Question

Reading CSV file with " inside the data?

Asked by: Jess31

Using vb 2008 and the code bellow I read a CSVfile. But when I have a field that contains a qutation mark the data is cut off at that point. How do I handle such data?

Using cn As New OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OleDb.4.0;" & _
                        "Data Source=" & dirName & ";" & _
                        "Extended Properties=""Text;HDR=No;FMT=Delimited""")
                cn.Open()
                Using adapter As New OleDbDataAdapter( _
                        "SELECT * FROM " & fileName, cn)
                    dt = New DataTable("Items")
                    adapter.Fill(dt)

                                  
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:

Select allOpen in new window

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-10-19 at 19:52:44ID24825672
Topics

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

,

Visual Studio

,

.NET Framework 3.x versions

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. CSV to Access problem
    Hi We've got an access (2002) datadase that links to a facility on our website. The database is 8mb. I update the tables from CSV files extracted from our work database.These tables are quite large, 9000 records with 26-33 fields. I had a lot of problems getting them in to...
  2. CSV handling
    Hi, For a certain app I need te following functionality: A csv with multiple lines is stored in a place. I need a script that takes this csv for every line looks to a certain filed. This field contains a word( 2nd field, actually a product or department name). Based on this ...
  3. VB csv parser for complex csv files
    Hi, Does any of you guys know of a vb class that can parse complex csv files (with data that may include quotation marks and new lines in them.) Thanks, Istvan Siposs
  4. Importing CSV file - how to escape the delimiter inside cell…
    I have a PHP script that exports data out of my database into a CSV file that I can download from the webpage and open inside Excel. I am doing this in one motion where, I click on the download button, and directly open the CSV in excel. My problem is that some of the comma...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: x_comPosted on 2009-10-19 at 20:36:55ID: 25610897

Hi Jess31,
You can use TextFieldParser class to resolve this glitches.
Check this similar thread for the mentioned:
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=460657

 

by: Jess31Posted on 2009-10-19 at 22:53:43ID: 25611309

What do you mean by "resolve the glitches"? Do I need to use the TextFieldParser instead of the current way of reading the file or can TextFieldParser fix this file so that it can be read by the curent process? I see how the TextFieldParser reads but I don't see how it can write back.

 

by: x_comPosted on 2009-10-19 at 23:33:59ID: 25611448

>>What do you mean by "resolve the glitches"?
It mean solve the existing problem

>>Do I need to use the TextFieldParser instead of the current way of reading the file or can TextFieldParser fix this file so that it can be read by the curent process?
You can use TextFieldParser class to retrieve the data from CSV as suggested.

>>I see how the TextFieldParser reads but I don't see how it can write back.
Can you post the current complete code that retrieving the CSV file? You may refer official MSDN reference regarding the applied code for TextFieldParser class:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.visualbasic.fileio.textfieldparser.aspx

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-10-20 at 03:17:53ID: 25612532

Is the quotation mark used as the separater? The CSV would definitely fail if the delimiter is used with the data itself as well.

 

by: Jess31Posted on 2009-10-20 at 11:31:40ID: 25617028

no, the quotation mark is in a description field, sometime to indicate Inches, or other stuff.

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-10-20 at 12:37:36ID: 25617647

If you need to only read CSV then you can readalllines, loop through them and split based on comma then you can use the information.

 

by: x_comPosted on 2009-10-20 at 19:19:25ID: 25620380

Agree to CodeCruiser's suggestion. But, this is depending how you store the data and how huge the data being stored in your CSV file.
Jess31, can you attach sample CSV file here for better understanding?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...