HiFinance
4
APPENDIX B - FORMATTING
ASCII EXPORT FIELDS
Virtually all files in HiFinance can be exported to ASCII.
This is a standard format understood by all utility programs, such as
Spreadsheets, Databases and Word-processors. This gives you the flexibility to
format reports, etc. in ways not otherwise available in HiFinance.
ASCII files are defined as flat files containing
only uncompressed, alphanumeric data, one record per line with <CR> or <CR> <LF> at the end of each line. Within this structure it
is still possible to choose the format of each field. Each program within
HiFinance allows you to access a screen, which sets the defaults for these
options. The screen is always accessed by <F9> and is global to all ASCII
programs.
It is advised that you give the export file a name
ending in .CSV to make programs such as
Excel automatically understand the format. It is possible to call them what you
like but you have to go through extra steps to import them into programs like
Excel. The default name is normally the data file name with .CSV replacing .DAT
and the directory initially defaults to your normal data directory. You can
change it from this, as required.
When using DOS based installations (including
MS-Windows) you should limit the names of directories to 8 characters without
any imbedded spaces. This is a limitation in some version of Windows but is not
a limitation in Unix. If HiFinance finds that the operating system rejects the
name, an error will be displayed and you will need to start the export
procedure again. In either case, do not imbed spaces. HiFinance will truncate
any characters after the first space it finds as spaces confuse most operating
systems - even the ones that purport to work correctly with long file names
(including Windows and Unix).
It is not advisable to save the export into the root
directory. This can clutter the file system and cause errors in other programs.
Create a new directory (folder) and save the export to that. Eg a valid but
poor name would be c:\EXPORT.csv a better name would be c:\dload\EXPORT.csv. Remember to create c:\dload first.
Typically the screen will appear as follows:
The list of options is as follows:
FILE NAME This field contains the name of the file you wish to
create. The default name is #<FILENAME>.CSV (where # is replaced by the data directory name, eg. H:\HF4DATA\COMP1\ and <FILENAME> is normally the source
filename as it exists in the data directory.). However, this can be changed to
any valid DOS (or UNIX) path name. Be very careful if you enter a name suffixed
by DAT, KEY, BAT, EXE or COM as it is possible to overwrite normal files used by HiFinance. In a
DOS environment, it is also possible to choose a name such as PRN or COM1 so that the export will be
sent directly to a printer or a communications port. HiFinance will
automatically truncate the name from the first space encountered, so do not
leave embedded spaces or leading spaces in the name. HiFinance will warn you if
the file you are about to create already exists.
SURROUND ALPHA FIELDS
WITH QUOTATION MARKS Some applications require
quotation marks " around alpha-numeric
fields, eg. names. To force HiFinance to do this, enter a Y here.
SURROUND NUMERIC
FIELDS WITH QUOTATION MARKS Some applications require
quotation marks " around numeric fields, eg. dollar
values. To force HiFinance to do this, enter a Y.
SEPARATE FIELDS
WITH A SPACE If it is necessary to leave
a space between fields, enter Y here, otherwise HiFinance
will not leave spaces between export fields. This function is sometimes
referred to as space delimited. It is
rarely used by itself.
SEPARATE FIELDS
WITH A COMMA Most word-processor and
spreadsheet programs require a comma between each successive field. This is
referred to as comma delimited. If
your application does not require a comma, enter N here.
REMOVE REDUNDANT
SPACES FROM ALPHA FIELDS Word-processors normally
accept alphanumeric fields blindly. This can leave unnecessary spaces in a mail
merge. To avoid this, enter Y here. HiFinance will then
remove all leading and trailing spaces from alphanumeric fields when they are
export. This procedure is more time consuming and should not be used if it is
not required. Furthermore, some older spreadsheet programs, eg. LOTUS V2.2
become confused by varying field lengths. For these programs, you must always
answer N.
REMOVE REDUNDANT
SPACES FROM NUMERIC FIELDS This question is similar to
the previous one but relates to numeric fields only, eg. dollar values. As with
the previous question, you should normally answer Y for word-processors and N for spreadsheets.
SHOW ALL DIGITS IN
DATE FIELDS Certain spreadsheet
programs, eg Excel V7 and above, have a bug that causes them to read 1/01/2001 as an alpha-field rather than as a date. To work
around this bug, HiFinance can be told to export the field with all leading
digits exposed, ie 01/01/2001. If you experience this
problem, answer Y in for this option,
otherwise it is preferable to leave it as N.
INCLUDE HEADING IN
FIRST LINE OF EXPORT If you intend to use the
output for mail-merge purposes, it is preferable to head each output with the
name of the field. HiFinance will export a unique, and consistent, name for you
to use, if you enter a Y here. For spreadsheet
programs, the headings do not usually get in the way.
EXPORT LONG NAMES
IN HEADINGS This option is only relevant
if you have answered Y to the previous field. The
screen that follows this one in the export program is a list of all possible
fields. These appear as short (maximum 20 characters) name, which is the normal
name, and a sometimes much longer, more descriptive name. For instance, period
dates may have LAST YEAR BALANCE 5 as the short name and BALANCE NOVEMBER
OF LAST-YEAR as the long name. Typically you would use the short name in exports
because the heading will not change from export to export. If you wish to
export the long name, answer Y here. Note that if you
intend to use the ASCII IMPORT function, you should use
the short name option.
Note that the options you choose are specific to the
file you are exporting, and your USERCODE. You can thus choose specific export
options for, say General Ledger Transactions and different options for Creditor
Transactions. Also, the options you choose (eg file name) are independent of
anyone else logging in with another USERCODE. It should also be noted that your
choices are saved and become the initial choices (for you) next time you wish
to export the same file.
