff, not prepared to invest in 
"outside" assistance...




The assumption is that the users are using Excel. I've taken some other
advice on this forum to generate HTML which has had some success but is
limited in ease of adding fields or making changes. Perhaps this is my
opportunity to get into XML.


DOWNLOAD *could* help you there, then  an "add on" reporting facility 
with XML  not an "add in" .


In his original post, Barry was looking for an "automatic autofit" of data 
into Excel cells.   Tony, in his reply, mentioned "DIY" XML.


I'm assuming that Barry's .csv file/s are a regular occurrence and of a 
"fixed" layout.   The easiest method we have used in these sorts of 
circumstances is an "up front" (saved) Excel macro to add in columns, 
format columns, add column headers, etc, etc, even to the extent of using 
Excel's "macro recorder".   So, it might take a couple of goes to get it 
right, but once it's there, it's there forever


But, I suppose that'd apply to XML as well as .csv

It works - and it's cheap




Thanks
Mark Johnson
- Original Message -
From: "Tony Gravagno" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 5:46 PM
Subject: RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? [ad]




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Regards,

Bruce Nichol
Talon Computer Services
ALBURYNSW 2640
Australia

http://www.taloncs.com.au

Tel: +61 (0)411149636
Fax: +61 (0)260232119

If it ain't broke, fix it till it is! 



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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-23 Thread Craig Bennett

Anyone looking for the SYLK format can go to:

http://www.wotsit.org/search.asp?page=2&s=database



Craig
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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? [ad]

2005-10-23 Thread Mark Johnson
Tony:

What's the fastest path for someone who's been providing the CSV's for the
last 10 years and wants to deliver something more complete. I don't want to
spend a lot of my client's money on packages.

The assumption is that the users are using Excel. I've taken some other
advice on this forum to generate HTML which has had some success but is
limited in ease of adding fields or making changes. Perhaps this is my
opportunity to get into XML.

Thanks
Mark Johnson
- Original Message -
From: "Tony Gravagno" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 5:46 PM
Subject: RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? [ad]


> Barry Brevik wrote:
> > ...does anyone know if it is possible to embed some kind
> > of command in a CSV file that will get Excel to autofit
> > those rows automatically?
>
> The DIY solution is to use XML, for which there are examples around the
> Net.  It's always amazed me that most IT people think that a plain CSV is
> an adequate deliverable when users want "Excel".  End-users often spend
> hours to days per month, reformatting data delivered like this, rather
than
> making a request to IT for something more useful.  I think there is some
> unstated belief by end-users that IT _can't_ create anything more
> sophisticated than a CSV, so they often don't bother to ask - it's one of
> those self-fulfilling situations that people assume won't change so they
> don't ask and then things never change.  Anyway, I'm glad to see people
> here looking for something a little more professional and I encourage
> everyone to check with your C-level management or other hardcore Excel
> users about what they _really_ need from Excel, including multiple sheets
> in a workbook, charts, highlighted data, and dynamic updates from live
> databases (including MITS cubes, etc).
>
> Seeing there are no other definitive solutions presented in this thread...
> The problem described is exactly the problem solved with NebulAnalysis:
> http://Nebula-RnD.com/products/analysis.htm
> NebulAnalysis and other MS Office integration products were written a few
> years ago.  Unfortunately there was only a small trickle of demand so we
> are no longer "actively" offering them.  For some reason over the last few
> months a lot of people are looking to control Excel from MV so I might
> bring it back based on demand and available time.
> Please have a look at the audio/video demo here:
> http://Nebula-RnD.com/demos/nebulanalysis/
> If you like what you see I may port this to U2 and give it some new life.
> While you're on the site, check out NebulaManager to see what's possible
> with Outlook - that's another one that I'd like to bring back.
> http://nebula-rnd.com/products/manager.htm
>
> I have a lot of experience with the internals of all of the Microsoft
> Office applications, and intend to continue development with Office 12 and
> the MS Office System.  Nebula R&D is growing and now has a team of U2
> professionals who can do this sort of work.  So if you need to get info to
> or from any Office product, feel free to ask about what's possible.
>
> Tony Gravagno
> Nebula Research and Development
> TG@ removethisNebula-RnD.com
> (We just posted a major website update with completely reworked pages,
lots
> of new content, and a completely new strategic message.  Please feel free
> to browse the site, comment, ask questions, etc. - Thanks!)
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file? [ad]

2005-10-23 Thread Tony Gravagno
Barry Brevik wrote:
> ...does anyone know if it is possible to embed some kind
> of command in a CSV file that will get Excel to autofit
> those rows automatically? 

The DIY solution is to use XML, for which there are examples around the
Net.  It's always amazed me that most IT people think that a plain CSV is
an adequate deliverable when users want "Excel".  End-users often spend
hours to days per month, reformatting data delivered like this, rather than
making a request to IT for something more useful.  I think there is some
unstated belief by end-users that IT _can't_ create anything more
sophisticated than a CSV, so they often don't bother to ask - it's one of
those self-fulfilling situations that people assume won't change so they
don't ask and then things never change.  Anyway, I'm glad to see people
here looking for something a little more professional and I encourage
everyone to check with your C-level management or other hardcore Excel
users about what they _really_ need from Excel, including multiple sheets
in a workbook, charts, highlighted data, and dynamic updates from live
databases (including MITS cubes, etc).

Seeing there are no other definitive solutions presented in this thread...
The problem described is exactly the problem solved with NebulAnalysis:
http://Nebula-RnD.com/products/analysis.htm
NebulAnalysis and other MS Office integration products were written a few
years ago.  Unfortunately there was only a small trickle of demand so we
are no longer "actively" offering them.  For some reason over the last few
months a lot of people are looking to control Excel from MV so I might
bring it back based on demand and available time.
Please have a look at the audio/video demo here:
http://Nebula-RnD.com/demos/nebulanalysis/
If you like what you see I may port this to U2 and give it some new life.
While you're on the site, check out NebulaManager to see what's possible
with Outlook - that's another one that I'd like to bring back.
http://nebula-rnd.com/products/manager.htm

I have a lot of experience with the internals of all of the Microsoft
Office applications, and intend to continue development with Office 12 and
the MS Office System.  Nebula R&D is growing and now has a team of U2
professionals who can do this sort of work.  So if you need to get info to
or from any Office product, feel free to ask about what's possible.

Tony Gravagno
Nebula Research and Development
TG@ removethisNebula-RnD.com
(We just posted a major website update with completely reworked pages, lots
of new content, and a completely new strategic message.  Please feel free
to browse the site, comment, ask questions, etc. - Thanks!)
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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-21 Thread Mark Johnson
Any advice on making better CSV's for eventual MV to Excel exports. I've
used CSV's for years (avoiding A1 containing ID) and have been using HTML
for some formatting. The HTML problem is I usually have to create the
spreadsheet with its formatting, save as HTML and edit the 'text' of the
HTML.

SLK seems attractive. Where do I begin.

Thanks

- Original Message -
From: "Ewinger Klaus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 3:14 AM
Subject: AW: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?


> Barry,
>
> Instead of using CSV, you could use SLK Format ("Symbolic Link Format").
It is slightly more work to format the data, but you have total control
about cell formatting. You also get your cell types correctly, e.g. a date
is formatted as a date and not as a string. Even formulas are possible. And
the nice thing about it is, that it is pure ASCII. Not a binary format like
.XLS.
>
> -Klaus
>
>
>
> -Urspr|ngliche Nachricht-
> Von: Barry Brevik [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 20. Oktober 2005 20:05
> An: U2-users (E-mail)
> Betreff: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?
>
> A little off-topic...
>
> From universe, I am creating a sequential file which is formatted as a CSV
file, in other words each field is quoted and separated from each other by
commas, for example:
>
>   "John","Jacob","Dingleheimer Schmidt"
>
> The intent is that the resulting file is opened with Excel.
>
> You can force any cell into multiple lines by embedding a CHAR(10), for
> example:
>
>   WRITESEQ \"John","Jacob","Dingleheimer\:CHAR(10):\Schmidt"\ TO
MY.CSV.FILE THEN NULL
>
> ...when viewed in Excel will give you...
>
> JohnJacobDingleheimer
>  Schmidt
>
> ...which is a great way of expressing multi-values.
>
> Finally I arrive at the crux. When you open such a document in Excel, it
only displays one line per row even if a cell in that row contains multiple
lines. To see all lines you have to select all and hit FORMAT | ROW |
AUTOFIT. My users seem to be incapable of dealing with that, so...
>
> ...does anyone know if it is possible to embed some kind of command in a
CSV file that will get Excel to autofit those rows automatically?
>
> Barry Brevik
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-21 Thread Jeff Schasny
If you create an HTML file and name it with a .xls extension Excel will open
it quite happily and adjust columns to fit all by itself.

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Barry Brevik
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 9:59 AM
To: 'u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org'
Subject: RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?


>However,  if  your  users  are  on  Office 2003, you might be best off
>creating  your  document as XML where you will have access to complete

Sadly, we are not uniformly on Office 2003, but I like the idea of using
XML. I already use HTML extensively in my reports, and I use alot of CSS and
Javascript in those reports.

For this usage, they specifically want an Excel file. Thank you for the
interesting post... it gives me food for thought.

Barry
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-21 Thread Dave Walker
If you've already given XML some thought, perhaps you might like to
investigate the OpenDoc format. Although I haven't done anything with it, it
doesn't appear that it would be tremendously difficult to produce an
OpenOffice spreadsheet from basic. 

--
Dave Walker
8..7 4(())  -:&:-
  -:&:-8.74 .74(())
 ((88.74  ..74  -:&:-
((88.74   * Peace

 

> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Barry Brevik
> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 11:59 AM
> To: 'u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org'
> Subject: RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?
> 
> 
> >However,  if  your  users  are  on  Office 2003, you might 
> be best off
> >creating  your  document as XML where you will have access 
> to complete
> 
> Sadly, we are not uniformly on Office 2003, but I like the 
> idea of using
> XML. I already use HTML extensively in my reports, and I use 
> alot of CSS and
> Javascript in those reports.
> 
> For this usage, they specifically want an Excel file. Thank 
> you for the
> interesting post... it gives me food for thought.
> 
> Barry
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-21 Thread Barry Brevik
>However,  if  your  users  are  on  Office 2003, you might be best off
>creating  your  document as XML where you will have access to complete

Sadly, we are not uniformly on Office 2003, but I like the idea of using
XML. I already use HTML extensively in my reports, and I use alot of CSS and
Javascript in those reports.

For this usage, they specifically want an Excel file. Thank you for the
interesting post... it gives me food for thought.

Barry
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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-21 Thread Barry Brevik
>Instead of using CSV, you could use SLK Format
> ("Symbolic Link Format"). It is slightly more work

Ah, I believe I remember this format from the Lotus days.

I am interested in this idea. I don't suppose you have a link to any SLK
format specifications?

Barry
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Re: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-20 Thread Stuart . Boydell
   >From  universe, I am creating a sequential file which is formatted as
   a CSV
   [snip]
   >...does anyone know if it is possible to embed some kind of command
   Barry,  no,  it's  not possible in csv, closest is to embed a formula.
   However,  if  your  users  are  on  Office 2003, you might be best off
   creating  your  document as XML where you will have access to complete
   (Excel) control over your document.
   If  they  are on earlier versions of Excel then creating your document
   as HTML will give moderate control over the format of the doc.
   HTH, Stuart

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RE: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

2005-10-20 Thread Louie Gouws
Hi Barry,

Why don't you do a macro in excel that will do the Format/row/autofit and
let your users have it?

Louie

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Barry Brevik
Sent: 20 October 2005 20:05
To: U2-users (E-mail)
Subject: [U2] [UV][OT]Embed command in CSV file?

A little off-topic...

>From universe, I am creating a sequential file which is formatted as a CSV
file, in other words each field is quoted and separated from each other by
commas, for example:
 
  "John","Jacob","Dingleheimer Schmidt"
 
The intent is that the resulting file is opened with Excel.

You can force any cell into multiple lines by embedding a CHAR(10), for
example:
 
  WRITESEQ \"John","Jacob","Dingleheimer\:CHAR(10):\Schmidt"\ TO MY.CSV.FILE
THEN NULL
 
...when viewed in Excel will give you...
 
JohnJacobDingleheimer
 Schmidt
 
...which is a great way of expressing multi-values.

Finally I arrive at the crux. When you open such a document in Excel, it
only displays one line per row even if a cell in that row contains multiple
lines. To see all lines you have to select all and hit FORMAT | ROW |
AUTOFIT. My users seem to be incapable of dealing with that, so...
 
...does anyone know if it is possible to embed some kind of command in a CSV
file that will get Excel to autofit those rows automatically?

Barry Brevik
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