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Transact Charlie
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
3451 Posts |
 Posted - 2008-07-02 : 11:31:27
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| Can anyone recommend a good flat file (csv) viewer / editor? I've tried a bunch and they all have their particular problems. Nothing too fancy and definately nothing that makes asumptions about data type -- I've lost track of the number of times excel has silently truncated lead zeros on me.Regards,Charlie.-------------Charlie |
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Michael Valentine Jones
Yak DBA Kernel (pronounced Colonel)
7020 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-02 : 12:02:26
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| Have you tried notepad?CODO ERGO SUM |
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Transact Charlie
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
3451 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-02 : 12:20:07
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| Cute.Forget I asked.-------------Charlie |
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jsmith8858
Dr. Cross Join
7423 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-02 : 12:27:25
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| I use NotePad++, but it is not really a CSV editor with columns and all that. Overall, though, it is pretty good for editing text files. Not sure if it will help you out or not.- Jeffhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/JeffS |
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jsmith8858
Dr. Cross Join
7423 Posts |
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khtan
In (Som, Ni, Yak)
17689 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-02 : 21:51:19
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why not just use excel ?
KH[spoiler]Time is always against us[/spoiler] |
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jsmith8858
Dr. Cross Join
7423 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-02 : 21:59:49
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| I agree with the OP: Excel is often more trouble than it is worth for CSV files; it tries to figure out data types, drops leading zeroes if it thinks it is a number, and so on. Lots of little things that can be frustrating.- Jeffhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/JeffS |
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khtan
In (Som, Ni, Yak)
17689 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-02 : 22:02:15
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True.. Can be quire frustrating with the newer version. Still prefer the older version of excel with does not do that.
KH[spoiler]Time is always against us[/spoiler] |
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Transact Charlie
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
3451 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-03 : 04:15:42
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| Notepad++ is an excellent program -- I use it a lot and like it's features, but it is not what I'm looking for in a csv editor. I'd like something I can load any size of csv file in (15Meg and up), quickly delete a column, or run some sort of text operation on a set, and not have to worry about preserving the data in the rest of the columns. I've tried :: 1)excel, gnumeric (both silently trim lead zeros and botch datetimes)2) csvEd, KillinkCSV (csvEd is great for small files but try anything over about a meg and it starts to crawl) Killink was OK but trial has expired and I wasn't impressed enough to buy it.What version of excel did not do auto data-typing?-------------Charlie |
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jsmith8858
Dr. Cross Join
7423 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-03 : 06:35:52
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| One more option: MS Access. Import the CSV, specify all columns as Text, do what you need to do in the resulting table (Access will be really quick to manipulate large amounts of data), and then export back to a text file.- Jeffhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/JeffS |
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Transact Charlie
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
3451 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-03 : 06:56:44
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| I have resorted to this occasionally - importing into a database on my local machine using the "import..." dialogue in management Studio. Its great as you say for the truly large flat files we get from some of out clients but it's a little overkill for the majority.Anyone tried open office's spreadsheet app (whatever that's called)? know if it can be set not to try any data-typing?-------------Charlie |
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Transact Charlie
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
3451 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-03 : 07:16:18
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| Thanks for all the replies.I've got myself a combination of things I'm comfortable with now.For the big files management studio's import wizard is good for me. For medium and small files I've just written a little java app that takes the csv file and turns it into a table definition (all of varchars) and a set of data inserts, that dumps the data into a temp table. I get a .sql text file at the end which I can cut and paste into query analyser.I don't know if I can attach an archive but it anyone has a use for this utility I'm happy to send.-------------Charlie |
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jsmith8858
Dr. Cross Join
7423 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-03 : 08:53:38
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quote:
Originally posted by Transact Charlie
I have resorted to this occasionally - importing into a database on my local machine using the "import..." dialogue in management Studio. Its great as you say for the truly large flat files we get from some of out clients but it's a little overkill for the majority.Anyone tried open office's spreadsheet app (whatever that's called)? know if it can be set not to try any data-typing?-------------Charlie
Sounds like you are describing SQL Server, not MS Access ... In MS Access, which doesn't use management studio at all, you can just import directly into a new or existing table, and then easily export as well to a variety of formats with lots of options. You can even save the import/export specifications if you do it often. Creating some simple macros or VBA code can make this even easier and help to automate as well. I definitely recommend Access for this sort of thing over SQL Server, much easier, quicker, simpler and more what Access is designed to do and not really what SQL Server and its IDE tools are designed for.- Jeffhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/JeffS |
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Transact Charlie
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
3451 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-03 : 09:02:03
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| That is very, very, usable.Just right clicking on a csv file and open_with -> Access.Nice simple quick wizard and then you are good to go.THANKYOU-------------Charlie |
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mkturner
Starting Member
1 Post |
Posted - 2008-07-19 : 14:50:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Transact Charlie
Killink was OK but trial has expired and I wasn't impressed enough to buy it.
Hi Charlie,Sorry to hear the trial expired on you before you finished your evaluation. Send me an email to info at whitepeaksoftware dot com and I'll send you an extended eval key. Or better yet, let me know what you didn't like, why you were not impressed, and I'll send you a free license.-KIRBY----White Peak Software Incwww.whitepeaksoftware.com |
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Recommend a good csv editor