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Suggestion - Graphic preview mode

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:26 am
by Baboon
I use textpipe to sort out large semicolon separated spreadsheets, and sometimes I wish I had some sort of a graphic preview mode to check if everything is in order and in the right columns after adding filters.

The trial run area gives me some overview, but often I have to process the file and check it in Excel to give me a satisfactory overview and make sure everything is where it should be. This, of course, is because the trial run area does not line up the the semicolon separated columns which makes it time consuming to check for errors and a bit annoying to work with both Textpipe and Excel at the same time as textpipe naturally can't process files that are already being used by Excel.

So my question is: Would it be possible to create some kind of graphic excel-preview mode? I think this would make a lot of mail house workers etc. very happy.

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:02 am
by DataMystic Support
Thanks - that sounds like a great idea.

Do you think the following would work:

Trial Output
- text mode
- csv/tab/delimited mode (cells like Excel)
- ebcdic mode
- hex mode?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:46 am
by Baboon
DataMystic Support wrote:Thanks - that sounds like a great idea.

Do you think the following would work:

Trial Output
- text mode
- csv/tab/delimited mode (cells like Excel)
- ebcdic mode
- hex mode?
Sounds very good to me.

That csv/tab/delimited mode would save me from countless annoying "range check errors" and save me hours of work in the long run.

Btw. Thanks for the quick and positive response.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:33 am
by DataMystic Support
Where do the range check errors come from? TextPipe?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:13 pm
by Baboon
DataMystic Support wrote:Where do the range check errors come from? TextPipe?
Yes. But they are caused by me forgetting to close Excel while processing in textpipe. It's easy to forget when you have to switch back and forth between the two programs.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:41 am
by DataMystic Support
Ok - thanks.

I'd like this to be handled better - is this happening because the output CSV file is already open in Excel?

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:02 am
by Baboon
DataMystic Support wrote:Ok - thanks.

I'd like this to be handled better - is this happening because the output CSV file is already open in Excel?
Exactly.

Preview for Excel needs to cope with more than 256 columns

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:05 pm
by dfhtextpipe
If you do implement a preview for Excel CSV, please ensure that it copes with more than 256 columns!

Prior to Office 2007, this was a serious shortcoming for Excel.

TextPipe can cope with unlimited number of CSV columns, I think?

Best regards,
David

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:07 pm
by DataMystic Support
Yes - it can! We will make sure of this - thanks for reminding us!