Problem Importing excel text files - EZPopulate

[pritchb]

Sorry for the long question, but this is hard for me to explain...

I'm using easy populate to import items in my catalog. Everything works great except the description field. The file from my supplier has imbedded codes such as line breaks to format the text. Problem is when I save the file as a tab delimited test file, the description field ends up getting split up all over the place. There must be some embedded asci codes in the discription field that are causing the imput to go kaflooye.

I did a find and replace for line breaks (alt 0010) within excel but that did not work. I think there must be other codes in there as well but I don't know how to look for them.

Is there a program I could copy and paste this text into that would let me see the codes excel is putting in my description fields?

[misty]

Download and use Open Office...FREE, works much better with Easy Populate than excel.

[pritchb]

I get the same problem with open office. The supplier has put some formatting into the description. I can edit / replace it, if only I could see it!

Is there some program I could paste the text into that would allow me to see all of the formatting characters?

[schoolboy]

Easy Populate ADVANCED has an inherent capacity to instruct EP to convert line breaks to <br /> tags.

But here's what I do... (and it's a bit cumbersome but it works.)

I use combinations of features in MS Excel and MS Word to search---replace.

I open up MSWord alongside MSExcel.

I create a NEW column NEXT TO v_products_description_1 in the spreadsheet.

I highlight the entire v_products_description_1 column then <ctrl+c> (copy) it.

I then move to MSWord and <ctrl+v> (paste) the column. The table will be preserved.

I then activate the display of hidden formatting characters, so I can see if the breaks are PARAGRAPH breaks or LINE breaks.

Then I use MSWord REPLACE feature

If they are LINE breaks, I run the following:

FIND: ^l
REPLACE WITH: <br />



If they are PARAGRAPH breaks, I run the following:

FIND: ^p
REPLACE WITH: <br />

I then highlight the entire table (you must hover the mouse just on the top line of the top cell, then click to highlight the table. If you drag over the text, you will be highlighting the TEXT in the table - not the table itself).

<ctrl+c>

Return to MS Excel

Put cursor into the top-most cell of the new columm where the original product description texts start.. then <ctrl+v>. It is important to paste the edited table at the right cell level ... if you are out by just one cell, then the descriptions will associate with the incorrect product.

I then do a quick visual check to see if the new data is the same as the old data in the adjoining column. If it is, I delete the original column and the new column becomes v_products_description_1

You can use this technique to do a lot more, because MSWord is more versatile than Excel for search/replace...

[pritchb]

Thanks,

I also learned that you can use the excel "clean" function. It strips the cell of all ascii codes! It worked great!